Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Scheduled tribes in India'

This thesis studies the situation of women and tribes in India through the roles of workfare programme, availability of public healthcare and history. The second chapter studies the effect of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGA) on consumption expenditure and time-use, especially on account of women's participation. Using instrumental variables estimation strategy to deal with the endogeneity in the number of days worked, we find that women's participation benefits children, especially girls. Higher spending on nutritious foods, education of girls, lower engagement of women in domestic chores and greater time spent in school for younger girls are found on account of the programme. The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are the two most disadvantaged social groups in India. The third chapter investigates whether STs lag behind even the SCs in terms of health, a key development indicator which has also remained relatively understudied in the literature. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method shows that relative to the lack of demand for healthcare from the STs, shortage of supply of health services in tribal areas appears to be more important in explaining why STs lag behind even the SCs in nearly all aspects of women's and children's health. The chapter argues that STs need to be studied in isolation from the SCs because of different historical reasons for the underdevelopment of these two groups. The fourth chapter studies the long term implications of historical female property rights on current development outcomes. Historic patterns of widowhood for women is a plausible mechanism through which women became owners of property. Districts with greater relative female landownership in the past are found to have lower infant mortality, higher literacy rate, better healthcare for and higher labour force participation of women, greater reporting of and arrests for crimes committed against women and higher women's autonomy. Greater political representation of women, investment in public goods and greater economic role played by women in agriculture appear to be possible mechanisms that could explain how female property rights during colonial time can have long-term effects.
Arts, Faculty of
Vancouver School of Economics
Graduate

Laws and policies have created a legal context aimed at allowing the adivasis to develop socioeconomically while retaining the aspects of their culture that they value the most. While the adivasis still face numerous challenges, it is evident that many have achieved successful economical advancement as a result of the legal framework established upon independence in 1947. Yet, it has also been acknowledged that economic advancement can undermine aspects of culture that are essential to the identity and dignity of the adivasis. Such a loss can result from exogenous factors such as government policy and the actions and beliefs of nontribals, or from endogenous factors such as the willingness of the adivasis to adopt the values of nontribals.

Mainstream studies on Indian politics have delineated the people of India into two categories, variously described as the rich and the poor, the elite and the masses, the bourgeoise and the proletariat, among others. This has resulted in the emergence of a common theme which suggests that a powerful dominant minority have been able to use the forces of social change to subject the masses to a position of weakness. Nowhere else is this more obvious than in studies analysing the politics of tribal people in India, which goes further to suggest that except for a few groups, the rest are politically naive and placid. This study takes issue with such a view by describing the political behaviour of the Mullukurumbas: a tribal group in Nilgiris, South India numbering around 1300. In spite of their low numbers and cumulative wealth - which places them squarely within the category of the so-called exploited - the Mullukurumbas reveal by their actions that they are not social dummies but actors. Analysis of their behaviour shows that they, by discernment of the socio-political contexts and through evaluation and reflection of their relative standing with others, find methods to manoeuvre social change in a direction preferable to them. This study also highlights the following: the fact that mainstream studies on Indian politics has focused attention almost entirely on the terrain of high politics. It sees in it a discrepancy that leads to the emergence of a view, which varying in degrees suggest, an active and powerful strong placing under their domination a subjected and powerless weak. This study stretches the parameters of analysis further into the terrain of low politics where much of the transactions of the weak with the state, society and the strong take place. It shows how valued means of politics - land, money and identity - universally accepted within the context of the political culture in Nilgiris is acquired and conserved by the Mullukurumbas. This study moves beyond the mainstream theorists in describing the politics of tribal people in India today by showing how the actions of the weak are (1) sustained in subtle and well calculated ways in the terrain of low politics and (b) is institutionalised within so called non-political structures such as family and religion. This, in spite of the pressures of change, set in motion (1) by the underlying conflict between the state and society and (2) by the settling in of the strong in niches that emerge in the power structure. By doing so, this study sheds light on the active role of the tribal people, conventionally presented merely as the weak.

