Nature and Extent of Backwardness among Primitive Scheduled Tribes in Access to Basic Amenities: A Micro Level Study from Kodagu District of Karnataka

Abstract

Tribal people have three main routes to map their skill and labor endowments intowages/entitlements available– rights on forest products, working in the coffee plantation andworking for the forest department. However, most of the tribal people live in utter poverty even though, there are so many programmes launched to benefit them under government policies and programs on the tribal welfare that have been in placesince independence. These policies and programs are designed to help to improve the social,political and economic status of the tribal people. Providing education to tribal children, publicdistribution system, decentralization of political administration, occupational training are someof the programs of the state that are designed to help the tribal people to improve theircapabilities. These programs and policies are supposed to act as entitlement stimulants and reduce their social exclusion. It is necessary to analyze the role of state’s welfare programs, political decentralization of local administration and also their accesses to education, resources and markets which have direct and indirect impact on empowering and creating better livelihood outcomes for the tribal people.