The Kandhamal police firing has brought to the fore an uncomfortable question of nexus between tribal deprivation and leftwing extremism. According to the leftwing Extremism (lWE) Division of Union Home Ministry, the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh are affected by lWE and all of them are scheduled area States.
Odisha which has 95, 90,756 ST population as per 2011 census, constituting 22.85 per cent of State population ,distributed over 62 tribes and 13 Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs), has been augmenting tribal welfare by several means.
It has implemented Tribal Sub Plan ( including MADA, Cluster Project, Micro-Project ), through institution of ITDAs, SC-ST Finance Corporation, Tribal Marketing Organisation and Tribal Research and Training Institute. It has also brought reformist law banning transfer of tribal land, giving marketing rights of forest produce to PRIs/SHGs and giving land to tribals under the Forest Right Act. It has implemented a GOI loan- cum- grant project of IFAD-DFID-WFP, called OTlP.
There are 119 tribal sub plan blocks in Odisha covering Malkanagiri(7), Koraput(14), Nabarangopur (10), Rayagada (11), Kalahandi (2), Gajapati (5), Kondhamal (12), Sambalpur (3), Deogarh (1), Mayurbhanja ( 26), Keonjhar(10), Sundergarh(17), Baleswar (1). Interestingly, most of these districts find place in the Union Home Ministry’s 19 lWE affected district list.
Thus a question arises with regard to the efficacy of tribal development efforts by the Odisha Government. The OTlP strategy was wrongly drawn as it focused on water harvesting structure while other players existed in the sector and failed to focus on “recharging” of numerous dying hill- streams. Its efforts on procuring tribals their farm land patta was not successful. The TSP strategy helped in education and infrastructure but did not appear successful in poverty-mitigation. The State Government did not draw a distinction between the south Odisha tribal region that suffers from huge regional backwardness needing big money and the north-west Odisha tribal regions like Mayurbhaj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh, which needed development inclusion from public-private mining and industrial houses. Similarly, the hill-top and inaccessible villages could have been identified to draw a special solar-light and road connectivity plan. The KBK was a good plan which could have yielded impact when implemented along with TSP, but it was terminated unfortunately.
While keeping up its demand for special State status and increasing BRGF for KBK region, the Odisha Government should create a State policy on tribal development, differentiating south region from others. Along with the Central funds, all State departments should earmark percentage of funds for tribal development to be coordinated by the Chief Secretary. The model school is great step by the State
Government but there should be more of ITIs to train the youths. The mineral foundation funds can be used for infrastructure development especially electricity, solar energy, road, schools and hospitals. Corporate houses should be asked to adopt a district for inclusive-development. Private players should be involved in a big way in tribal produce marketing. With a tribal policy, the State Government should draw strategy to address tribal development district/region wise. Where SCs, Christians, STs population exists, there should be convergence of TSP, SCP and minority development funds. Similarly, there should be convergence of Biju KBK, BRGF, IAP, MP lAD, MlAlAD, TSP and Article 275 grants besides line department funds for south tribal regions. It is true that huge funds are needed for eradicating regional imbalance but the State Government can solve the basic issues of road, lighting, irregular schools, malfunctioning hospitals and low market price of tribal produce including tribal livestock. There should be database of 25 lakhs tribal families to improve monitoring of schemes and facilitate DBT wherever necessary. By applying NFSA, where the State Government has already shown tribal inclusion, the MGNREGS and State social security schemes, immediately half of tribal population can rise above poverty line. With tribal development , tribal youth employment, land entitlements and inclusive R&R activities, left Wing extremism can diminish significantly from Odisha and there shall be massive reduction of special forces to let the tribals live in peace .
As per 2011 census, India is home to over 10.45 crore tribal people, constituting 8.6 per cent of the nation’s population. MP has the highest population of tribals, followed by Maharashtra and Odisha. There are over 700 tribes in India, notified as “scheduled tribes”.
To protect and develop the tribals and their habitation regions, in addition to “tribal areas” of the North Eastern States, “scheduled areas” have been declared in nine States including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Tribal Sub Plans (TSPs) are implemented for development of tribals at State and union territory level with Central assistance. There is a National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes to safeguard them. There is distinct financial institution to give loans to tribal entrepreneurs. There is a market organization to sale tribal produce with the provision of providing minimum support price (MSP) to certain minor forest produce. There are tribal research and training institutions in States. The President and the Governors have been constitutionally empowered to scrap any law that is detrimental to tribal interest. But still there is low human development in tribal areas .Why does it happen in spite of best effortsIJ
The Union Government’s tribal welfare efforts ran across three areas of protection, participation and development of tribals. The President of India, the Governors, the Tribal Commission, the protective legislations and other protection mechanism worked reasonably well in the protection of tribals. Reservation for tribals in the Parliament, the Assemblies, the local Self Government Bodies and Government jobs brought glory to India in the area of tribal participation in governance. But the achievement in development sphere is not encouraging, except in education sector. North eastern tribal States had rapid progress as they got” special State status”. In case of the “scheduled areas of nine States, the Centre did not separate them to draw distinct region wise plans. For example, Odisha, erstwhile Bihar and erstwhile MP had the regional backwardness of scheduled areas as a key factor of tribal poverty in addition to social backwardness of tribals. Without addressing regional imbalance, treatment of tribal poverty in TSP approach proved severely stunted without market-infrastructure linkage. The Union Government did not engage mining and corporate houses, operating in this region, to take responsibility of tribal inclusion. Besides, to procure funds and leverage market, the Union Tribal Ministry did not organise other tribal nations to lobby with WTO to open special market for tribal products nor lobbied with UN Environment Group, to secure grants to Indian tribals who have been protecting forest for global goods and combat climate change. There is a need for policy for tribals , PPP in developing Tribal Economic Zones, opening of WTO for tribals and grants for tribal development under carbon trading plans. The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry should work with MHA to counter lWE in scheduled areas through development.