Assignment Code: BANC 105/ASST/TMA/2021-2022

Course Code: BANC-105

Assignment Name: Tribes And Peasants in India

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

There are three Sections in the Assignments. You have to answer all questions.

Assignment – I

Answer the following in about 500 words each. (20)

Q 1.  Briefly discuss demography and distribution of tribes in India.

Ans) Tribes can be found throughout India, with the exception of Punjab and Haryana, as well as the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi, and Puducherry. The Anthropological Survey of India recognised 4,635 populations in India as part of the "People of India Project," 461 of which were scheduled tribes.

The Government of India listed 698 tribal communities in India in its Draft National Tribal Policy for Scheduled Tribes, which was released for the first time in February 2004. The second version of the Draft, Concept of Tribe 2006, was circulated in July and said that India had over 700 tribes. The number of scheduled tribes (including "major tribes" and their "sub-tribes") was counted as 705 in India's 2011 census. With the passing of time, more and more tribal communities are being added to the list of scheduled tribes, as can be seen by the growing number of tribal communities.

According to the 2011 Census, India's scheduled tribes’ population was 10,42,81,034 people, accounting for 8.6% of the country's total population. Their population climbed from 8.2% to 8.6% of India's population between 2001 and 2011, according to census data from those years (Srivastava V. K: 2015). From Census 2001 to 2011, the tribal population grew by 23.66 percent, compared to 17.69 percent for the whole population. The general sex ratio is 940 females per 1,000 males, while scheduled tribes have a sex ratio of 990 females per 1,000 males. Since Census 1961, the population of scheduled tribes has been steadily increasing. The number of scheduled tribe communities climbed to 427 in the 1961 census, more than double from the previous census. By the 1971 census, the population had risen to 432.

The tribal population in India is not evenly distributed across the country. They have adapted to local ways of life everywhere, thus cultural distinctions are obvious even within the same group. The Bhils are India's largest tribal group, followed by the Gonds, Santhals, and Meenas. The eastern, central, and western belts contain the highest concentrations of scheduled tribes, which include Madhya Pradesh (14.69 percent), Maharashtra (10.08 percent), Orissa (9.2 percent), Rajasthan (8.86 percent), Gujarat (8.55 percent), Jharkhand (8.29 percent), Chhattisgarh (7.5 percent), Andhra Pradesh (5.7 percent), and West Bengal.

The North-eastern states have about 12% of the population, the Southern states have 5%, and the Northern states have 3%. Mizoram (94.5%) has the greatest proportion of scheduled tribes, while Lakshadweep is the union territory with the highest proportion of scheduled tribes (94.8 per cent). Tribals live in every section of the country save the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi, as well as the union territories of Chandigarh and Puducherry. Their quantity and other demographic characteristics differ from state to state in India. In the state of Orissa, there are the most tribal communities (62). (Census 2011).

Q 2. Who are peasants and describe characteristics peasants and peasantry.

Ans) “In Old Middle English, the term ‘peasant' was used to describe people who worked the land and were bonded to it. The name comes from the Old French verb paisent, which means "to paint" (country dweller). A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural labourer or farmer with limited land ownership, particularly one living in feudalism during the Middle Ages and paying a landlord rent, tax, fees, or services. There were three types of peasants in Europe: slaves, serfs, and free tenants. Peasants can own land in fee simple or through one of numerous land tenures, including socage, quit-rent, leasehold, and copyhold.

Characteristics of Peasants and Peasantry

Theodor Shanin has observed four distinct features of the peasant society:

1. Production, labour, and consumption all revolve on the family farm, which is seen as a core unit of a multifaceted social organisation.

2. Land stewardship is the primary source of income and the foundation for meeting consumption demands.

3. Peasant societies have a distinct traditional culture tied to the way of life of tiny communities, and

4. Peasants are seen as the underdogs, and they are ruled by outsiders who have complete influence over them in every way, including economically, politically, socially, and culturally.

It's critical to understand what sets peasant societies apart from others. Six distinguishing traits set them apart from the competition:

1. Peasants are typically self-employed since they hire their family members in their production operations. They also have command over their means of production, which is mostly for self-consumption. They have multi-dimensional vocational competence observed, with the economic system preserving a certain balance of agriculture, animal husbandry, gathering, and crafts rather than manufacturing. The performance calculations are unique from those of capitalistic firms, as Chayanov pointed out.

