Introduction:
The tribals are relatively isolated and live at various stages of economic, technical and cultural development. The overall development of tribal communities depends largely upon the consideration of their problems and programmes carried accordingly. Considering the socio-economic conditions of the tribals, geographical location of tribal areas, and keeping in mind sociopolitical issues of the state, various approached by the religious missionaries, social reformers and anthropologists have been evolved to develop the tribal people in India.
Religious Approach
(a) The basic thrust of this approach is to assimilate tribals into a religious culture which, in turn, helps breaking their isolation and passivity and joining them with the national mainstream, the missionaries of various denominations have been involved in the activities of conversion on while undertaking certain reformative measures for tribal people. (b) The religious agencies like Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Luther Mission, the catholic Mission, are worth mentioning. These agencies have been carrying out massive conversion activities in central India and north-eastern India. The missionaries have tried to understand tribal culture and language for the sake of its assimilation to the culture of Christian Church. The Hindu religious bodies have also attempted to assimilate tribal into a Hindu framework.
Criticism
But the tribal religion is perceived as ‘animism’ in its various degrees of manifestation within the tribal community. Tribals live in their own religious world, practising some distinct and typical religious rituals and are considered is having a separate religious identity. The conversion of tribes by religious agencies generate a crisis of their identity and ethnicity, and it has often disrupted the tribal cultural fabric or social solidarity.
Voluntary Agency Approach:
- (a) This approach aims at the promotion of standard of living and social awareness among the tribal people. The voluntary works in the tribal areas are undertaken by social workers, reformers and other social movement agencies.
- (b) The notable voluntary social service organisations are: Indian Red Cross Society, All India Backward Classes Federation, Indian Council for child Welfare, Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh, Bharatiya Depressed Classes League, Orissa Adivasi Congress, Bihar Adimjati seva Mandal, etc.
- (c) These organisations claim that they have no vested interests in rendering social services or extending economic benefits to the tribal people.
- (d) They function in both official and non-official spheres.
Political Approach:
(a) This approach emphasizes the participatory role of tribals in various levels of politics, administration and nation-building. This was considered significant to improve the administrative situation in the country. The [political approach has not only included policy-making and providing suitable constitutional safeguards for the tribal people, but also a vast administrative structure for tribal welfare. This can be understood in the context of the pre-Independence and the post-Independence period. The British demonstration dealt with the tribals as basically ‘law and order’ problem keeping them isolated from the mainstream of national life. After Independence the Constitution of the tribal people in the national mainstream. To promote the integration of tribal with rest of India, the Constitution provided special safe guard and facilities to this section by way of protective discrimination for a period of ten years. This time period has been extended subsequently.
Anthropological Approach:
The anthropologists have dealt with the problems of tribals in different ways and tried to find out possible solutions. They happened to be concept about the problems of integration and isolation. Elwin’s concept of ‘park land, brought about a break through and initiated a debate,. His view was refuted by Ghurye and others who argued for the assimilation of tribals into the Hindu fold. Elwin changed his earlier version of cultural segregation and emphasized a careful planning for tribal development. Applied anthropology in India seeks the cooperations of social welfare workers, applied anthropologists and administrative staff for the effective implementation of plans and programmes for the development of tribals. Anthropologists have laid emphasis on the proper understanding of tribal community, their social organisations and tribal culture.
They hold view that no meaningful development projects may be formulated without a through knowledge of socio-cultural base and the physical environmental of the people concerned. Above all, this approach looks for a composite culture and greater area of integration of the tribes.
The above-mentioned approaches find support in the three important theories, namely, (i) theory of isolation, (ii) theory of assimilation and (iii) theory of integration. The protagonists of these theories look into the tribal problems in their respective ways.
(i)Theory of Isolation
This theory of isolationism is widely known as ‘National Park theory’ popularised by Elwin. He suggested that ‘the first necessity of the establishment of National Park, in which not only the Baiga but thousands of simple Gonds in their neighbourhood might take refuge. A fairly large area was to be marked out
for this purpose. The area should be under the direct control of tribe’s commissioner who should be an expert standing between them and legislature”. In short, the administration was to be ‘so adjusted as to allow the tribes-men to live their lives with utmost possible happiness and freedom. No missionaries of
any religion were to be allowed to break up tribal life.
