What is a tribe?
Tribe is a modern word for communities that are very old and were among the earliest inhabitants of India. Many call themselves adivasi ('original inhabitants').
- Traditionally they had no strict caste hierarchy and no organised state inside the community.
- Land and forests were often owned by the community, not by individuals.
- They are defined mainly by what they are not (not caste Hindu, not peasant with a landlord), which sociologists say is a weakness of the definition.
Scheduled Tribes form about 8.6% of India's population (Census 2011). Large concentrations are in central India and in the north-east.
Classifying tribal societies
Permanent traits (you cannot easily change them)
- Region: most live in central India (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra) and the north-east.
- Language: four families: Indo-Aryan (e.g. Bhili), Dravidian (e.g. Gondi), Austric (e.g. Santhali, Mundari) and Tibeto-Burman (many north-east languages).
- Physical/racial groupings were once used, but are now seen as unreliable.
- Size: from very large tribes like the Gonds, Bhils and Santhals (lakhs of people) to very small groups (a few hundred).
Acquired traits (they change over time)
- Livelihood: fishers, food gatherers and hunters, shifting cultivators, peasants, plantation and industrial workers.
- Assimilation into Hindu society: from those who have absorbed Hindu customs to those who kept their own religion or became Christian.
Tribe and caste: the debates
Are tribes different from castes?
Some scholars said tribes are simply 'backward Hindus' at the bottom of the caste order. Others said tribes were never part of the caste system and have their own social life. Today we see that tribes were not fully isolated: they traded, fought and made states (like Gond kingdoms), and many were slowly drawn into caste society.
Isolation or integration?
- Isolationists (like Verrier Elwin) said tribes needed protection from traders, moneylenders and outsiders who cheated them of land.
- Integrationists said tribes should join the mainstream and get the benefits of development.
- The Constitution took a middle path: special protection (Fifth and Sixth Schedules, reserved seats) plus integration.
The key question became: integration on whose terms? Tribes wanted a say over their own land and forests.
National development versus tribal development
- After independence, dams, mines, factories and forest laws served 'national' development.
- Tribes lost land and forests with little or no compensation. Large dams like those on the Narmada displaced many adivasis.
- Forest laws turned forest users into 'trespassers' on land they had lived on for generations.
- Outsiders migrated into tribal areas (e.g. the north-east and Jharkhand), and some tribes became minorities in their own homeland.
So the cost of national development fell heavily on tribal people, while most benefits went elsewhere.
Tribal identity today
- Tribal identities are shaped by resistance to losing land and forests.
- Long movements won separate states: Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh (2000).
- A tribal middle class has grown through education and reserved jobs. This creates new class differences inside tribes.
- Main issues today: control over land and forests (e.g. the Forest Rights Act 2006) and recognition of cultural identity.
- In the north-east, special laws for 'disturbed areas' have been criticised for limiting citizens' rights.
Key formulas and definitions
- Tribe (adivasi): a community with no strict caste hierarchy and shared ownership of land, traditionally.
- Permanent traits: region, language family, physical features, size.
- Acquired traits: mode of livelihood; degree of assimilation into Hindu (or other) society.
- Four language families: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austric, Tibeto-Burman.
- Isolation view: protect tribes from outsiders. Integration view: bring them into the mainstream.
- Displacement: people forced off their land for projects like dams or mines.
- Scheduled Tribes ≈ 8.6% of India's population (Census 2011).
Worked examples
1. A tribe in Odisha speaks Santhali and lives by settled farming. Name one permanent and one acquired trait.
Permanent: its language family (Austric, Santhali) or region. Acquired: its livelihood, settled farming.
2. A mining company gets rights to a forest where a tribal village collects fruit and firewood. Explain the conflict using this chapter.
National development (mining for industry) vs tribal development (forest livelihood). The village may be displaced and lose its common land, while most gains go to people outside the area.
3. Why did the Constitution not choose pure isolation or pure integration?
Isolation would deny tribes schools, health and rights; forced integration would let outsiders grab their land. So it gave special protection (schedules, reserved seats) along with development.
Common mistakes
- Thinking tribes were always completely isolated. They traded, fought wars and even formed states.
- Mixing up permanent and acquired traits. Livelihood and religion are acquired; region, language and size are permanent.
- Assuming all development helps tribes. Many projects took their land and forests.
- Thinking all tribal people are the same class. A tribal middle class has grown and inequality inside tribes exists.