MODEL FOR TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT:A CASE STUDY OF JHARKHAND IN RURAL

INDIA

INTRODUCTION

THE PROBLEM

- Growing extremism in tribal areas as a result of absence of development.

- The state that used to be perceived as a ‘welfare’ state after independence has come to be experienced as a ‘terrorist’ state primarily by the marginalized sections of the society.

- The 'socialist' model of development enshrined in the constitution of India, implying equality and equity of each and every citizen of India no matter what caste, religion, and ethnic group one belonged to, has shifted to 'neo-liberal' model which favors the rich and neglects the poor.

Part I

BACKGROUND TO THE TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

- The British tried to bring tribals to the mainstream culture through certain policies

- Engaged revenue collectors, forest officials, and local people to collect data pertaining to these people

- The Forest Act 1927, meant to protect forests, went against the tribal as well as non-tribal communities dependent on the forests for their livelihood.

Development in the colonial period

Two schools of thought concerning the tribal development existed in the British period:

- Assimilation

The idea that the tribal development was possible by assimilating the tribals into the ‘mainstream’ India

-Isolation

To preserve the socio-cultural identity of the tribal societies and allowing them to develop according to their own indigenous knowledge system and practices

Development in the post-independence period (1947-1990)

- British policy of isolation was shifted to the integration model of tribal development

- Various conventional programs were started in the tribal areas for bringing about social and economic change among the tribal people.

- New direct and indirect measures were imposed to promote the integration of the tribals.

Five-Year Plans

First Plan 1951-56

- No special attempts- Certain schemes on education and welfare

Second Plan 1956-61

- Expenditure on economic upliftment raised from Rs. 4.32 crores to Rs. 16.86 crores- 43 Special Multipurpose Tribal Blocks (SMPT) established in ST areas

Third Plan 1961-69415 Tribal Development Blocks set up

Fourth Plan 1969-74

489 Tribal Development Blocks had come into existence

Fifth Plan 1974-78

Attention directed at:- areas of tribal concentration- dispersed tribals- Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG)

Sixth Plan 1980-85

Intensive Integrated Development (IID) and Modified Area Development Approach (MADA) under the Tribal sub-plan (TSP) for pockets of 10,000 tribal population of which at least 50 percent are scheduled tribes

Seventh Plan 1985-90

About 40 lakhs scheduled tribe families below the poverty line were targeted for economic assistance

Eighth Plan 1992-97

- Adequate emphasis was laid on agriculture and education of the tribals- Special schemes for the educational development of tribal women

Ninth Plan 1997-2002

Aimed to empower STs by creating a conducive environment for them to enjoy their rights and privileges at par with the rest of society.

Tenth Plan 2002-07

Focused on tackling the unresolved issues and providing opportunity for the tribals to empower themselves with the strength of their own potentials.

Five-Year Plans - contd.

As it can be seen, 63 years after independence and 10 five-year plans later, tribal development is still in question.

The main reason being there is no political will to implement good legislation for tribal development.

Draft National Tribal Policy

The draft national tribal policy tries to address the issues concerning lower Human Development Index, poor infrastructure, diminishing control over natural resource base, persistent threats of eviction from their habitat, exclusion from mainstream and economy in distribution of wealth and opportunities and non-empowerment and to place Scheduled Tribes on a progressive and constructive path and make them active partners in nation building

Part II

IMPACT OF THE PRESENT MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT

Contradictions and paradoxes of India:

Firstly, the old India and the new India - The India after Independence, the old India, was perceived by the Indians, particularly by the tribals, the peasants, and the marginalized sections of the society, as a socialist state.

- Today’s India seems to be on the side of the rich and the elite.

Secondly, the rich India and the poor India - This is the time when the country claims to have more than 8% economic growth. The irony, however, is that majority of the people, especially living in the rural areas, who are mostly tribals, are not benefiting from the development process. Hence, it appears as if there are two Indias—one is the India of the rich and the other is the India of the poor.

- There is scientific and technological progress on the one hand, however, very few people are benefiting from the process of development.

Thirdly, the mainstream India and subalternity - The dominant societies of India, those that are powerful and affluent economically, educationally, and politically, claim to be the mainstream.

- Minority societies across the country claim that they are the mainstream and that there is no need for them to be assimilated into the so-called national mainstream.

- The marginalized groups are the victims of various forms of violence and hence the claim of the country to be ‘civilized’ can be contested.

Fourthly, democracy of the rich and the democracy of the poor - India claims to be the largest democracy in the world but in fact there are two democracies in India - the democracy of the rich and the democracy of the poor.

- There are incidences of rampant displacement, migration, unemployment, land grabbing, and so on account of the so-called development.

- The worst affected are the women and children. In the last 60 years more than 60 million people have been displaced due to various ‘development’ projects. Of the total displaced more than 40% are tribals. Of the total displaced only 24% have been rehabilitated.

Fifthly, consciousness among marginalized people (peasants, tribals/indigenous peoples) - In the past Tribal/Indigenous Peoples/Peasant revolted against the British, the landlords, contractors and exploiters.

- At present, there is extremism/violence in tribal areas known as ‘Red corridor’ and many believe that this form of violence is the consequence of lack of development in tribal areas, their exploitation, and alienation of the natural resources and other means of livelihood.

PART III

DEVELOPMENT IN JHARKHAND: A CASE STUDY

- ‘Development’ in common parlance means progress and enhancement of people’s well being.