This thesis is an ethnography of a community of professional thieves called the Kanjar-a 'caste of thieves' by practice, public perception and self-designation-in the northern Indian province of Rajasthan. It is also an argument that spells out the broader logic of rank in local society. Insofar as it offers the first ethnography of the Kanjar community- and of caste-based, professional, hereditary theft-this study is new. My analytical concern with hierarchy and rank, however, is old, engaging in the once central, and now largely out-fashioned, discussion in the sociology of South Asia. My project began with a narrow set of concerns with the place of thieving and thieves in local society. In the course of my fieldwork, however, it became apparent that the received wisdom of South Asian sociology regarding the principles of rank did not offer useful explanatory tools and that a different conception of rank was necessary to make sense of what I observed, both about the social position of Kanjars and the hierarchical social formation at large. As is so often the case, what began as a study of historically and sociologically particular circumstances became an inquiry into the pervasive regnant aspects of the local order of things.

This thesis elucidates processes of identity construction that have taken place amongst Bhil Christians in Udaipur district, Rajasthan, in the context of the endemic anti- Christian violence that has been carried out by Hindu nationalist organisations and adherents in this area since the late 1990s. My work explores how Bhil Christians engage with this, and seeks to make both an empirical and analytical contribution to existing analyses of anti-Christian violence by shifting the focus away from the construction of majoritarian Hindu identities in India's tribal belt, and placing it instead on the minority Christian community. Utilising a tripartite typology of violence (direct, structural and cultural) as its starting point, this thesis addresses questions of how Bhil Christians construct and perform their identity in this context, and how they understand and negotiate their relationships with both non-Christian communities and the state in their localities. This aims to situate Christians as agents in the construction of their own identities, rather than simply having 'otherness' imposed on them as a result of Hindu nationalist mobilization and rhetoric. This study shows that Bhil Christians are involved in a dualistic process of strategically emphasizing both difference and similarity between Christians and Hindus, while making recourse to an overarching adivasi identity that, in various ways, serves to challenge and often undermine the damaging constructions of Christianity that are propagated by the Sangh Parivar. At the same time, they foreground a Christian identity that is decisively shaped by notions of agency, moral uplift, and assertion; these are ideas that are informed by longer histories of adivasi self- and community making, but have acquired important new meaning and relevance in the context of anti-Christian violence.

Les catastrophes naturelles au nord-est de l’Inde, tout comme dans le reste du monde, attirent régulièrement l’attention des médias. Au-delà des interventions d’urgence, il s’avère nécessaire de prendre du recul afin de mieux cerner l’origine des évènements et les stratégies d’adaptation déployées par les populations pour y faire face. Suivant une approche interdisciplinaire mêlant hydro-géomorphologie, éco-anthropologie et political ecology, cette thèse apporte un éclairage nouveau sur les dynamiques du Brahmapoutre, les interactions sociétés-milieux et la gestion des risques dans une région peu étudiée. En Assam, chaque année au cours de la mousson, le fleuve Brahmapoutre entre en crue et déborde dans sa plaine, déposant sur son passage des sédiments sableux et des limons fertiles. Dans cet espace densément peuplé, les Mising - population originaire de l’Himalaya oriental, Scheduled Tribe d’Assam - ont longtemps adapté leurs modes de vie à ce milieu dynamique. Au rythme du fleuve, les Mising pratiquent plusieurs types de riziculture, utilisent différentes techniques de pêche et déplacent leurs villages dans les espaces exposés aux inondations en suivant le mouvement des chenaux. Or, en 1950, un séisme majeur provoqua d’importantes modifications de l’hydrosystème fluvial, bouleversant ce système socio-écologique fragile. Pour contrôler le Brahmapoutre et mettre en valeur les territoires, la région connut dès le XIIe siècle des programmes d’endiguement et d’administration foncière sur la rive sud. À partir de 1954, l’État d’Assam étendit l’endiguement de part et d’autre du lit mineur. Ces aménagements incitèrent les communautés paysannes à se sédentariser dans les périmètres protégés en les contraignant à respecter les nouvelles délimitations foncières. Toutefois, depuis 1988, des ruptures de digues soudaines ont été à l’origine d’inondations récurrentes dans les espaces censés être protégés, tandis que l’érosion se poursuit, emportant les terres de plusieurs