Training of trainers in tribal development administration

It is not always realised that the task of development in tribal areas is in many ways not the same thing as develop ment work of the normal kind. The tribal people have suffered centuries of neglect. Living in isolation of their hills and forests the rapid developments outside their world have made little impact on their lifestyle. Strictly in the material sense of the term their general level of living continues to be rather poor. At the same time the tribals have a cultural pattern which is distinctively their own.

Our Constitution has special provisions to ensure deve lopment of the tribal people. Indeed the planning process has penetrated deep into the tribal territories. It has helped to improve living conditions of tribals to some extent. But there still remains a lot to be done to bring the tribal popula tion to a level of development that generally obtains elsewhere in the country.

Planners and administrators are fully aware of their responsibilities for the development of the tribal areas. How ever, the issue here is not to bring benefits of economic development alone. Often cultural values become the first casualty when development marches ahead in traditional societies. have It is their culture which the tribals cherish and ave preserved with care. Again it is their culture which gives them a distinct identity.

While development should promote material well-being this should not be at the cost of cultural values. Economic development and the tribal cultures are not in conflict. It is possible to achieve development for tribal people and still retain elements of their culture which are a matter of pride not only to them but to all of us in our country. We have inherited a rich and varied cultural life and it should be our endeavour to uphold it wekile marching on the road to deve lopment. This training programme for trainers of tribal develop ment and administrators jointly organized by the Training Division and the Tribal Development Division was designed mainly to sensitize trainers and tribal development adminis trators to cultural dimension in the development process. It also laid stress on how to use resources effectively for the benefit of the tribal people. Proceedings of the training seminar and the papers written for the occasion have been assembled in this book in the hope that all those who are interested in the subject would get an opportunity to share widely the thinking of the small group of trainers and experts who contributed so much to the success of this training seminar on a theme of great current interest.