Tribes: Rooted in Culture, Rising in Strength

This editorial is based on “Centre’s outreach to tribal people can be starting point for bottom-up development. But it won’t be easy” which was published in The Indian Express on 26/06/2025. The article brings into picture the government's outreach to one lakh tribal villages through schemes like PM JANMAN and DAJGUA, while also highlighting persistent implementation challenges for the 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.

For Prelims: Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, PM JANMAN, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, Ulgulan movement, Eklavya Model residential schools, Forest Rights Act, Van Dhan Kendras.  

For Mains: Role of Tribes in Shaping India’s Heritage and Development, Key Issues Associated with Tribes in India.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs recently launched an ambitious outreach programme targeting one lakh tribal villages to ensure doorstep delivery of welfare schemes including  and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan. While the government has introduced multiple initiatives to bridge the developmental gap for tribal populations, particularly the 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, significant challenges persist in implementation. This latest campaign represents both an opportunity and a test of how this effort can effectively address the deep-rooted issues facing India's tribal populations.

How do Tribes Contribute to India’s Cultural Heritage and Socioeconomic Progress? 

• Cultural Sentinels of India’s Civilizational Identity: Tribes preserve India's intangible cultural heritage through their oral traditions, folk art, spiritual practices, and ecological worldviews.  
  • They serve as living links to India's prehistoric past and plural ethos. Their distinct lifestyles showcase India’s cultural continuity amid change.  
    • India officially recognizes 705 tribes, each with unique linguistic and artistic traditions (Census 2011). 
  • Example: The Gonds, one of the largest tribes, are globally known for Gond paintings — symbolic of nature-spirit fusion. 
• Original Inhabitants and Natural Custodians of Land: Tribal groups are rooted in India’s geography, often in forests and highlands, forming a civilizational bond between land and people.  
  • Their territorial affinity defines indigenous sovereignty and natural stewardship. 
  • Example: The Dangs of Gujarat resisted British entry to protect forests. In Hasdeo Aranya, the Gond and Oraon tribes are among the indigenous communities who have been resisting coal mining for a decade 
• Symbols of Resistance and Self-Rule in Indian History: Adivasis have long resisted external domination — from colonial rule to resource exploitation — asserting indigenous models of self-governance. Their struggle is central to India’s anti-colonial and decentralization narratives. 
  • Example: Birsa Munda’s Ulgulan movement challenged British land laws; Janjatiya Gaurav Divas commemorates this spirit. Tribals were involved in over 80 anti-colonial uprisings, including the Bhil, Kol and Santhal rebellions. 
• Ethical Counterpoint to Modern Consumerism: Tribal societies function on values of collectivism, non-accumulation, and harmony with nature — offering a powerful ethical contrast to extractive development. Their worldview represents alternative modernities India can learn from. 
  • Example: Galo of Arunachal Pradesh worships nature spirits and lives sustainably. 
• Pillars of National Integration in Strategic Borderlands: Tribes inhabiting remote and border regions strengthen India’s territorial integrity and cultural unity. Their presence in sensitive zones affirms India’s sovereign identity and fosters grassroots national belonging. 
  • Example: The Konyak Naga tribe, predominantly located in the Mon district of Nagaland near the Indo-Myanmar border, plays a significant role in the region's stability. 
• Shapers of India's Local Knowledge Systems: India’s indigenous medical systems, agricultural methods, ecological knowledge, and storytelling traditions have deep tribal roots. They enrich local epistemologies and diversify India’s intellectual heritage. 
  • Example: Bondas of Odisha still use traditional herbs and rituals for healing; tribal knowledge informs India’s biodiversity registers. 
• Architects of Communitarian Social Models: Tribes exhibit egalitarian social relations with collective land ownership, decision-making through tribal councils, and decentralized leadership — reflecting India’s indigenous democratic ethos. 
  • Example: Khasi tribes in Meghalaya follow matrilineal succession and community consensus. PESA Act (1996) constitutionalized such indigenous governance in Scheduled Areas. 
• Defenders of Pluralism and Tolerance: Tribal worldviews allow co-existence of animism, nature-worship, and polytheism — reinforcing India’s syncretic identity. Their inclusive spiritual ethos strengthens India’s secular fabric. 
  • Example: The Rabari tribe follows a syncretic blend of Hinduism and animistic beliefs.  