villages des subdivisions de Bokakhat, Majuli et Dhakuakhana, objets de cette thèse. L’objectif général de cette thèse est de montrer – à l’aide d’exemples pris dans trois localités – comment les aménagements fluviaux et les politiques foncières ont provoqué une crise sociale et environnementale obligeant les Mising à réajuster leurs pratiques agricoles tout en renégociant leur place au sein de la société et du territoire assamais. Ainsi, à Bokakhat, les Mising négocient leurs droits d’accès aux ressources avec les autorités du parc national de Kaziranga ; à Majuli, ils travaillent pour les institutions religieuses vaishnavites et les propriétaires terriens assamais ; à Dhakuakhana, certains d’entre eux se réfugient illégalement sur les débris de digues et espèrent que leurs terres pourront redevenir fertiles, tandis que d’autres émigrent. Dans ces situations socio-économiques distinctes, les Mising adoptent différentes stratégies socioreligieuses. Ils sont partagés entre ceux qui souhaitent s’insérer au sein de la société assamaise en adoptant les cultes vaishnavites localement dominants, ceux qui envisagent d’accéder au monde globalisé par une conversion au christianisme, et ceux qui affirment une identité tribale en faisant revivre des cultes plus anciens. En représentant l’ensemble de la communauté devant l’État d’Assam, les organisations politiques mising demandent plus d’autonomie territoriale vis-à-vis de Delhi. Un projet néanmoins difficile à mettre en œuvre, car les villages mising sont dispersés parmi ceux d’autres communautés d’Assam. Dans quelle mesure ces stratégies permettront-elles aux Mising de maintenir leurs capacités d'adaptation dans un milieu changeant ?
Natural disasters in Northeast India and in the rest of the world regularly attract media’s attention. Besides an emergency response to these events, it is necessary to distance oneself from the disaster in order to acquire a better understanding of the cause of the events and the coping strategies adopted by the population. Following on an interdisciplinary approach combining disciplines such as hydro-geomorphology, eco-anthropology and political ecology, this thesis sheds new light on the dynamics of the Brahmaputra River, the socio-environmental interactions and risk management in an area where few studies have been conducted.In Assam, every year during the monsoon, the level of the Brahmaputra River rises and overflows into the floodplain, covering sandy land and carrying fertile silts. In this densely populated area, the Mising tribe - a group from the eastern Himalayas, a scheduled tribe of Assam - has for long time managed to adapt its way of life to this dynamic environment. The Misings practise several types of rice cultivation; use different fishing techniques and move their villages according to the flow of the braided river’s channels. However, in 1950, a major earthquake brought about important modifications in the river’s hydrosystem, seriously upsetting this fragile socio-ecological system. Embankments have been built and land has been administrated on the south bank of the Brahmaputra since the twelfth century to control the river and to establish territories. But since 1954, the State of Assam has extended the embankments on both sides of the river. These infrastructures have encouraged farming communities to settle on these new protected lands, forcing them to respect cadastral boundaries. However, since 1988, breaches in the embankment have frequently led to flash floods, while erosion has caused land belonging to several villages in Majuli, Bokakhat and Dhakuakhana subdivisions, which are discussed in this thesis, to be washed away. The main objective of this thesis is to demonstrate — using examples from these three territories — how river engineering and rigid administrative boundaries have led to a social and environmental crisis that leaves the Misings no option but to adjust their agricultural practices and to adopt various strategies to negotiate their space on Assamese land and within Assamese society. Thus, in Bokakhat, the Misings negotiate their right to access resources with the Kaziranga National Park authorities; in Majuli, they work as farmers for Vaishnavite religious institutions and Assamese landowners; in Dhakuakhana, some of them take shelter illegally on portions of the embankment in the hope that their land will be restored to them, while others choose to migrate. In these distinct socio-economical conditions, they are divided into those who are assimilated into Assamese society through Vaishnavite cults, those who have converted to Christianity, which is gaining a foothold in the globalized world, and those who defend their tribal identity and who are reviving ancient faith. Finally, Mising political organizations are claiming to the State of Assam and to Delhi for more territorial autonomy. This would be a difficult undertaking as their villages are scattered among the other communities of Assam. To what extent these strategies will help the Misings to maintain their adaptability in a changing environment?

