A report from an ongoing study on the livelihoods of Adivasi communities underlines the extreme deprivation in which they live despite laws and policies ostensibly meant to benefit them. Not much has changed and Adivasis continue to remain the most impoverished people in India with the worst human development indicators, lagging behind in health and education.
Listed mostly as Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution, Adivasi communities grapple with new challenges. Development schemes over the years have robbed them of their lands, deprived them of their forests, denuded their environment and eroded the social cohesion of their communities. Around 55 percent. . .