Adivasis at the bottom rung of India’s development pyramid finds Tribal Development Report 2022

Subject : Governance

Context:

The Tribal Development Report 2022, launched by the Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) in two volumes, claims to be the first of its kind since 1947.

Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF)-

The BRLF was set up by the Union Cabinet on September 3, 2013, as an independent society under the Union Ministry of Rural Development to scale up civil society action in partnership with central and state governments.

About the report-

The report focuses on the status of tribal communities at an all-India level and central India in particular, concerning livelihoods, agriculture, natural resources, economy, migration, governance, human development, gender, health, education, art, and culture.
India’s tribal communities form 8.6 per cent of the country’s population according to the 2011 Census.
Central India is home to 80% of the tribal communities in the country.
The report combines data from government sources, case studies, archival research, and interviews on crucial dimensions of tribal lives and livelihoods.
The goal is to inform stakeholders, including key policymakers, practitioners, activists, and academics, to help understand the scope of tribal issues.
The report focuses on the overarching theme of livelihoods for tribal communities from central India.
It presents a status report on the overall macroeconomic situation, agriculture, land, energy, and water use, especially groundwater management.

Report findings-

The indigenous communities of India have been pushed farther away from alluvial plains and fertile river basins into the harshest ecological regions of the country like hills, forests, and drylands.
Of the 257 Scheduled Tribe districts, 230 (90 per cent) are either forested or hilly or dry. But they account for 80 per cent of India’s tribal population.
Adivasi sub-districts belong to a larger contiguous backward region or Adivasi belt, which goes beyond the frozen administrative categories of state, district and sub-district.
After the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act in 1980, the conflict came to be seen as between environmental protection and the needs of local Adivasi communities, driving a wedge between people and forests.
It was in the National Forest Policy of 1988 that domestic requirements of local people were explicitly recognised for the very first time.
The Policy emphasised safeguarding their customary rights and closely associating Adivasis in the protection of forests.
But the movement towards a people-oriented perspective has not been matched by reality on the ground.

Schedule tribes-

The Constitution of India does not endeavour to define the term ‘tribe’, however, the term Scheduled Tribe’ was inserted in the Constitution through Article 342 (i).
It lays down that ‘the President may, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within the tribes or tribal communities or parts which shall, for the purposes of this Constitution, be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes.
The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution provides for the setting up of a Tribes’ Advisory Council in each of the States having Scheduled Areas.

What are the Essential Characteristics for a Community to be Identified as Scheduled Tribe?