This thesis is a study of the community of Siddis in Uttara Kannada district. I will describe and discuss, mostly in aspects related to the Scheduled Tribe status, the problem of reservations, the question of education, language, the work scenario and finally I will briefly analyse how religion is practised among the Siddi Christians and its influence on their lives. Issues of citizenship and national belonging, social and political agency inevitably impose themselves to my analysis. Although the Siddis share a common ethnic pool and similar economic conditions, they are subdivided by their belonging to three major religions, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. I hope to have helped to understand how the Siddis have been living in obscurity for nearly five centuries. In India’s complex hierarchy of castes and tribes, the Siddis are classified as a tribe or adivasis and only in 2003 were the Siddis of Uttara Kannada granted the much-coveted Scheduled Tribe status that provides them reservations and representation to a large extent. The concession and enforcement of the Scheduled Tribe status has been contentious and fraught with controversy. While well intentioned, most of the schemes are flawed and not properly enforced which leave the Siddis in a difficult predicament. They haven’t all been informed of the benefits that accrue to them owing to their new status and hence this is a cause for confusion and disappointment. This problem has also been exacerbated by the issue of corruption, lack of knowledge and information from the authorities. What kind of citizen is the Siddi?. The Siddi is discriminated against by his non-Siddi counterpart on account of his physical appearance and is a victim of stereotyping. Siddis do not have proper access to education In terms of jobs, Siddis are left to do menial jobs. Of course, this is a natural outcome of lack of education. Siddis are discriminated in public offices and banks and often are unable to receive social and economic benefits that are due them in spite of reservations that allow for a special status to the Siddis.
Esta tese é um estudo da comunidade de Siddis no distrito de Uttara Kannada. Descreverei e analisarei, nomeadamente no que diz respeito ao estatuto de Tribo Identificada, o problema da reserva territorial, a questão da educação, língua, da força de trabalho e finalmente analisarei de forma breve como é que a religião é praticada pelos cristãos Siddis e respectiva influência nas suas vidas. Questões de cidadania e de nacionalidade, de actuação social e política fazem inevitavelmente parte da minha análise. Embora os Siddis partilhem um enquadramento étnico e condições económicas semelhantes, encontram-se subdivididos pelas três maiores religiões do país, o Hinduísmo, o Islamismo e o Cristianismo. Espero ter contribuído para que se compreenda como os Siddis têm vivido na obscuridade por cerca de cinco séculos. Na complexa hierarquia das castas e tribos da Índia, os Siddis são classificados como uma tribo ou adivasis e só em 2003 foi garantido aos Siddis de Uttara Kannada o já há muito desejado estatuto de Tribo Identificada que lhes providencia reservas territoriais e ampla representatividade. A concessão e implementação do estatuto de Tribo Identificada tem sido contenciosa e controversa. Embora bem intencionados, muitos dos esquemas foram tempestuosos e mal implementados deixando os Siddis numa difícil condição. Não foram de todo informados sobre os benefícios que lhes foram atribuídos pelo novo estatuto, o que foi uma causa de confusão e desapontamento. Este problema também foi exarcebado pela questão da corrupção, falta de conhecimento e de informação por parte das autoridades. Que espécie de cidadão é o Siddi? O Siddi é discriminado negativamente pela sua componente não-Siddi devido à sua aparência física sendo uma vítima da estereotipazação. Os Siddis não têm acesso adequado à educação. No que se refere ao emprego, os Siddis acabam por só desempenhar trabalhos inferiores. Claro que isto é um resultado natural da ausência de eduação. Os Siddis são discriminados nas repartições públicas e bancos, sendo muitas vezes impedidos de receber benefícios sociais e económicos que lhes são devidos apesar das disposições que permitem aos Siddis um estatuto especial.