Odisha, the third largest tribal State having ten per cent of the tribal population of the country, is home to 62 tribes who speak about 74 dialects having lots of socio-cultural heritages. The Article 22 (1) of the Constitution recognises specific geographical areas such as 5th scheduled area for the protection and development of the tribal inhabitants.
There are provisions of tribal participation in governance at various monitoring bodies for inclusive development supported with special financial resource allocation for governance and development, but it has been observed through various indicators that the socio-economic and educational status of STs has not been improving as it is expected after almost more than half a century of the State initiative. This is one of the important reasons why many of the constitutional and administrative bodies with ST representation in the State are not functioning and are being formed just as a formal
provision.
Article 164 says a tribal should head the tribal welfare department in tribal dominated States having 5th scheduled area like Odisha. The present Minister, elected from Rayagada constituency, is the only tribal Cabinet Minister who has been holding that post for the second consecutive time and another prominent tribal leader is also acting as State Minister in charge of tribal welfare. Both the leaders are from scheduled areas. There is a 21-member Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) headed by the Chief Minister in which the SC/ST Development Minister remains as the deputy chairperson and his departmental Secretary as member secretary to review the work but there have been no regular meetings and reviews. Even many of the MPs and MlAs of the council do not know why they are there. There is another State level vigilance and monitoring committee as provisions of SC and ST (PoA) Act 1989 and Rules 1995 headed by the Chief Minister. But it also stays dysfunctional. Even not a meeting is regularly held to review the atrocities against SCs and STs, which is a matter of grave concern.
The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and National Commission for STs are two important empowered constitutional bodies headed by tribal representatives with legal power and financial resources dedicated for tribal development. Tribal cooperative marketing development federation India (TRIFED) and National scheduled tribe finance development corporation (NSTFDC) have been created to promote tribal economic development and there are State level agencies to channel it to the communities.
The SC and ST development department is the nodal and coordinating department of the State for all governance and development related work, having separate institutions like OSCSTRTI, OSCSTFDC, TDCCOl for marketing NTFP and agro products, besides the Academy of Tribal language and Culture (ATlC), Odisha Tribal Development Society and Odisha Model Tribal Education Society etc for soci-economic and cultural development of the tribals.
It has ben observed that Adivasi elected representatives are more representing their parties in the community rather than serving the interest of their communities. There’s a House committee of MlAs in the State Assembly to look after the welfare of the SCs and STs in which 57 members are there with 33 tribal MlAs. Five Adivasi MPs are in lok Sabha out of which four are from BJD and two Adivasi MPs are in Rajya Sabha. This time BJD has highest ST MlAs followed by Congress and BJP where as Congress has no ST MP. The only BJP tribal MP from Odisha in lok Sabha is heading the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the second time. There is no Adivasi political party in the State; the JMM State unit has virtually merged with the BJD with its leaders having joined the ruling party. This time JMM is in the fifth rank in Odisha
with 0.8 per cent of vote.
The role of leaders from Adivasi communities in ruling parties is very insignificant and almost absent. The left parties have just one tribal MlA from Sundargarh district. Many of the left extremist groups have their base in tribal areas. The tribal youths are being used as scapegoat in anti-extremist police operation and special Adivasi police are being recruited by State with special drive for such operations so that only the Adivasis end up losing their lives in the gun battle.
With the added advantage of the provisions of PESA Act 1996, at the district level in all scheduled areas, the Zilla Parisad chairpersons are Adivasis, Panchyat Samiti chairpersons are Adivasis and Sarapanchs are Adivasis, but how they are different from elected members of other social groups. Are they taking any special interest to uplift their own brothers and sisters and the communities they come from by using the provisions of participation provided to the communitiesIJ Why they are not monitoring the development programmes and implementing them as the head of the different monitoring bodiesIJ Tribal MPs and MlAs have their MP and MlA lad funds which they can use for the development of communities to solve basic issues like drinking water, health and education in tribal areas. Unfortunately, the tribal representatives’ role in solving various problems of their own communities and ensuring their growth appears to be minimal.
The development of Adivasis and Adivasi area has been supported with constitutional provisions like Central grants under Article 275(1), special budgetary plans like Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) and Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) in scheduled areas. For development of the STs in non scheduled areas, there are Dispersed tribal development programme (DTDP), Modified area development agency (MADA), tribal clusters and 17 micro projects for 13 most vulnerable tribal groups out of which13 are in scheduled area and four are in non scheduled area.
There are also programmes like special plan for KBK districts and OTElP.
Apart from Government level, there are dedicated voluntary agencies, NGOs, religious groups, corporate foundations armed with CSR package and international agencies like DFID, WFP, and IFAD and UNO bodies with latest development models operating for a long time focusing tribal livelihood development. But the pace of tribal growth is too slow and far from satisfactory.
Adivasi communities are an integral part of the State, so their development needs to be integrated with larger development of the State. But the State policy and development programmes are proved as anti tribal. The monitoring bodies are not meeting regularly and elected leaders have very marginal involvement in such committees. There is lack of coordination among different actors engaged in tribal development and many of the efforts are diverse and disconnected. The charity and welfare approach still dominate the discourse which should be replaced with rights and development with
dignity.
In Odisha, the tribal communities face many challenges within the community and by external forces. There is lack of socio-political unity among the Adivasis and ethnic identity, political and religious divisions are further disintegrating their larger unity. The economic globalisation and development models by dominant social groups have been facilitating the process of marginalisation by disintegrating the community and making them resources less in their own soil. The State which has been in the hands of dominant class is acting as agents rather than protector of the marginalised communities. The Adivasi leadership is being used to serve the interest of the ruling party rather than Adivasi community. leave apart political participation due to reservation, Adivasis are not represented in corporate, business, bureaucracy, judiciary, media and academic level. So within the State structure and at community level, there is lack of organisation to systematically take up tribal issues at different levels. The Adivasi leaders have to think with a larger perspective.
(The writer is a rights activist who can be reached at ojaabbsr@gmail.com)