Verrier Elwin in his book, The Baiga (1939), advocates establishment of a sort of ‘National Park’ in a wild and largely inaccessible part of country under direct control of a tribal commissioner. Inside this area, administration should allow tribesmen to live their live with utmost possible happiness and freedom.
Wide power would be given to old tribal council and authority of village headman would be established. Non-tribal settlings in this area would be required to take out license. No missionaries of any religion would be permitted to break up tribal life. Everything possible would be done for the progress of tribals within this area, provided the quality of tribal life would not be impaired. Tribal culture would not be destroyed and tribal freedom would be restored and maintained. Tribe’s contact with outsiders should be minimised. Economic development would be given high priority. Simple and need oriented education would be given to tribal people. Fishing and hunting would be freely permitted and dictatorship of subordinate officials within the area should be eradicated.
Tribal population in India belongs to various stages of cultural development. Verrier Elwin in his book ‘The Aboriginals’(1943) divides Indian tribes into four classes according to their stage of cultural development.
1. Class I is the purest of pure tribal groups comprising about two or three million persons. Elwin and a large section of missionary reformers and anthropologists grow lyrical over the robust, vibrant and healthy life of this tribal group. According to Elwin, these highlanders do not merely exist like so many villagers, they really live. Their religion is characteristic and alive, their tribal organisation is un-impaired, their artistic and choreographic traditions are unbroken, and their mythology still vitalises healthy organisation of tribal life. Geographical conditions have largely protected them from debasing contacts of the plains. It is said that the hoot of the motorhorn would sound the knell of the aboriginal tribes.
2. A section of the above category of tribes has been experiencing contact with plain and consequently undergoing change. This group is coming under class II of Elwin’s classification. Though such group retain its tribal mode of living it may exhibit many contrasting characteristics with the first group. Instead of communal life this group lives a village life which has become individualistic. Their communal life and traditions are only preserved through their village dormitories. They do not share things with one another. Axe cultivation has ceased to be a way of life for them. Members of these tribes are more contaminated by life outside. They come in contact with groups living on periphery who live a more complex i.e. civilised life. Members of these tribes are less simple and less honest than members of tribes belonging to class I.
3. Tribe belonging to class III constitutes the largest section of total tribal population, about four-fifth of it, i.e. nearly twenty millions. Members of this class of tribal groups are in a peculiar state of transition. They bare tribal in name but have become as like as Hindus who belong to lower rung of Hindu society. One section of this class has got converted into Christianity. This group of tribes has been appreciably affected by external contacts. They have been exposed to influence of economic and socio-cultural forces of Hindu society. They have also subjected to missionary influences. But above all, they have been most adversely affected by the economic and political policies of the British which resulted in their being dragged into orbit of colonial-capitalist system in India. Members belonging to this category of tribal groups were uprooted from their mode of production in same way as were millions of cultivators and artisans living in the multitude of autarchic of villages of pre-British India from their self-sufficient, self-contained village community setting.
During British period under impact of new economic and politicoadministrative measures these tribesmen lost their moorings from their economy, social organization and cultural life. A large section of this population was reduced to status of bond slaves or agrestic serfs of money- lender, zamindar and contractor who emerged due to political and economic policy pursued by British. Another section was reduced to category of near to slave labourer working on plantation, mine, railway or road construction or other enterprise. They were uprooted from their habitat and condemned to a wretched existence.
A number of these tribes were branded as criminal tribes as their members could survive only by criminal means. They lost their land and occupation and had no alternative means to subsistence because of economic and political exploitation of British.
4. Class IV tribals consists of old aristocracy of country, represented today by great Bhil and Naga Chieftains, Gond Rajas, a few Binshevar and Bhuyia landlords, korku noblemen, wealthy Santal and Uraon leaders and some highly cultured Mundas. They retain their own tribal names, clan and totem rules. They observe elements of tribal religion despite of adopting full Hindu faith and live in modern or even European style. According to Elwin, tribals of this class have won the battle of cultural contacts. It seems that they have acquired aristocratic traditions, economic stability, affluence, outside encouragement, a certain arrogance and self-confidence characteristic alike ancient families and modern enterprise. This class of tribals has secured benefit of civilisation without injury to themselves.
Elwin observes, whole aboriginal problem is to how to enable tribesmen of the first and second classes to advance direct into the fourth class without having to suffer the despair and degradation of the third. For this purpose, Elwin advocates policy of isolation. He feels it is important to give some protection to tribal people in transition period during which they must learn to stand on their own feet and become strong enough to resist those who exploit them. In his book ‘A Philosophy of NEFA’ he advocates for development of tribes residing in remote areas of North-East Frontier and suggests for spending a great deal of money to eradicate their poverty, degradation and unhappiness.