2. The peasants share a larger degree of resemblance in terms of political organisation patterns and attitudes. For example, brokering and patronage structures, a proclivity for vertical split and factionalism, and a space for banditry and guerilla warfare.

3. Peasant communities have a higher degree of similarity in terms of norms and cognitions. With the preponderance of oral traditions and specific ‘cognitive maps' like the circular sense of time, patterns of socialisation, training, and ideological tendencies, they are seen as conventional and conformist in their rationalisations.

4. Peasants all around the world have comparable characteristic units of social organisation and how they work.

5. Peasant societies' analytically distinctive social processes, explicitly affecting social production, such as the development and reproduction of social relations, inheritance and succession patterns, are easy to detect.

6. The reasons and patterns of structural transition are both generic and unique to peasants.

Given this, it's critical to understand the distinction between peasants and "primitive" farmers. This distinction will enable us to recognise peasants and peasantry as distinct from primordial cultivators and other producers.

Assignment – II

Answer the following questions in about 250 words each. (10)

Q 3. Write a note on Fifth Schedule

Ans) The Union executive has the right to direct the States in areas relating to the administration of Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. Scheduled Areas (areas within a state controlled by tribal people and governed by the federal government) and Scheduled Tribes in designated states were established by the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution (which amended Article 244 (1)). Tribes Advisory Councils were also established as a result of the amendment for the purpose of advising and planning (Verma, 1995; NCST, 2015). Except for the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, the provisions of the Fifth Schedule apply to the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any state. Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh were all included in the Fifth Schedule.

Constitutional and Legal Provisions

The Governor of a State with scheduled areas can adopt the following regulations under special provisions in the Constitution's Fifth Schedule:

1) to regulate the business of money lending

2) to provide protection against exploitation of Scheduled Tribes by moneylenders.

The Fifth Schedule gives the governor of a state with scheduled areas unusual powers of governance in those areas. In the fifth Five-Year Plan for Integrated Development of Tribes, a new approach called the Tribal Sub-Plan was implemented. It is used in a variety of states and union territories. Despite these efforts, all tribes have yet to see universal growth.

Q 4. Discuss briefly the Jajmani system

Ans) The jajmani system: The village's social interactions are mostly centred on agrarian economics. The ruling caste owns the majority of the village's agricultural land, however the extent of individual families' holdings varies. Traditionally, all castes practised their unchangeable prescribed jobs. The jajman (or yajman) is the household's ritual head as well as the owner of landed property. The kamins are the castes that give services to this family, such as Brahmins, carpenters, washermen, barbers, and others. The jajmani system is made up of the jajman and the kamins. These could be seen as patron and client; the patron, who owns land, has a long-standing and inherited relationship with one of the client's caste's houses. The patron paid for the services offered in the traditional manner by offering grain at the threshing floor during harvest, even if the clients provided services throughout the year. What should be the payment amount is decided by mutual agreement at the start of the year, and it can only be reevaluated the following year. Only in extraordinary circumstances did the patron switch clients. Depending on the demand for agricultural operations, the patrons hired daily wage labourers from time to time.

In the case of service castes, jajmani ties are not limited to the hamlet. They frequently extend their services to nearby villages as well. If there isn't a barber in a community, the barber from the next village offers his services. In addition, because castes are divided into sub-castes, some sub-castes specialise in specific occupations. In such circumstances, the sub-castes retain long-term relationships with patron castes and sub-castes in neighbouring villages.

Answer the following questions in about 125 words each. (50)

Q 5. Significant consequences of development .

Ans) It is possible to avoid the negative consequences of development, such as displacement, which deprives people of their lives and livelihoods. Where displacement is truly unavoidable, the generally recognised and understood negative impacts of development or displacement can be reduced through pro-people policies and legislations, as well as their effective execution for relocation and rehabilitation.

Displacement and Impoverishment Risks

Displacement is the most serious effect of development efforts. In most situations, development-induced displacement causes socioeconomic challenges for the displaced people, who must rebuild their lives in new and frequently less favourable geographic, environmental, social, and economic circumstances.

Michael Cernea identified the key and potential risks and impoverishment processes in

displacement as:

1) landlessness

2) joblessness

3) homelessness

4) marginalization

5) food insecurity

6) loss of access to common property resources (and services)

7) increased morbidity and mortality

8) community/social disarticulation (disintegration) and

9) educational losses.

If those risks are not appropriately addressed, they become real problems for the displaced.

Two more risks intrinsic to displacement are:

1) loss of access to community services such as health clinics and educational facilities.

2) violation of human rights is about unfair compensation and violations of civil and political rights.

