Tribal peasantry dynamics of development

Studies focussing on individual tribes and on tribal welfare have proliferated. Yet few have provided insights into why, after three decades of governmental policies and pro grammes conferring special benefits and privileges to the Scheduled Tribes, the vast tribal population continues to be outside the mainstream of national development.

Approaching the problem from the root, the author begins by questioning the basic assumption made by researchers of the tribe as a close-knit homogenous unit, with communal ownership of property. He traces its origin to the lists of tribes prepared by the British for administrative purposes which have been uncritically accepted by Indian Sociologists. On the contrary, he maintains that tribes are actually as class ridden as the rest of Indian society. Selecting five villages in tribal Gujarat, he exposes their class structure of landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants, small peasants and farm workers. The part played by each class in the produc tive process is examined.

Of considerable practical significance is the analysis made of the ideology and impact of tribal welfare. Investigating the actual beneficiaries of tribal welfare programmes in the selected villages, he finds that barely 10 per cent of tribals have benefited. Within this group, it is usually the landlords and rich peasants who have profited more than the truly needy for whom the programmes were meant. Interestingly he notes that when asked for their suggestions, the tribals gave high priority to irrigation and land development reforms, though welfare pro grammes focus on employment and educat ion.

In examining the hitherto ignored political, economic and social realities of tribal society, this study offers invaluable insights to those engaged in tribal welfare program mes. edents And in exploring the historical antec of present-day concepts about "tribes", it provides a new base for anthro pologists and sociologists to make a more realistic appraisal of the social realities of tribal peasantry in India.