Session 91 summary
Tribes: As per 2011 census, tribal communities cover about 10.43 crore- 8.6% of the total population and 89.97% of them live in rural areas and 10.03% in urban areas. Why there is the need to understand the term tribes, one needs to go back to the history to understand it. Their history goes back to the colonial times because before the colonial period they do not have recorded history, the pre-historic information or writing are all largely in their oral traditions. During British India, there were four important acts in relation to tribes in India: i) the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, whose implications were and is still being observed in the form of the ‘Inner Line Permit in the States of Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. ii) The Scheduled Areas Act 1874 that created the concept of geographical habitats to be ‘Scheduled Areas’. iii) The Government of India Act 1919 that gave birth to the concept of ‘Backward Tracts’ and iv) the Government of India Act 1935 72 that produced the concept of Excluded and Partially Excluded areas. In the new constitution of India that came into force on 26th January 1950 ‘territorial integration’ was fundamental -Fifth and Sixth Schedule. There are the 1873, 1874 and 1919 Acts as a part of old history but 1935 Act is very significant because it has implications in the Indian constitution which came after independence because the provisions of the Government of India Act 1935 which identifies tribal area as excluded and partial. Another important instrument is that one has to go back and trace the history in census. The colonial rulers/ British started census and when referred to those census, the word which they used to refer to the community or the groups of communities who are now known as tribes or Adivasi is notable. In 1871 census according to religion the British referred to the community as ‘other religion’ based on the faith, in 1881 they were coded as ‘aboriginal’, in 1891 they were coded as ‘forest tribe’, in 1901 and 1911 as ‘Animist’, in 1921 as ‘Primitive’ communities, in 1931 as ‘tribal religion’, in 1941 as ‘tribes’ and subsequently after independence, Independent India recorded the communities in 1951 as ‘Schedule tribe’. It can be seen that the word tribe or the communities, known as tribes or adivasis today, how the British colonial rulers have tried to categorise or record them as different terms throughout the years.
It is important to look at why today the significant communities are recorded as scheduled tribe after India became independent of colonial rule. Under the chairpersonship of L.M. Shrikant back in 1951 the first SC/ST National Commission was first formulated/formed and that commission identified the characteristics of backward classes in India and so they identified some of the traits of the so-called tribes/scheduled tribes/adivasis today. Subsequently Kalelkar committee was formed in 1953 and Lokur committee was formed in 1965, all these committees together have come up with five criteria which defines ST. These criteria are; indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness. For the present generation the same criteria is used to identify the person belonging to the ST community or not. Apart from ST, there is another set of communities in India who are called Nomadic Tribes (NT) who are basically the gypsies or the nomads. There are also Denotified nomadic tribes (DNT) which were actually categorised as criminal tribes by the 1871 Criminal tribe’s act which was enacted by the colonial rulers. The NT and DNT still exists and are mostly around Maharashtra and there is separate national commission for them. Some of these communities are demanding to be identified as ST e.g. Dangar community.
When looking at the British POV and the way they looked at tribes and look at India as a state after independence, broadly three important perspectives comes front; i) the first being the imperialist perspective i.e. during the British time they looked at tribes as communities who remain in isolation and that is why from 1873 onwards till 1935 the government of India Act identified those areas as isolated areas partially as tribal areas and partially as excluded area. So, what is seen today as the fifth and sixth schedule of our Indian Constitution, way back in 1935 Government of India act they had identified it as excluded area. The British kept these areas isolated and regulated the mobility of other people or their lives there. ii) After independence the nation-state/India-state came up with the perspective that ‘they are indeed Indians, they are backward Hindus and they need to be assimilated, they need to be integrated with the larger Indian society, larger Hindu society or larger dominant Indian society. So, immediately after independence the policy changed from isolation to assimilation and integration. This was the policy adopted by Post India, so the tribes which were considered to be isolated or away from the so-called larger dominant Hindu society, the policy contributors called these tribes as backward Hindus and they need to be assimilated with the dominant Indians as part of their customs, traditions and they should be mainstream of the dominant groups. Subsequently another concept came in called integration saying that to be able to bring in or to be able to have the neat path between the isolation and the assimilation that is integration, so to provide the protective and development measures and bring them as Indian as a part of the political India, not necessarily the cultural India but politically they should be part of India. Immediately after independence this policy was implemented which has continued till today. iii) During this entire time the tribal communities have been continuously stating that the adivasis are completely different from the Hindus- they have their own autonomy, they have been living since generations on their own land by depending on their land, their own territory and hence they do not want others to impose outside ideas, future, development, etc. to their society. So, there have been resistance, there have been demand for that autonomy or freedom and self-determination which is the Adivasi perspective/tribal perspective emerging on the basis of that resistance, assertion for autonomy and self-determination and the Jharkhand movement came from that perspective.