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Domestic violence (DV) in India is one of the most alarming issues that is experienced by over one-third (36.6%) of non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (non SC/ST) women and nearly half (48%) of Scheduled Caste (SC) women (ages 15-49). DV and women’s empowerment are historically interlinked. The patriarchy embedded within social-cultural norms along with economic capability deprivation takes away the freedom of SC women to enjoy bodily safety in public and private spaces. Despite Constitutional measures, SC women continue to face violence-induced capability deprivation due to discrimination at three levels: caste, class, and gender. DV against SC women is an understudied area; there are scarcely any studies on DV in this population using national data. This research used data from the National Family Health Survey-III 2005-2006 (N = 12,069-SC women and N = 45,390- non-SC/ST women). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine DV trends amongst SC and non-SC/ST women. Contrary to the study’s hypothesis, having better empowerment (household-autonomy, healthcare decision-making, sexual-autonomy) increased the likelihood of women experiencing DV. However, the hypothesis relating to economic empowerment and autonomy was supported showing a reduced likelihood of DV. SC women were empowered when they had the capability to earn wages; however, they had no instrumental freedom to spend their own earnings. Similarly, empowerment indicators were shown to impact the likelihood of justifying the violence shaping women’s gender norms and attitudes. When compared with non-SC/ST, SC women who have economic and healthcare autonomy had lower odds of justifying DV. Exposure to DV in childhood, early marriage, and husbands’ alcohol abuse significantly enhanced the likelihood of DV. Across most of the indicators, the intensity of DV amongst SC women was relatively higher than non-SC/ST women. The findings emphasize the need for social work practice and policy to focus not only on empowering women in terms on economic and material well-being through ownership, but also assessing if this ownership have instrumental value in practice without the threat of DV. Future research can enhance understanding of DV by examining social exclusion, socio-cultural patriarchy, and the intersectionality of caste, class, gender, and other individualist and community factors.
2 years

In north India in the 1870s, the 'eunuch' became a criminal type under British colonial law. Colonial officials in this region sought to cause eunuchs to 'die out' by preventing emasculation and aimed to transform the occupations, gendered practices and domestic arrangements of several diverse groups who were classed as 'eunuchs.' This study explains the criminalisation of the 'eunuch' through a history of the multiple indigenous groups that this English-language term described in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The English-language colonial category of the 'eunuch'-its various inclusions and exclusions, its historical shifts, and its contradictions and tensions-is the focus of this thesis. The term 'eunuch' was used to label diverse indigenous groups, and was not internally coherent or unified. Some eunuchs, such as khwajasarais, were slaves but were nevertheless socio-economic elites and powerful state officials. In contrast, the hijras were socially marginalised and were variously denoted as 'eunuchs from birth' or as biological males who were subsequently emasculated, and who identified as feminine or 'neither men nor women.' In addition, several groups that were not emasculated were also classified as 'eunuchs' due to their gendered and sexual practices. This dissertation examines the colonial regulation of eunuchs in two contexts: first, in the Indian-ruled state of Awadh from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, when the British sought to regulate the employment of khwajasarais in the Awadh administration; and second, under Part II of the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) in the British-ruled territory of the North-Western Provinces (NWP) from the 1850s until the end of the nineteenth century. The CTA, which primarily targeted the hijra community, aimed to facilitate the surveillance and counting of hijras, discipline their gender and sexuality