Need to bring all isolated communities to the national mainstream

I have always found it strange and somewhat unacceptable that even as we enter the digital era and the phenomenon of artificial intelligence is beginning to make its controversial presence felt, certain communities in the country continue to remain isolated from the mainstream of national life.

During my years in the civil service, I had experiences with many such groups, and, two, which I had with tribes which inhabit forest areas and the coastal fishermen, deserve special mention.

For long, the existence of tribals in forest areas was steeped in ignorance and superstition.

In the years following India’s independence, the community faced sea changes in its lifestyle on account of policies relating to commercial exploitation of forests, as well as activities that infringed upon their traditional rights, leading to displacement, loss of their vibrant culture, identity and economic hardship.

Policies such as the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), while creating protected areas, also unfortunately displaced tribes and denied them the traditional access they required to forest resources. For example, the Forest Conservation Act (1980) and the National Forest Policy (1988), laid emphasis on conservation, which no doubt is a highly desirable development. Unfortunately, on account of implementation and conflicting approaches, the tribal communities remained largely marginalized and their way of living was disrupted by thoughtless modernization and encroachments by non-tribal external interests.

Development projects, such as irrigation, dams, roads, and mines, creation of national parks and sanctuaries, also served to displace millions of tribal people from their lands. Other issues, such as poaching, added to their misery.

Well-meaning regulations, intended for conservation of natural resources, unfortunately, often treated tribal people as encroachers on their own lands, which they had cultivated for generations. Many, who were displaced, were forced to abandon their traditional livelihoods, such as the collection and sale of valuable forest products like medicinal herbs, honey, and take up new and unfamiliar professions in exploitative conditions, outside their natural habitat.

The somewhat unimaginative imposition, of the regime that followed the constitutional amendments relating to Panchayati Raj institutions, ignored the advantage already available, to modernize and infuse an element of contemporary relevance, into the traditional tribal institutions, such as village elders, headmen and the village development councils in the North Eastern states.

All that, however, changed dramatically as the central and state governments began to perceive the need to provide them with a better quality of life, other agencies such as Non-Government Organizations, community-based organizations and activists, stepped in to bolster their efforts.

This led to creation of market access, facilities for value addition to increase retentions of incomes in the hands of the producers, improving social infrastructure and efforts to correct historical injustice, and empower the tribals to manage their own resources in a sustainable manner.

Article 244 (1) of the Constitution of India spells out the concept of Scheduled Areas, which are regions with a significant tribal population designated for special governance as detailed in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. The President of India, by order declares specific regions as scheduled areas. Such areas are currently located in 10 states of the country.

In those areas, the Governor concerned has special executive and legislative powers to protect tribal interests and can repeal or modify laws, make regulations for the good governance and direct that certain laws do not apply to them. Annual reports on the administration of such areas are required to be sent by the Governor to the President.

The state governments are also required to constitute a Tribal Advisory Council to advise them on matters of welfare and advancement of the scheduled areas, and consultation with them is mandatory.

Things changed so dramatically, over the decades following independence, that, now, the country can proudly claim to have Droupadi Murmu as the Constitutional Head of State, who not only belongs to a tribal community, but is also a lady.

While I was in the Ministry of Rural Development of the government of India as an Additional Secretary in the late 1990s, I had, the honour, and privilege, of being closely associated, with former civil servant and social activist, B.D. Sharma, who will forever be remembered as one whose life was dedicated to the advocacy of the rights of the adivasi tribals, especially in Madhya Pradesh.

I had the similar good fortune of working closely with the legendary S.R. Sankaran, also a career civil servant. With his amazing dynamism, unbelievably spartan habits, and fierce dedication to the cause of the underprivileged, he made a name for himself. This put him, at least in the eyes and minds of the poor people of Andhra Pradesh, on an almost godlike pedestal. His farsighted vision and imaginative thinking resulted in such dramatic changes in the institutional arrangements and approaches of the state and central governments to the problems of tribals and Scheduled Castes.

He is credited with the introduction of what is known as a Single Line Administration of the tribal areas, the Special Component Plans for the Scheduled Tribes and the Scheduled Castes, as well as the establishment of Tribal Development Agencies and Girijan Development Corporation. The example was emulated at the national level, through the establishment of agencies, such as the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Federation of India.

What really constitutes freedom, and what the definition of real happiness is, are matters of purely subjective nature. This is best brought out by a story. I heard about a tribal who was once lazily daydreaming under the shade of a tree, enjoying a post lunch siesta.

Seeing his beatific smile, as he napped, a government official, sent to make a plan of development for the village, asked him what sort of initiative he would like to see taken to improve the living conditions of his village and community. “None!” replied the tribal. Somewhat surprised the officia asked him if he was not appreciative of the benefits, which schools, hospitals and employment opportunities would bring.

“What will happen if all those plans materialised”? asked the tribal. Upon being told that they would improve the quality of life of the villagers in general, including his own, the villager, with a broad grin, asked “how can life be better than this!”?

(The writer was formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)