When it comes to tribes’ development and welfare there are 3 main actors which play an important role, the first being the state, because the state has the responsibility to take care of its citizens and the adivasis need a lot of that care, another actor is the industry/capitalist, many industries also came up saying that they are part of the Indian state and as a corporate they also have certain responsibility. Hence they started doing things apart from business like spending money for health, education, road building etc. And finally the third actor are the communities, non-state, non-industry or non-corporates i.e. the community based organization, voluntary organization, NGOs (not necessarily registered), they could be any of the groups and communities or individuals which are not part of the state. These three are main important actors who have played very significantly role in terms of general welfare or development of the country as well as the development and welfare of tribal population irrespective of the group, caste, creed they belong to. The three actors have played a very significant role also for the tribes.
From 1991 onwards, the country as a whole was introduced to new liberalism- new liberal policy, the LPG (liberalization, privatization and globalization). Earlier the state used to have the dominant role of taking care of the welfare of every poor marginalised sections, and the industry and non-industry groups had limited role. But after ‘91 when there was more privatization, commercialization and globalization, then the state started shrinking from its own role of taking care of the people. The state which was responsible for the welfare of people and the so-called tribes started withdrawing itself. So, it was seen that there was less fund allocations for health, education, etc. and the industry became more and more active because the space withdrawn by the state enlarges the space for the industry or the corporate. So, they became very powerful and started contributing more in the form of funds which were huge amounts of money dedicated for the development and welfare of the people in the mining affected areas.
All the Tribal Development policies and programmes were around the evolutionary purpose as tribes were backward, primitive and uncivilised, and so they were needed to be civilised, developed and they need to be brought at power with others, and based on that different kinds of development policies and protective policies were initiated. In our Indian constitution, 209 articles are relevant for the betterment and development of the adivasis. There are two special schedules the Fifth and Sixth Schedules dedicated for the tribes of the country and the policy of isolation to assimilation and integration which runs through which began after independence and still runs through. This policy guidelines gets reflected in all the welfare programs and development policies either done by the state, or the industry or by the voluntary organization. When looking at the tribal development or welfare of the tribes, many agencies or organizations have been working and any kind of development work has been through these agencies- government agencies or corporate agencies or non-government voluntary organization.
The group of the so-called social workers wanted to do something for the welfare of the poor, the marginalised, etc. and tribes became one of that group. So, it can be seen that, right from Gandhi’s time in the freedom movement and later in independent India, the Gandhians felt that now, with the same principle, the need to assimilate and integrate with the larger Indian society and so one of the first initial organization which arose was the Cooperative Indian Society and there was also another initiative taken called Ashram School which can be seen in many of the states. The Ashram School seen today is part of the Gandhian philosophy of educating tribes/adivasis so that they could have better social and cultural life and be a part of the better larger Indian society. At the same time there were many development programs for health, education, housing, road, toilet, etc. The question arises that whether it is part of the states work or whether it is a corporative initiative or an initiative of voluntary organizations. Everything became part of the so-called social work activities.
Why there is a need for a particular training for social work? Anybody who wants to help people teach social work. Social work started with helping the neighbours, to help the community neighbours who are in need and gradually when the Nation State came in, it became the state’s responsibility whether or not to provide services as part of the state policy in the institutions at the community level or individual level. In the same way everything became part of the state, the corporate and the voluntary organization initiatives which later became part of the state programs, part of the individual initiatives or voluntary initiatives (many voluntary organizations started working in the tribal area). The history of voluntary organizations with tribes goes back to the northeast where in the 19th Century, much before the German missionaries who came to Jharkhand, the American missionaries went to the northeast India where they started schools and subsequently the German missionaries came to the Chota Nagpur area and the Gandhian Ashram School concept came in and later there were many other initiatives which were influenced largely by the Gandhian philosophy. It is felt that the social work with the tribes is seen as patronising with a notion of developing the poor and needy or civilising the savages. This kind of perception which existed was brought in and reflected in all the welfare and development programs. One is called developed or thought of as developed if there is a toilet at home, if there is electricity at home, if they have a cement house, if there is a pakka road to the villages, if there is running water in the tap, etc. these can become the criteria for tribal development and it was adopted by social workers. Seeing that the tribal communities were poor and marginalised, so they have to be provided with infrastructure, they have to be educated and they have to be brought in power with others. So, way back in 1936 in India first professional training institution was started in India which is today known as Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Tata Institute of Social Sciences is the first institution in India to train young people in social work and there are about 700 university departments and colleges in the country where social work is taught as a profession. The question arises: is it necessary to train for social work? But at the same time anyone can do social work and that is absolutely correct. It can be seen that there are some basic practices which people having been doing in their day to day life –it is see that everything is being professionalised now with higher level of knowledge system, higher level of training, higher level of skills and monetized, so that if one is educated and trained