Rural Employment Generation In India: A Critical View From Rajasthan

This article, based on fieldwork, discusses the negative impacts of land alienation suffered by Adivasis in Attappady, a tribal block of Kerala in South India. Experiencing multiple alienations that have fundamentally affected their way of life, agricultural practices and food culture, tribals not only continue to suffer discriminatory treatment by non-tribal settlers, but also by state authorities' restrictions of access to local forests and forest produce. These problems assume added significance as this ecologically important location in the Western Ghats of India is one of the eight 'hottest hotspots' of biological diversity in the world, while the traditional guardians of this environment have been completely disempowered. The article traces abuses of power in land alienation processes, analyses unequal power structures and argues that better appreciation of traditional tribal culture and its ecologically holistic approaches ought to inform policies for local sustainable development. This would help the tribals to safeguard their identity within the constraints of current conditions and enhance the prospects for sustainable preservation of the precious local natural resources and biodiversity.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The State and Settlersmentioning

confidence: 97%

Tribal Land Alienation, Agricultural Changes and Food Culture Transition in Attappady

Edison

Devi

2019

“…Most households had job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). However, there was no regular wage employment under this scheme (compare Saha, 2019). During the lean season, many people's livelihood depends critically on minor forest produce for subsistence and/or some kind of supplementary income.…”

Section: Livelihood Strategies Among Tribals Of Palamumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From this fieldwork study, it appears that state intervention in Jharkhand has been focused on providing food rather than generating additional income for needy local people. The question therefore arises whether the work-based model of rural Rajasthan, in which women are notably found to be major participants and stakeholders in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS; see Saha, 2019), might be something worth considering in Jharkhand, too. There are indications that this kind of scheme is empowering also in terms of gender status.…”

Section: Conclusion and Suggestions For An Alternative Route For Jhamentioning

confidence: 99%

Hunger In Jharkhand: Dimensions Of Poverty And Food Security In Palamu District

Sharma

2019

The realities of starvation and hunger in South Asia are only partially addressed by larger discourses on food security. At the local level, many Indians continue to experience hunger, semi-starvation and malnutrition. While the age of mass starvation seems over, starvation deaths are reported from time to time, and hunger remains a lurking threat. This ethnographic study analyses patterns of poverty and food (in)security among tribal and other social groups in seven villages of the Manatu block in Palamu district of Jharkhand. The empirical findings present the main factors influencing the dynamics of household food (in)security and examine, through some case studies, how poor rural/tribal communities cope with threats of starvation and hunger. The article also critically analyses the implementation of social policies in addressing food security in Jharkhand and finds that more needs to be done to assist the most vulnerable individuals, including many women, to escape the precarities of hunger.

“…Contractors engaged for civil works in and around Manapuram village also prefer to engage locals for labouring work now, since the wages for non-locals are higher. By 2012, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) of the Government of India, too, provided opportunities for wage labour in the village (see Saha, 2019;Sharma, 2019). In 2012, as many as 30 out of the 71 households reported supplementing their incomes through wage labour.…”

Section: Wage Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Transformations in a Savara Village of Andhra Pradesh: Tamarind to Cashew

Sharma

2019

Even tribal communities in India living in relative geographic isolation have experienced significant transformations during the last 70 years. Many studies have investigated the impact of tribal development programmes on the socio-economic conditions of different tribal communities. However, few attempts to systematically re-study the same tribal village after some decades have been made. This article re-examines the transformation of different sources of income for a Savara village in Andhra Pradesh and specifically scrutinises the impact of cashew plantations promoted in 1983–5. Since the acceptance to undertake cashew plantation was a precondition for the Savara of Manapuram to achieve economic and language integration, the question becomes what have been the results after some decades. The article identifies many consequences for this community, not just a shift from tamarind to cashew.