- Development is a process of transformation in the socio-economic life of the people—from poverty to general well being, from ignorance and illiteracy to knowledge and education, from ill health, hunger and disease to sound health and all round competence, and from oppressed and dehumanized situations to freedom and dignified life.

Small-scale development

- Small-scale development is a model that is people oriented, wherein there is no human deprivation or environmental and ecological degradation.

- Rather than having huge dams displacing millions of people, the small and medium-size check-dams are proposed, where there is no danger of any displacement.

-Other small-scale projects are in the areas of alternative measures of power generation such as the natural gas, the wind power and solar energy, wherever feasible.

Alternative development model suited to the tribals of Jharkhand

The small-scale community based development model is suitable for the tribals of Jharkhand for the following reasons:

1. In this model there is no land alienation or displacement because of the project.

2. This model is based on the value of community ownership. 3. People are taken into confidence right from the planning

stage up to the project’s implementation. The supporting agencies are in fact at the service of the people, who are the real masters and owners of the, project.

4. It is the people themselves who decide the system of project management. Village people are trained to supervise, repair, and maintain the unit. They also decide the mode of their contribution to the project and the distribution of electricity generated from their unit.

- Agriculture in Jharkhand portrays a backward economy, which has not made any significant departure from traditional mode of cultivation.

- There is a low crop yield and a semi stagnation of growth rate of production.

Factors accounting for backwardness of agriculture in Jharkhand are small increase in modern inputs like HYV seeds, irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides and farm implements.

Despite adverse geo-physical conditions, there exists a good potential for raising crop yields and agricultural diversification in Jharkhand. The state has a groundwater potential of 482 crores cubic meters per year, but only 4.1% of it has been exploited so far for irrigation.

Besides, canal irrigation could be harnessed from some rivers having enough water up to January-February like from Amanat, Auranga, Sankh and Ghaghra. Similarly, lift irrigation schemes could be used to improve agriculture in Jharkhand.

Horticultural products like pea, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, brinjal, and so on are dispatched not only to the regional markets (Ranchi, Jameshedpur, Lohardaga, Daltonganj, and Garwah) but also to distant regional centers like Calcutta, Rourkela, Bhilai, etc.

The extension of irrigation facility will further boost the cultivation of vegetables and also fruits like papaya, mango, and lichi.

The scientists of Birsa Agricultural University have discovered high yielding varieties of different crops yielding as much as 2-3 times higher, which was obtained by the farmers who used them.

Government-NGO network for agriculture development

The unique model of Government-NGO cooperation for agriculture development in Lohardaga District has been very impressive.

At the invitation of the District Administration of Lohardaga in 1992, an NGO called PRADAN, agreed to work in Kisko Block and signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding). The whole idea was to promote agriculture development through Self-Help Groups.

Assessment of the progress

1. Women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) and livelihood promotion linkage

- The SHGs facilitated to provide special purpose loans to meet the credit need of the SHG members apart from the normal lending of the SHG.

2. Agriculture Intervention

(a) Paddy - The objective of the paddy intervention was to improve the paddy yield of the farmers by availing the proper quality of the seed, motivating and training the farmers on nursery raising, transplantation, application of the fertilizers and pesticides.

(b) Maize - The objective of the program was to help the family of the SHG members to cultivate maize and pigeon pea (mixed cropping) with proper package and practices by helping the family in getting loans, getting quality inputs, building the skills and marketing the produces.

(c) Vegetables - The objective of the program was to build the capacity of the farmers in taking high profit year round, vegetable cultivation by motivating, training, linking them with the SHG for working capital needed and lending them with the seed shops for availing inputs.

3. Poultry

The team had the plan to do the following:

- Constructing 150 rearing sheds, 15 mother units and 1 warehouse cum training centre.- Increasing the number of rearers to 150 through selection and training.- Increasing the production efficiency

4. Dairy - There is a chilling plant having potential of 10,000 litres in Lohardaga, but it runs below its capacity. So it was proposed in Rashtriya Sram Vikas Yojna (RSVY) to work in Dairy with 600 families in collaboration with the District Dairy Development in 3 years.

PART IV

CONCLUSION

The Government-NGO cooperation has been unique for agriculture development in Lohardga through the promotion of SHGs. It has all the major components of agriculture development - cultivation of paddy, maize and vegetables as well as rearing of poultry and dairy farms. One must learn the process of development intervention from this model.

First, the need to identify the main problems and issues of the area in terms of agriculture development.

Second, the formation of SHGs and training for agriculture development.

Third, the inputs are provided and the agricultural activities are operationalized.

Fourth, the products are marketed.

The purpose of this paper has been threefold:

1. Understanding the concept of development, examining the current development scenario as per this understanding and making a new beginning or reinforcing the praxis if the process is already on.

2. Conceptual clarity is indeed very important in any development process. This is needed because of the changing situations and contexts that throw newer challenges. The lexicon of development also changes based oh new knowledge gained from experiences in the field not only in one’s locality but also in the country and across the country at large.

3. The two models of development presented in the discussion -- agriculture and mini-hydropower generation -- are examples to know how alternative development process can be initiated and how one can emulate them with local adaptations. There are umpteen numbers of models of development, taking place locally, nationally and internationally. One can certainly learn from them. The areas of development intervention are many—health, vocational training, entrepreneurship development, savings and credit and finance and marketing to mention a few.