Demystifying India's Approach towards Tribal Development: Maintaining a Balance Between Integration and Autonomy

This paper is reflective of the current approach of the government about the tribal development. From an earlier isolationist approach, we have moved towards a balanced assimilation approach. Last year, PM visited the village 'ULIHATU' which is the birth place of nationalist tribal leader Bhagwan Birsa Munda. Year by year, the budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Tribal Affairs have witnessed significant increases. In this context, it becomes important to have a holistic view about the issues faced by tribal communities in India such as geographical separation, land alienation, etc. The next part throws light on the multidimensional approach taken by the government to tackle these issues which includes various schemes such as PM Vanbandhu Vikas Jojana, PM Jan Jatiya Vikas scheme. The judiciary has been quite proactive in protecting the rights of indigenous people. Two such case laws have been discussed in the paper i.e. Samatha judgment and Niyamgiri Hills case. The author has ended the paper with a conclusion and some suggestions covering socioeconomic and political dimensions.