Abstract

This paper tries to chart the various tribal movements in India. It begins by understanding the contemporary situation of the various tribes dispersed spatially all over the country and how much has been done by the Government to rehabilitate or compensate them in terms of land displaced and livelihoods threatened. It tries to illustrate how their numbers are depleting and threatens the diversity of the country in terms of resources and culture. In this paper, the researcher would try to understand what are tribal movements, their characteristics and also the various reasons as to why there exists numerous tribal movements in India and what their causes are. Moreover, to get a greater comprehension and understanding, the paper would try to focus on two case studies – narrowing the study to two particular tribal movements in Orissa and the other one of the Central Tribal Belt and Jharkhand. In addition, the researcher would also attempt to understand the various constitutional provisions made for the tribes in the Indian Constitution in order to ensure that they are not isolated, alienated from economic and social opportunities and are empowered. However, in spite of such provisions, the welfare and state of the tribals have not been dramatically changed for the better due to various reasons such as poor implementation and enforcement of legislation. Therefore, this article endeavours to explain why this discontent has not been satisfied and why tribal movements still exist in the wake of unaddressed tribal issues concerning education and healthcare.