Committee on Condition of Tribals

The Government had set up a high-level Committee to look into the current socio-economic, health and educational status of tribals in the country. The committee was headed by Prof. Virginius Xaxa.

The objective of Committee was to prepare a position paper on the present socio-economic, health and educational status of Scheduled Tribes and suggest a way forward. The Committee’s objective was also to suggest policy initiative as well as effective outcome-oriented measures to improve development indicators and strengthen public service delivery to STs and other tribal population. The Committee had submitted its report on 29th May, 2014.

Key Findings

• As per the report, tribes are among the poorest and most marginalised sections of Indian society. Although numerically only about 8.6%, they disproportionately represent the people living below the poverty line, are illiterate and suffer from extremely poor physical health.
• As a part of the nation-building process, tribal areas have witnessed large-scale development of industry, mining, infrastructure projects such as roads and railways, hydraulic projects such as dams and irrigation. These have been followed by processes of urbanisation as well. The overall impact of these on tribes has been often loss of livelihood, massive displacement and involuntary migration.

Tribals Displaced

• The report says that about 40% of all people displaced in India due to development activity have been tribals, even though they constitute less than 10% of the total population.
• Only 21.16% of these have been resettled. What the State is actually pursuing in tribal areas - apart from North-East India - is assimilation rather than integration. A policy of integration would provide space for protections and safeguards for their distinct identity, as enshrined in the Constitution.
• The report also criticised the State-led development strategy. The protests against land alienation are met with large scale criminal charges against tribals. Laws and rules that provide protection to tribes are being routinely manipulated and subverted to accommodate corporate interests.

Recommendations

• No tribal land should be alienated without the consent of the tribal gram sabha (village council).
• Mining in their land should be carried out by tribals themselves.
• The whole process of displacement should be democratic and rights of tribal communities to say ‘no’ to acquisition of their land and to access and manage forests and other common property resources be recognised.
• The panel asked for strict implementation of the new land law, Forest Rights Act and the strengthening of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act.
• The committee recommended greater, stronger and strict implementation of the Forest Rights Act. The rights of tribals over many of their common property resources outside the forest areas must be recognised.
• Even government’s acquisition of tribal land should be done with their prior consent.
• Laws and policies enacted by the Parliament and state legislatures should not be automatically applied in the Fifth Schedule areas.
• It has advised an overhauled structure and powers of the Tribes Advisory Councils to give them more teeth and make them work for welfare of these communities.