The tribal communities in India follow different economic practices such as hunting gathering by Chenchu, Muduva; pastoralism by Toda, Kurumba, Gujjars, Lambadi etc.; primitive agricultural practices by Maler, Juang, Dongria Kondhs, Baiga, Irula, and many north eastern Indian tribes; and plain agriculture by Bhil, Oraons, Irula (Attapady) Gond, Kondhs, Pradan, Munda, Santhal, etc. Agriculture irrespective of its different nature and practices is by large the backbone of tribal economy.
Different cultural practices are inherited by the tribal communities, many of which are largely attached with agricultural practices. Mahapatra’s (1982) study on Santhal in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa discussed the role of rituals and their linkage with agricultural production. Santhals celebrate number of festivals and rituals that are associated with the agricultural practices. There are large number of ethnographic studies by anthropologists like S.C. Roy’s study on the Mundas, the Orans, the Birhors and the Khariyas, Elwin, Verrier’s (1939) work on the Baiga, Haimendorf’s study on Rajgonds of Adilabad, Vidyarthi’s study on the Maler and many other studies which have discussed tribal agriculture, culture and economy
in particular ecological set up.
Agriculture in tribal areas is mainly characterised by low productive and subsistence type. Agriculture is practiced in different ecological set up. Technology used in agriculture is simple. The agriculture is mainly labour oriented. Various rituals are performed during the time of harvesting by different communities. With the introduction of various tribal development programmes, tribal sub plan, and later other integrated development programmes, agriculture in tribal areas is transformed from subsistence agriculture to market oriented agriculture. Horticulture and other cash crops are also grown in tribal pockets with the support of agricultural and horticultural schemes provided by the government. For example, Dongria Kondhs have adopted horticulture in the hilly areas. The Kondhs in Kandhamal district are growing vegetables crops as important cash crops. This has generated better economic support for the tribals. Irrigation and other agricultural schemes are launched in some tribal belts transforming rainfed agriculture to irrigated agriculture.
In many tribal areas you will see application of fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides for growing cash crops. But their application is still very limited as compared to their plain non tribal counterpart. In recent times, both tribal and non-tribal communities in India are influenced by development policies. There is hardly any community which is exclusively isolated from rest of the world. No community solely depends on primitive method of cultivation. The degree of access to modern technology varies among Indian tribes.
Some communities in India are well adopting modern technology such as Bhil and Gonds. Similarly, Kondhs also adopt modern technology. While shifting cultivation is looked at in suspicion, and is banned in many areas, the other forms of agricultural practices are taken up in many areas. Terraced cultivation instead of shifting cultivation in north east is gradually being a prominent practice. In some tribal areas, settled cultivation is becoming accepted widely with limited scope for shifting cultivation, population pressure and other income support mechanism. “Wolf argues that many societies which were habitually treated by anthropologists as static entities (bands, tribes, chiefdoms and states), were in fact produced and constructed in the course of the global expansion of capitalism. Wolf’s model of society and culture
depicts a continuing process of structuring, change and refashioning. In this process, the involvement of peoples in the expanding world is governed by the capitalist mode of production and is therefore primarily an economic and political process”