AN OVERVIEW ON TRIBAL MIGRATION IN INDIA

Abstract

India is a pluralist country, with rich diversity, reflected in the multitude of cultures, religions, languages and racial stocks. The Indian population includes different castes, communities and social groups. The prevalence of such pluralism has made the social and economic opportunities are differently distributed on the lines of caste and class affiliations. At the geographical level also, India has equally pervasive and diverse features. The term ―tribe‖ means, a group of people who live at a particular place from time immemorial. This study has made an attempt on understanding tribal migration using Secondary data from census, Government of India. Most of the tribal areas are hilly, inaccessible undulating plateau lands in the forest areas of the country resulting in the bypassing of general developmental programmes. They have a negative energy balance, high morbidity rate, and low child survival rate. They suffer from taboos and superstitions and remain deprived of the benefits from existing development and welfare programmes. This is a challenge for both rural and urban planners. Keeping in view that tribal livelihoods are conditioned by the eco-system and they are dependent on agriculture, large scale migration due to poor economic conditions is a serious cause of concern.