Tribal Livelihood and other Issues in Jharkhand

Vijay Prakash Sharma

Abstract

Jharkhand is the second largest state inhabited by Tribal. They constitute nearly 26.7% of the population. Marginalisation of tribal and commercial exploitation of their land and forest dates back to the British period. After independence, the nexus between development administration and businessmen on the one hand, and  laws governing their commons on the other, further deprived them of not only their livelihood, but also resulted in a loss of their identity. The acts of aggression both internal and external are dangerous for their future survival. The major government projects like link-high way project, Netarhat firing range and Damodar Valley Corporations have displaced a large member of tribal. The tribal leadership is passing through a phase of vacuum and the spread of Naxalite movement in the tribal areas is an expression of people’s anger. They need special attention of the Government to address the burning issues for their all-round development. The environmental standards cannot be the same for these two sets of economies. The immediate environmental concerns and issues in developing country like India are- land degradation, soil erosion, disaster management, over chemicalisation  of crop production, air and water pollution including ground water pollution, recycling of waste, increasing pressures on life supporting systems, and socio-economic impact of development projects including human displacement and loss of bio diversity.

A tailor made plan cannot be experimented everywhere, it should be area specific and demand based. If not, then, serious problems will arise. Each & every area has different characteristics like language, natural resources, socio-economic & cultural conditions, human resources etc.