This approach has been attacked by nationalist leaders and social workers. According to them, tribals should not be kept isolated from the rest of the nation like domestic cattle or zoo exhibits. They are equal citizens of free India. They have contributed towards the country’s advancement they are entitled to share the fruits of development.
(ii)Theory of Assimilation
Nationalist politicians and social workers like A.V. Thakkar advocated the theory of assimilation. Ghurye is also a protagonist of this theory. Isolationists aimed at keeping the aborigines in the areas untouched by the civilisation of the plains, because they believed that the contact with the Hindus would break tribal solidarity, and social evils of untouchability, early marriage, and purdah would be introduced . Thakkar strongly objected it and he pleaded for the policy of assimilation. He wrote: “aborigines should form part of the civilized communities of our country not for the purpose of swelling the figures of the followers of this religion or that, but to share with the advanced communities the privileges and duties on equal terms in the general social and political life of the country. The protagonists of this theory advanced the view that tribes should be assimilated with their neighbouring non-tribal cultures. Govind Sadashiv Ghurye in book ‘The Scheduled Tribes’ 1959 describes nature of assimilation of tribes in wider Hindu society. Like Elwin, Ghurye also divides tribes into three sections.
- 1. First section is constituted of Rajgonds and others who have successfully fought the battle and are organised as members of fairly high status within Hindu society.
- 2. Second category is large mass that has been partially Hinduised and has come to closer contact with Hindus
- 3. Third, the hill sections, which has exhibited the greater power of resistance to the alien cultures that have passed upon their border.
A large number of tribes in India, according to Ghurye, Santal, Munda, Oraon, Kond, Gond and Korku speak languages which either belong to Kherwari or Mundari group of languages or to Dravidian family. These languages are, more often than not, different from languages of plains people among whom tribals have larger social intercourse. Languages of latter in most cases belong to IndoAryan family. Many of these tribes, though they have preserved their tribal languages, can and do employ Indo-Aryan languages of surrounding people in their routine intercourse. Many of them thus are bi-lingual, having their own mother-tongue and having more or less acquired languages of neighbouring people. There are others, like Baigas, who have taken up Indo-Aryan tongue of the locality in place of their own language. Others like Bhils speak languages which are dialect of local languages. In all case language spoken by so-called
aborigine were till recently not spoken tongue and no script of their own. Tribal solidarity, according to Ghurye, has been broken by two distinct agencies. One is Hinduism and its assimilative process and other is British policy. Hindu assimilation makes tribes not so absorbed rather weak and benumbed under feeling of brokenness. If section of tribes gets assimilated in Hindu fold they are ushered into an altogether strange social world. Hindu castes, at least many of them, have characteristics of tribal society as regards to management of internal affairs. Tribal sections on joining Hindu society develop an internal organisation of caste pattern, and thus have been regulating and controlling power within them. Many of tribes get smugly settled into Hindu fold. Moreover, Ghurye is of view that British rule particularly its revenue collection pattern; its central police system and judicial system have broken solidarity of tribal society in India.
According to G.S Ghurye tribal people in India are backward Hindu differing only in degree from the other segment of Hindu society. Their backwardness is due to their imperfect assimilation into Hindu society. Tribes of India have slowly absorbed certain Hindu values and life style through contact with Hindus. Under Hindu influence tribes have given up liquor drinking, they received education and have changed their practices and habits and adopted Hinduism as their religion. The policy of assimilation was followed by various religious organisations in order to spread values of their respective religions. The missionaries tried to understand tribal culture and learnt their languages in order to raise their status in terms of a Christian identity. A considerable effort has been undertaken to assimilate the tribal people under the guidelines of social culture of caste Hindus. Commercialisation of tribal economy, acculturation under excessive politicisation of tribal people along the lines of regional chauvinism and separatism are factors which inhibit their assimilation into the mainstream.
Assuming the position of tribe at various stages of development the objective of tribal development policy is suggested to bring a progressive advancement of the tribals with and accent on their integration and putting them on an equal footing within a reasonable distance of time. L.P. Vidyarthi recommends the integration of the tribes in regional and nation setting. The notion of ‘unity in diversity’ is to be constituted as the base of the Indian culture for the purpose of national setting. There are varieties of tribal culture in terms of tribal customs, traditions and religions. Even the unity of tribal culture may be come more difficult than the unity of diversity. It logically follows that the integration of the tribals must be taken at regional levels before the integration takes place at national setting.
