Empowerment of Primitive Tribal Women of the Nilgiris

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Meaning of "Tribe" The word "tribe" is derived from the Latin "tribus", which means a group of persons forming a community and claiming descent from a common ancestor. To put in place in the emerging context, a well-understood and comprehensive meaning for the word "tribe" has been offered by Majumdar in his well-researched study. According to him, "a tribe is a collection of families, bearing a common name, members of which occupy the same territory, speak the same language and observe certain taboos regarding marriage, profession or occupation and have developed a well-assessed system of reciprocity and mutually of obligation". In other words, these tribal people are "a community of indigenous people endemic to a particular region and living a life that remains pretty much the same since the time of their predecessors". They were first identified and located mostly during the British colonial times across India. Scheduled Tribes in India For the first time, in the 1931 Census of India, a systematic character of designating and scheduling the tribes took its form. It was followed by the preparation of list of "backward tribes' in 1936. When the new Constitution of Independent India was adopted in 1950, the President of India also promulgated a list of "Scheduled Tribes" It was more or less in congruence with the list of "backward tribes" prepared under the colonial administration. Thereafter, the scheduling of tribes and also other backward communities has been a recurrent process in modern India. To ensure fundamental rights of humans and to render social justice to the disadvantaged, discriminated and exploited, the above task has been undertaken by both the Central, State and Union Territory governments in independent India. The origin of India's indigenous people officially called Scheduled Tribe have been traced to races such as the Proto-Australoids who at one time practically covered the whole of India.. The President of India by his special power granted by the Constitution of India, declared some indigenous groups of our country as "Scheduled Tribe" in 1950 (under Article 342 of the Constitution of India) According to the website of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, for a community to be identified as "tribes" or "Scheduled Tribes", they should display the following characteristics, indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, shyness of contact with community at large, geographical isolation, and backwardness. As per the Census of India, 2011, there are 705 tribes as Scheduled Tribes and among them 75 tribes are recorded as primitive tribes. They inhabit in 26 States and four Union territories, more than half of the Scheduled Tribe population is concentrated in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkand. The remainder of the Scheduled Tribes population are found in small numbers in the states like Punjab, Haryana, North Eastern Hill region, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh as also in the Union Territories of Pondicherry, Delhi and Chandigarh. They live in about 15 per cent of the country's land in various ecological and geoclimatic conditions ranging from plains, forests, hills and in inaccessible areas. Their total population in the country is 1,21,05,69,573 (2011 census), out of which 10,42,81,034 belong to Scheduled Tribe population and among them 5,24,09,823 are males and 5,18,71,211 are females and, by and large, the sex composition among Scheduled Tribes is nearly equal. Further, according to the 2011 census, there are 24,94,54,252 households, of which 2,14,67,179 households belong to Scheduled Tribes population. The tribal population of India constitutes 8.6 per cent of the total population of the country. The decadal growth rate of their population during 2001-2011 is 23.7 per cent which is higher than India's total decadal growth of 17.6 per cent. Primitive Tribal Groups in India Seventy-five tribal groups or communities have been identified and designated as Primitive Tribal Groups in the country. The Primitive Tribal Groups are considered as special category in view of their distinctly different social, cultural and occupational practices and traits. They are distinguished from their tribal communities with regard to their pre-agricultural economy, extremely low level of illiteracy and isolated habitation. During the Fifth Five Year Plan (1973-1978), it was decided by Government of India to plan and implement specifle development programmes focused on the all round development of the Primitive Tribes Today these primitive tribes are also known as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group as declared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India General Condition of Tribals in India Inequality in India operates on multiple areas of gender, class, caste, region, religion and ethnicity. But perhaps, the worst suffering is of India's tribal people who suffer a double whammy of both disadvantages region and ethnicity. The women among them, who naturally shoulder the responsibility of maintaining family and in that sustenance of ethnic identity, suffer most from disease, ill-health and poverty. Official data on all indicators of development reveal that India's tribal people are the worst off in terms of income, health, education, nutrition, infrastructure and governance. "They have been unfortunately at the receiving end of the injustices of the development process itself. Around 40 per cent of the 60 million people displaced following development projects in India are tribals, which is not a surprise given that 90 per cent of our coal and more than 50 per cent of most minerals (including forest produce) and dam sites, are mainly in tribal regions"." Within the category of Scheduled Tribes, of whom 75 are part of the subclassification, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG), a small cluster of groups. These groups face an acute crisis of survival, evident in their rapidly dwindling numbers. Therefore, they are in need of special protection even within the larger Scheduled Tribe category, protected in relation to non-tribal communities as well as in relation to other tribal communities.

BS Chandrababu retired from the School of Historical Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, as Professor, Head & Chairperson. He served as a visiting professor for one year, followed by a two-year stint as a UGC Emeritus Professor in the same department of the university. He served as Indian editor to six volumes of Encyclopedia on Daily Life Through History, published by Greenwood Publishing Group, USA, in 2002. His area of specialization includes socio-economic history, as well as issues related to women, Dalits, and marginalized groups in society. He has authored fourteen well-researched books and edited six volumes, and he has also successfully completed eleven research projects. His significant publications include: Social Protest in Tamil Nadu (1993), Battered Women of Madras (1998), Subaltern Revolts in Tamil Nadu (2001), The Land and People of Tamil Nadu: An Historical Overview (2003), Trade in Konguup to 16th Century A.D. (2003) along with L. Thilagavathi, Woman: Her History and Her Struggle for Emancipation (2009) along with L. Thilagavathi, and Essays on Societal History: Some Interpretations (2012). He is credited with the publication of forty-eight research articles in reputable journals. In all he has guided 44 Ph.D. scholars.

At the micro-level, the book analyses the roles of tribal women from six primitive tribal communities the Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Irulas, Paniyans, and Kattunayakans - in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. This analysis is set against various backdrops, including anthropological, historical, sociological, cultural, and ecological contexts, focusing on their contributions within their families and communities in their respective habitats. Based on information gathered from an extensive field survey and study using "participatory observation," the author reflects on "development-centric" issues and themes related to tribal women. This discussion does not exclude their male counterparts but prioritizes the needs and perspectives of women, which is a departure from a purely anthropological approach. The study is comprehensive, thorough, and covers essential aspects of primitive tribal life. It provides a wealth of data that has been systematically analyzed. The author identifies corrective measures and offers suggestions for empowering the targeted community, focusing particularly on the "tribal habitation center." This book is essential reading for anyone interested in gender specific tribal studies.