What are the Key Issues Associated with Tribes in India?  

• Land Alienation and Resource Displacement: Tribes continue to lose their ancestral lands to infrastructure, mining, and conservation projects, often without proper rehabilitation which can be interpreted from age-old demand to reclaim Jal, Jangal, Jameen.  
  • Land is central to tribal identity, culture, and survival. Legal safeguards like Forest Rights Act (FRA), are under-implemented and frequently diluted. Such displacement leads to food insecurity, livelihood erosion, and cultural uprooting. 
  • Over 38% of all claims over land made under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 till November 2022, have been rejected.  
• Lack of PESA Implementation and Weak Local Governance: Despite the PESA Act (1996), Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas lack de facto powers over natural resources and social justice.  
  • Bureaucratic overreach and state reluctance undermine tribal self-rule. Most states have passed diluted rules without empowering communities. This results in developmental decisions that clash with tribal values and needs. 
  • Only 10 PESA states have notified rules, but community control over forests, land, and markets remains tokenistic.  
• Educational Backwardness and Cultural Disconnect: High dropout rates stem from lack of mother-tongue instruction, cultural alienation, and irrelevant curricula.  
  • Schools in tribal belts often suffer from teacher absenteeism and poor infrastructure.  
    • Tribal knowledge systems are ignored, making learning disengaging.  
  • 1/3^rd Eklavya Model residential schools are non-functional due to incomplete building construction.  
    • Government data reveals Eklavya Schools are also falling short of the 5% PVTG quota, with dropout rates on the rise. 
• Health Deprivation and Systemic Gaps: Tribes face poor healthcare access, undernutrition, and high child mortality due to geography, poverty, and discrimination. 
  • Government health programs often miss tribal areas or are irregular. Traditional healing is undervalued, and mistrust of state health systems persists. This results in intergenerational health poverty. 
  • For instance, in Gujarat, the Dhodia, Dubla, Gamit, and Naika tribes have a high prevalence of sickle cell disease.  
  • According to the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016–2018), about 40% of under 5 tribal children in India were stunted (though witnessed improvement recently). 
• Economic Marginalization and Informal Dependency: Adivasis largely depend on minor forest produce and casual labour, with little value addition or financial resilience. 
  • They remain excluded from organized markets and formal finance. Exploitation by middlemen and lack of price awareness reduce income potential. Their economic life is still barter-like in many places. 
  • For instance, a 2023 survey from Jharkhand shows over 46% of tribal households fall below the poverty line, with around 50% of young women and 42% of young men migrating for work due to lack of local opportunities 
• Identity Erosion and Cultural Fragmentation: Tribal languages, belief systems, and rituals are vanishing under mainstream pressure and cultural dilution.  
  • Forced integration has blurred tribal distinctiveness. Missionary activity and religious polarisation have also divided homogenous groups. Cultural alienation erodes pride, memory, and cohesion. 
  • Around 197 languages are in various stages of endangerment in our country, more than any other country in the world. 
    • For instance, Mahali language in eastern India, Koro in Arunachal Pradesh, Sidi in Gujarat and Dimasa in Assam are facing extinction. 
• Conflict-Zone Victimization and Legal Injustice: In insurgency-hit areas, tribals face human rights violations from both state forces and militants. Critics argue that some of them are wrongly labelled Maoists, with little access to legal aid or rehabilitation.  
  • The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed the Naxal violence 'greatest internal security threat.' 
  • Due to this many tribes live under surveillance and militarization. This deepens historical alienation and leads to cycles of violence. 
    • For instance Bastar (Chhattisgarh), hundreds of tribals face charges under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA), many without trial. 
• Market Isolation of Tribal Products: Tribal artisans and producers face weak market access, branding challenges, and unfair pricing.  
  • Despite cultural richness, tribal goods are undervalued or sold through exploitative channels. Government support is often scattered and non-scalable. Their economic potential remains untapped. 
  • Only 11.83 lakh tribal beneficiaries reached via Van Dhan Kendras despite 3,958 centers. 