with certain courses with certain knowledge system they are supposed to be paid for their service. Usually when talking about social worker then every politician is considered to be a social worker. But, currently there are about 700 colleges and university departments in the country and internationally it is recognised as one of the professions- helping professions or as part of the human service professions and where one gets educated how to work with people and how to work different groups of people. In the same way, for the adivasis, they had started that when they saw the large knowledge base and that it is dominated by the so-called dominant society, all the policies for the adivasis were developed by the non-Adivasi group. There is nothing wrong with someone else planning something good for them but if the other person looks at the tribal group from their lenses and tries to define what they are or what they should be then there is a problem. So, when a non-Adivasi person, based on their own local environment decides what is good and what is bad for the Adivasi group and people who have never understood the life of adivasis, never understood their whole culture, history and richness of the tribal society, then it becomes difficult to see whether they can decide what is good and bad for tribals. Therefore around 2005-2006 in Tata Institute Of Social Science began/started a course called ‘tribe centre social work’ or ‘social work with tribes’, such that this social work has to be based on the tribal perspective. The industry/corporates: By virtue of being rich with natural resources (forests, minerals, etc.) in the tribal area, it has become “Adivasi= Land-Forest-Water” i.e. wherever adivasis are present there will be land, forest and water. Tribals have that symbiotic relationship between the natural resources and the tribes, which is reflected in their celebrations, in their festivals, in their food, in their tongue/language and everything revolves around it- land, forest and water, all are economic activity, sources of food and drink, history, socio-culture, spiritual and political life, games and recreation revolve around nature. Because of the richness of resources especially for the land, water and minerals, large industrialization process can be seen in tribal areas. Wherever there are tribes and adivasis, there are minerals, so there are also industries and mines, so if there are industries and mines then obviously there is the loss of the land and displacement. Ever since independence, industrialization has become a part of our development policies and so construction of industries and mines has become a part of the definition of development. Earlier it was said that if you are educated, if you have a cemented house, have a running tap water, a toilet, a road to your house and children born in the hospital, then they have achieved the development indicated. On the other hand the tribal areas are developed if there are industries, there are mines, highways, roads and railways. In this kind of situation the challenge arises: how to define or who are to be defined as notion of tribes? At the same time the whole idea of development getting defined by the larger dominant society, which most of the time is largely harmful for the tribal society in India today, since the whole notion of development is based on or is driven by capitalism or neo-liberalism and how the land-forest-minerals in the tribal area could be maximised for the profit or appropriated for the profit irrespective to what happens to the tribe. In this situation we are talking about sustainable development goals which we are supposed to submit or globally they have set certain goals that are to be achieved by 2030, the SDG includes one of the important things globally talked about: climate change and traditional knowledge system and the kind of traditional practices with regard to food, resources, etc. Bipin feels that the whole world is going back to the tribal knowledge systems, tribal food system, tribal culture and the respect for the nature. In this kind of situation the culture, development, loss of identity/existence, all these things are to be questioned. And so, whether it is the state, the industry or professional social worker, all these three actors have the same notion or prospective with regard to the development or social work or welfare of the tribes. It is seen that there is a problem in the way the things are looked at, the way it is defined because everything is looked at from the top, everything is looked at from outside the tribes and not from the tribes themselves. Once the things are determined, defined and imposed on tribes then the so-called development/welfare then there is a problem. Any kind of work unless looking at what the reality is, the situation is, and unless it is analysed and understood, it cannot be said what is good, what should be good for them. With that argument, TISS has started the coursework ‘Tribal Social Work/Tribe Centred Social Work’, which is based on the tribal perspective, based on tribal worldview because when talking about tribal social work it has to be looked at from the tribal perspective- tribal lenses. Unless and until it is looked at as such it will be the social work of the dominant class- the non-tribals which is going to be imposed on adivasis or tribes, which may not be sustainable or appropriate for the tribes. So, that alienation from the society, culture and from our own identity, it is going to be there more and more unless that perspective is changed.
About the Speaker
Bipin Jojo
Dr. Bipin Jojo is a Professor in the Centre for Social Justice and Governance, School of Social Work at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He was a Common Wealth Visiting Fellow to School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London during 2008-09. He was a visiting professor to University of Tampree, Finland in 2018 and also delivered lectures at University of Bilbao, Spain and Masaryk University, Czech Republic. He served as the chairperson of Centre for Social Justice and Governance from 2006-2012. He. Also, served as the chairperson of International Relation Office at Tata Institute of Social Sciences from 2009-2012. During this period he was instrumental in establishing international academic collaboration with consortium of European Universities under Erasmus Mundus project funded by the European Union led by Lund University, Sweden. He was the co-researcher in the collaborative research project with University of Edinburgh and University of East London in United Kingdom funded by the British Council. He also worked in a collaborative research project on communities’ informal care and welfare systems with Charles Sturt University, Australia. His research on Tribal Education and Ashram Schools in Maharashtra has a made a significant contribution to tribal studies in India. He is the founding member of Tribal Intellectual Collective India. He is also associated with multiple community outreach initiatives and community based civil society organisations in India.
