Livelihood Options and Livelihood Security Among Tribal in South Western Plateau and Highland Region in West Bengal

Abstract

Livelihood resources are varying from one region to another due to natural and human factors. There are no such studies that consider a broad geographical region and tribal livelihood options and livelihood security. So the present study can fulfil such a literature gap. The present study makes an attempt to analyse livelihood options and livelihood security among the tribals. The study was carried out along the south western plateau and highland region in West Bengal. Secondary data and the primary data have been used. Purposive stratified random sampling technique was used to collect the primary data. Sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) has been used for the selection of factors and indicators. The core outcome of the research is that small landholding size and traditional technology are no longer to meet the rising demands of tribal population. Forest resources are also very rapidly declining due to the huge industrial demands and ever-increasing household needs. Now tribal people are travelling long distances to collect forest products than ever before. The better education opportunities to the younger generation could open up new occupational opportunities and economic diversification and that definitely leads to the good economic status of the tribal people.

Livelihood Assets and Income Generating Activities: A Comparative Analysis in the Scheduled and Non-Scheduled Areas of Jharkhand

“…Natural resources are declining due to the state policy which affects the tribal communities’ livelihood. Similar observation to natural resource depletion in forest areas are observed by Satpati and Sharma (2021). Both the authors have used sustainable livelihood framework for selection of indicators and factors for the study among tribal communities in southern western plateau and highland region in West Bengal.…”

Village‐level livelihood security: A case study on a wasteland‐dominated forest fringe region of rural India

“…Methodologically, some researchers have determined the composite index of livelihood security (Mutahara et al, 2016) and livelihood assets (Liu et al, 2018) using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP). Moreover, the weighted composite index of livelihood assets and sustainable livelihood index have been determined using principal component analysis (PCA) or other weighted matrices in other studies (Rai et al, 2008; Kumar et al, 2014; Satpati & Sharma, 2021). We used the AHP technique to estimate the livelihood security index of rural spatial units of the study region.…”

“…Chambers and Conway (1991) emphasized physical, social, economic and human capital for the development of a sustainable livelihood index. Saleth and Swaminathan (1993) outlined the sustainable livelihood security among different agroclimatic zones of India considering these three dimensions of sustainable development. Scoones (1998) also brought up a similar fact.…”

“…Some researchers have sketched out the macro-level spatial distribution of livelihood security or sustainable livelihood security over a vast geographic area in various parts of India (Kumar et al, 2014;Patidar, 2019;Rai et al, 2008;Singh & Hiremath, 2010). Several studies have previously estimated the livelihood security status of different agroclimatic zones in India (Rai et al, 2008;Saleth & Swaminathan, 1993). Patidar (2019) estimated the level of rural livelihood security among Indian states.…”

“…Kumar et al (2014) highlighted the development plan for the improvement of livelihood security in the semi‐arid Deccan Plateau region. Satpati and Sharma (2021) recently highlighted the livelihood opportunities as well as livelihood security considering households' accessibility to the proportion of land, dependency ratio, working opportunities and satisfaction level from healthcare, education and employment in the south‐western plateau and highland region of West Bengal. However, there is a lack of literature outlining the spatial dimension of livelihood security in India and other countries.…”