The tribal women are a disadvantaged group in India and other parts of the world, which has left them in a vulnerable position in the society. Taking note of their condition, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Regional Centre Ranchi organised a lecture on the topic ‘Status of Tribal Women in India: Challenges Ahead’ with Dr. Sudhir Kumar Singh, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi as the speaker at the lecture on June 20.
Dr. Sudhir Kumar Singh gave an overview of the social, economic, political and religious status of tribal women in India through the lecture. “We need to know about the world’s tribal communities to thoroughly understand the condition of the tribal communities in our country,” said the Professor.
He further explained the amount of time it took for women to gain their rights, such as voting rights, in countries like America and Britain.
“Alcoholism and domestic violence are one of the main reasons for the tribal women not being able to come out of their confinements, also known as forced responsibilities,” said the Professor.
Though, the Government has designed various policies and program for the development of women, the social unacceptance prevails. The primary reason behind their alienation is extremely low literacy rate. Illiteracy is also the root to backwardness and underdevelopment.
As against the all India literacy rate in 2011 of 74.04 per cent, Scheduled Tribes (ST) literacy rates were a low 59 per cent, while female literacy rates were at 49.4 per cent, which is nearly 16.06 per cent below the all India rate of 65.46 per cent. Dr. Singh also mentioned that the Twelfth Five Year Plan clearly says that the tribal poverty in 2009-10 was 47.37 percent compared to the all India statistics which was 33.8 percent. The gap between ST and other BPl categories widened from 14.5 percent to 18.5 percent between 1993-94 and 2004-05.