Q 6. Telangana Movement

Ans) The Telangana movement is a campaign in India to create a new state, Telangana, from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh. The new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad's former princely state. After years of protest and agitation, the central government, led by the United Progressive Alliance, chose to split the current Andhra Pradesh state, and the Union Cabinet unilaterally approved the bill for the establishment of Telangana on February 7, 2014.

This has been one of the longest-running movements in South India, spanning nearly a decade. The Lok Sabha passed the bill by voice vote on February 18, 2014. The law was then passed by the Rajya Sabha two days later, on February 20th. Telangana was established on June 2, 2014. Telangana's state was divided into 10 districts at first, but today there are 33.

Assignment – III

Q 7. Explain fieldwork and research methods.(10)

Ans) The collection of raw data outside of a laboratory, library, or workplace setting is known as field research, field studies, or fieldwork. Field research methodology and procedures differ depending on the discipline. Biologists, for example, may simply see animals interacting with their surroundings in the field, whereas social scientists may interview or observe people in their natural contexts to learn about their languages, folklore, and social structures.

Informal interviews, direct observation, involvement in the life of the group, collective debates, analyses of personal documents produced inside the group, self-analysis, findings from off- or on-line activities, and life narratives are all examples of field research methodologies. Although the method is commonly referred to as qualitative research, it may also include quantitative elements.

Research Methods

Specific strategies for gathering and interpreting data are known as research methods. The development of your research methodology is an important aspect of your study plan. There are two major decisions to be made while planning your tactics.

Decide how you'll collect data first. The type of data you require to answer your research topic will determine your methods:

Qualitative vs. quantitative: Will your data take the form of words or numbers?

Primary vs. secondary: Will you collect original data yourself, or will you use data that has already been collected by someone else?

Descriptive vs. experimental: Will you take measurements of something as it is, or will you perform an experiment?

Second, decide how you will analyse the data.

For quantitative data, you can use statistical analysis methods to test relationships between variables.

For qualitative data, you can use methods such as thematic analysis to interpret patterns and meanings in the data.

Q 8. What is fieldwork and describe data collection methods, tools and Techniques.(20)

Ans) The study of people and their culture in their natural environment is known as field work. The investigator's protracted stay in the field, his involvement in and observation of society, and his attempt to grasp the local peoples' inside view and obtain the holistic view of a social scientist have all been hallmarks of anthropological field work. In the same manner that the human organism serves the biologist, a society might be considered to provide a ready-made laboratory for social scientists.

Methods

For data gathering and analysis, a variety of approaches can be used. The majority of them are built around a set of fundamental tools. Interviews, focus group discussions, observation, photography, video, surveys, questionnaires, and case studies are some of the methods used. Direct measurement, secondary data assessment, and informal project / programme management techniques can all produce data.

For data gathering and analysis, a variety of approaches can be used. The list can appear onerous to those who are new to the realm of monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Most approaches, on the other hand, are founded on the same set of fundamental tools. This short document lists several tools, which are detailed in greater depth in other papers in this section of the M&E Universe.

The tools described below can be used independently or as part of larger techniques.

Tools

There are lots of different fieldwork tools. Here are some of them:

Rain gauge - to measure amounts of rain.

Compass - to find out directions.

Camera - to take photographs.

Stopwatch - to measure time

Paper and pencil - to record what you find out.

Tape measure - to measure distances.

Hoops - to record what you see in a certain area.

Thermometers - to measure temperature.

Techniques

Here is a breakdown of specific techniques.

Projective Technique.

When potential respondents are aware of why they are being asked questions and are hesitant to respond, projective data collection is used. If a cell phone provider representative asks inquiries about their service, for example, the person may be hesitant to answer. In projective data collection, respondents are given an incomplete question and must fill in the blanks with their own thoughts, feelings, and attitudes.

Delphi Technique.

According to Greek mythology, the Oracle at Delphi was the high priestess of Apollo's temple who dispensed guidance, prophesies, and counsel. Researchers utilise the Delphi technique to collect data from a panel of experts in the field of data collection. Each expert responds to questions on their area of expertise, and the responses are compiled into a single opinion.

Focus Groups.

Focus groups, like interviews, are a commonly used technique. The group consists of anywhere from a half-dozen to a dozen people, led by a moderator, brought together to discuss the issue.

Questionnaires.

Questionnaires are a simple, straightforward data collection method. Respondents get a series of questions, either open or close-ended, related to the matter at hand.