What Measures can India Adopt to Enhance Tribal Empowerment in India?  

• Operationalize Tribal-Centric Governance: There is a need to further empower Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas with actual administrative, judicial, and financial control over local resources (that is diluted by the recent Forest Conservation Amendment Act).  
  • Transfer planning, budgetary allocation, and dispute resolution powers to tribal institutions to ensure bottom-up governance.  
  • Tribal autonomy must be institutionalized through capacity-building of local leadership. This shift can enable culturally sensitive governance and reduce bureaucratic alienation. Strict auditing and social accountability tools must accompany devolution. 
• Institutionalize Tribal Languages in Education and Administration: Integrate tribal languages into early-grade education through localized textbooks, teacher training, and digital content in mother tongues.  
  • This fosters cultural continuity and improves learning outcomes. Government communication and public services in tribal regions should include tribal scripts and dialects.  
    • Language inclusion must be treated as a constitutional right, not merely a cultural add-on. 
• Establish Tribal Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights Framework: Create legal mechanisms to protect tribal knowledge, art forms, seeds, and healing practices from commercial exploitation.  
  • Recognize tribal communities as collective right-holders over their intellectual and cultural property. This helps counter cultural commodification and ensures benefit-sharing from market use. 
  • An autonomous Tribal Heritage Authority should be formed for registration, legal aid, and enforcement. Legal protection of intangible heritage is vital for identity-based empowerment. 
• Design Tribal-Specific Entrepreneurship and Value Chain Models: Encourage forest-based and craft-based microenterprises through tailored skilling, decentralized incubation hubs, and tribal cooperatives.  
  • Establish tribal-centric value chains that ensure fair prices and market access while respecting traditional practices.  
  • Branding, design support, and e-commerce facilitation should be embedded in the model. 
    • Tribal youth should be trained in sustainable entrepreneurship aligned with their ecological realities. The government must promote “tribal enterprise zones” as economic enclaves of dignity. 
• Reorient Health Systems with Indigenous and Community-Led Approaches: Bridge traditional and modern medicine by integrating tribal healers into primary healthcare through training and certification.  
  • Establish mobile health units staffed by locals, respecting tribal gender norms and cultural beliefs.  
  • Health systems should incorporate tribal diet, seasonal cycles, and natural healing traditions.  
  • Community Health Committees must monitor local delivery and ensure trust-based care. Tribal health cannot be decontextualized from its socio-cultural matrix. 
• Frame an Indigenous Education Policy with Decolonized Curriculum: Develop tribal-specific curriculum that incorporates indigenous history, ecology, folklore, and governance systems.  
  • Shift pedagogy toward experiential and oral methods suitable for community contexts. Tribal scholars must be involved in designing and reviewing textbooks. 
  • Residential schooling models should be reformed to prevent uprooting children from cultural environments. Education must become an instrument of empowerment, not assimilation. 
• Institutionalize Climate-Resilient Tribal Livelihood Models: Invest in regenerative agriculture, community-led afforestation, and traditional water harvesting practices rooted in tribal ecological knowledge.  
  • Ensure access to carbon credit markets through community forest rights. Promote decentralized renewable energy models owned and maintained by tribal groups.  
  • Tribal livelihoods must shift from fragile subsistence to ecological resilience. Recognize them as climate stewards in national climate adaptation plans. 
• Ensure Participatory Digital Inclusion in Tribal Areas: Bridge the digital divide through culturally contextualized digital literacy programs using audio-visual, multilingual content.  
  • Set up tribal-run digital resource centers offering services like telemedicine, e-learning, and e-commerce.  
  • Digital infrastructure should follow the “tech-for-culture” principle, not “tech-over-culture.” Tribal digital rights should be integrated into India’s digital governance framework. 
• Decentralize Monitoring through Tribal Social Accountability Mechanisms: Create autonomous tribal audit groups that assess local implementation of welfare schemes using participatory tools like social audits, grievance mapping, and crowd-sourced feedback.  
  • Embed tribal knowledge systems in defining success indicators of schemes. Data systems must disaggregate outcomes across tribe-specific contexts.  
  • Monitoring should shift from top-down compliance to bottom-up ownership. Public finance must be tied to performance-based, community-certified feedback. 
• Redefine Development Indicators with Tribal Worldview: Move beyond growth-linked indicators to tribal-centric development metrics like access to forests, ritual freedom, food sovereignty, and ecological balance. 
  • Integrate these into SDG localization in Scheduled Areas. Development models must account for cultural wealth and ecological balance.  
  • Recognizing alternate measures of well-being ensures contextual relevance. This epistemological shift is essential for respectful policy-making. 

