Tribal development and its administration

This volume has been divided into four parts and papers assigned to each part according to whether they deal with general issues, strategies, training programmes and institutions, implementation and case studies. The focus of the volume as a whole is necessarily on Tribal Development and Administration.

Part I deals with General Issues, Anthropology, Adminis tration and Development. The field here is held, as it were, by anthropologists. Professor Vidyarthi's main thrust in his paper "The Cultural Factors in Development Process" is the overwhelming need for planners and administrators to bear in mind the cultural background and life-styles of such tradition bound societies. The concept of Nature-Man-Spirit complex epitomizes the life-styles of tribal communities and this can be ignored only at the risk of making planning programmes go off the rails with disastrous results.
Part II discusses the strategies of development. Bhupinder

Singh deals in a competent manner and quite comprehensively

with the problems of development among the major tribes and

the strategy evolved to deal with them. Extensive notes and a select reading list should prove useful to both researcher and administrator. B.K. Roy Burman, brings to bear his academic and

analytical mind in suggesting strategies of tribal development. K.K. Srivastava's paper focuses on the planning aspects of tribal development and the strategies that could be formulated based on earlier experiences during the Plan periods. Hari Mohan Mathur presents a very strong case for strengthening administrative capability for the development of tribal regions which could be ignored at the cost of the very administration itself.Part III contains four excellent papers by K.K. Srivastava, G.S. Grewal, S.M. Shah and S. Patankar on training pro grammes for the functionaries and personnel involved in tribal administration. Evaluation techniques have also been discussed and scientific management principles have been brought to bear on the subject of development administration. The right note is struck by S. Patankar in his paper where he says "The tribals themselves should be allowed to decide change and the development administration should only help the tribals to develop the ability to grasp the implication of change".

Part IV gives a wider perspective to tribal development. Beginning with S.K. Sharma's article which looks at the administrative issues involved in the problem of tribal under development, we pass on to L.M. Prasad's comprehensive survey of administration in tribal areas with special reference to Bihar. Extremely well-documented, the paper ends on the note: "Let the tribals feel that the administration is for them.