Theory of integration
D.N. Majumdar has put forward a philosophy and programme of tribal welfare. He called it as creative or generative adaptation. He says that it is not possible to ignore the entire tribal population and leave them to their own fate. It is not also possible to completely assimilate them in the Hindu culture. Therefore, a gradual transformation of the tribal population is the best policy. We should try to help them in assimilating in their own way of life the elements of alien culture which they readily accept. This view was also supported by social reformers and voluntary organisations.
Panchasheel Approach:
Jawaharlal Nehru in his manuscript “Discovery of India” supported this policy of integration. Though his concept is mainly influenced and drawn from his Panchsheel principle, Nehru categorically rejected both isolation and assimilation approach of tribe. According to him isolation approach to treat tribal as ‘museum specimen to be observed and written about’ signifies insult to them. Tribe cannot be left cut
off from world as they are. Isolation is in any case is impossible at this stage of underdevelopment due to outsiders’ penetration. To him, assimilation approach of allowing tribes ‘to be engulfed by masses of Indian humanity’ is also wrong. This would lead to loss of their virtuous social and cultural identity as well as there is possibility of capturing tribal land and forest by unscrupulous outsiders. Life of tribal will be in threat in such a position. Instead of these two approaches, Nehru favours policy of integrating tribal people in Indian society and to make them an integral part of Indian nation without hampering their distinct identity and culture. Policy of integration consists of two types of measures for tribal development. These are Protective measure and Promotional measure. After independence Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid down a Panchsheel principle for tribal development in India.
Nehru mentioned the following five fundamental principles for tribes.
- (i) The tribal people should develop along the lines of their own genius and we should avoid imposing anything on them.
- (ii) Tribal rights in land and forests should be protected
- (iii) We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the work of administration and development. Some technical personnel from outside will, no doubt, be needed, especially in the beginning. But we should avoid too many outsiders into tribal territories.
- (iv) We should not over-administer these areas or over whelm them with a multiplicity of schemes. We should rather work through, and not in rivalry to their own social and cultural institutions.
- (v) We should judge results, not by statistics nr the amount of money spent, but by the quality of human character that is evolved.
Conclusion:
G.S Ghurye’s makes well-known analysis of Scheduled Tribe problem. His anthropological inclinations naturally brought tribes close to his heart. Inspired by the work of his students, Ghurye writes on grand theme of ‘Integration of Tribals’ in 1943 and it is essentially in reply to ‘isolationist’ approach of Verrier Elwin, which forms basis of British colonial policy. G.S Ghurye views that only solution to the problem is their progressive assimilation with the farmers and peasants of the adjoining districts. He has vision to conclude that the major problems of the tribals are never different from the problems of poor rural people in general. In subsequent editions of the book ‘The Scheduled Tribes’, G.S Ghurye becomes critical of independent India’s government policy which sows seeds of disintegration by its internally contradicting step of laying down integrationist approach in constitution and on other hand promoting fission by giving importance to idea of Scheduled Areas. Meanwhile, Nehru was appreciating the corporal and communal life among tribes. But he failed to augment the process of planning which would have expanded their community life. The activity of the welfare state destroys the value of community. The philosophy of individualism and the politics of competition weaken the vitality of progress and fellow-felling. After all, culture cannot maintain its isolated entity for all the time to come. It has to be moulded by the social and historical process of life. Nehru’s orientation cannot succeed to protect communal life among tribal communities when the system of production is leading towards the individualistic and mechanical form of social life. The process of tribal development should generate the feeling of self-help in the minds of tribal people. The process of development should ensure the self employment of the toiling tribal masses. It warrants the rigorous study of evolution of tribal political economy in relation with the political economy of India. An alternative policy is to be found out for the elimination of various processes of domination and cultural hegemony of ruling social classes. Otherwise, it is impossible to trace out the multiple structures of exploitation in the tribal areas. The policy has to wipe out the structures of exploitation, which block the progress and freedom. Our commitment must be directed against any sort of activities which would destroy the aspirations of tribal masses for the attainment of a society based on an egalitarian social order. They have a role to play for the construction of a society based on equality, justice and freedom.