Xaxa Committee Recommendations for Tribal Welfare in India:  

• Strengthen implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, and protect against displacement due to development projects. Ensure prior informed consent of tribal communities for land acquisition. 
• Promote mother-tongue education at the primary level, recruit more tribal teachers, and establish residential schools closer to habitations with better infrastructure and culturally sensitive content. 
• Enhance access to quality healthcare in tribal areas through mobile clinics, community health workers, and integration of traditional tribal healing practices with public health systems. 
• Support tribal livelihoods by improving access to forest produce markets, promoting agroforestry, and extending credit and skill development schemes tailored to tribal needs. 
• Establish a dedicated National Commission on Tribal Development to monitor schemes, collect disaggregated data, and recommend course corrections. 

Other Key Committees on Tribal Welfare:  

• Elwin Committee (1959): Assessed tribal development blocks and advocated cultural preservation. 
• Dhebar Commission (1960): It acknowledged the issue of land alienation in tribal areas, where tribal populations were losing their ancestral lands due to various factors, including government acquisition for development projects. 
  • It also outlined specific criteria for designating a region as a 'Scheduled Area' under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. 
• Lokur Committee (1965): Proposed five criteria to identify STs for better inclusivity. 
  • These criteria include indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the larger community, and backwardness 
• Bhuria Committee (1991): Recommended democratic decentralization, led to the PESA Act. 
• Mungekar Committee (2005): Focused on governance issues in tribal areas. 
• Bandopadhyay Committee (2006): Addressed development in Left-Wing Extremist-affected tribal regions. 

Conclusion: 

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, but whether we provide enough for those who have too little,” said Franklin D. Roosevelt—a truth that resonates deeply in the context of India’s tribal communities. These communities are not peripheral groups to be uplifted through assimilation, but core architects of the nation's cultural, ecological, and ethical foundations.  

Drishti Mains Question:

“Despite numerous policy interventions, tribal empowerment in India remains constrained by structural gaps in recognition, representation, and autonomy.”

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Prelims:

Q1. Consider the following pairs: (2013)

Tribe           State   

1. Limboo (Limbu) -  Sikkim  
2. Karbi -   Himachal Pradesh  
3. Dongaria Kondh -  Odisha  
4. Bonda  -  Tamil Nadu  

Which of the above pairs are correctly matched?   

(a) 1 and 3 only   

(b) 2 and 4 only   

(c) 1, 3 and 4 only   

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4   

Ans: (a)

Q2. Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India: (2019)   

1. PVTGs reside in 18 States and one Union Territory.   
2. A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.   
3. There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.   
4. Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.   

Which of the statements given above are correct? 

(a) 1, 2 and 3   

(b) 2, 3 and 4   

(c) 1, 2 and 4   

(d) 1, 3 and 4   

Ans: (c)

Q3. Under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, who shall be the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both? (2013)  

(a) State Forest Department   

(b) District Collector/Deputy Commissioner   

(c) Tahsildar/Block Development Officer/Mandal Revenue Officer   

(d) Gram Sabha   

Ans: (d)