Entrepreneurship among tribals

The tribals of Rajasthan as elsewhere in the country do not have traditional occupations on the pattern of caste Hindu hereditary occupations. Since earliest times, forest has been their lone source of livelihood. They took to settled agriculture hardly about a century back. In contemporary India with the increasing process of deforestation and the fragmentation of agricultural land the tribals are exposed to new avenues of earning the livelihood. Though, some of them who have attained some degree of education have entered into government services, a large number of them have specialised in agriculture by taking to entrepreneurial development.

Entrepreneurship is an unorthodox venture for the tribals. In the wake of development they have taken to new crops, commercialization and mechanisation in their agricultural practices. Besides introducing high yielding varieties in agriculture, they have adopted to certain new crops such as sericulture and social forestry. The economic transformation which the tribals are witnessing today leads them to a capitalist economy. Capitalism has created class stratification among the tribals. The present enquiry provides focus on the emergence of capitalism among the tribals and its social consequences on class formation.