and prevent emasculation in order to ultimately bring about the passive extermination of this group. Due to the diversity of groups that the colonial category of the 'eunuch' labelled, this thesis adopts multiple analytical frameworks to understand the various colonial projects targeting 'eunuchs' and their effects. This study foregrounds three questions. First: how did the everyday lives of khwajasarais and hijras change over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; how did they resist, subvert and evade colonial projects; and how did colonial modernity impact upon the intimate, domestic domain of these communities? Second: what do projects to govern the disparate groups that were labelled as 'eunuchs' tell us about the modes of colonial power deployed against marginalised groups at the local level? Third: what does the criminalisation of the internally diverse category of the eunuch tell us about the multiple impacts of colonialism on gender and sexuality in India? This study concludes that colonial regulation, and colonial modernity more broadly, had significant long-term impacts upon all the various groups labelled as 'eunuchs.' However, colonial projects were uneven between different geographic and temporal contexts and were internally fissured.

Durante o colonialismo português em Goa houve um processo sistemático de conversão a que podemos chamar de mimético, já que, desde o século XVI, ao se converterem as castas da elite, os Brâmanes, se esperava que as outras castas os emulassem. A excepção a este princípio foi o grupo dos Gaudde, que ao longo do tempo se dividiu em três castas: hindus, católicos e neo-hindus (Gaudde católicos, que se tornaram hindus em 1928). No contexto da sociedade indiana, os Gaudde de Goa apresentam uma dualidade classificatória: socialmente, seguem a organização da “casta”, mas foram reconhecidos em linguagem administrativa como uma “tribo” devido às regalias económicas e educacionais que este estatuto lhes concede. Os próprios afirmam ser os primeiros habitantes deste estado, tal como descrito pela literatura produzida durante e após o colonialismo português – o que foi traduzido como “tribo”. Um outro aspecto menos estudado do colonialismo português é a resistência invisível que os Gaudde efectuaram e a pertinência contemporânea deste passado. A sua contestação revelou-se através da manutenção em segredo das suas canções, danças e rituais, proibidos pela igreja católica por serem “não-católicos”. Este dado relaciona-se com a vivência local do catolicismo entre os Gaudde e sua articulação com o hinduísmo e o culto a entidades territoriais, resultantes do processo singular da conversão em Goa. As letras das suas canções têm de ser lidas à luz da lógica ritual hindu, embora os nomes de deuses tenham sido substituídos por santos católicos, adquirindo hoje um novo significado com a sua canalização para o turismo.
Portuguese colonialism in Goa carried out a systematic process of conversion that we could call mimetic, in the sense that by converting the higher castes, the brahmanes, it was hoped that the other castes would emulate them. Exceptions to this principle were the Gaudde, an original group that over time split into three different castes: the Hindus, the Christians and the Neo-Hindus (Christian Gaudde who became Hindu in 1928). Further specificities regarding the Goan Gaudde are important to understand their cultural practices and representations, and their sociological duality. Indeed, socially they follow the caste organization; however, administratively they are classified as a Scheduled Tribe, due to the economical and educational benefits of this status. The Gaudde affirm to be the first inhabitants of Goa, as depicted both by Portuguese colonialism and by postcolonial literature – which was translated as synonymous with a tribal group. Another less known aspect of Portuguese colonialism is the invisible resistance of the Gaudde and its contemporary relevance. Their resistance has developed through the maintenance of their songs, dances and rituals in secret because they were forbidden by the Catholic Church for being "non-Catholic". This is due to the local experience of Catholicism among Gaudde and its relationship to Hinduism and the worship of territorial entities, resulting from the peculiar process of conversion in Goa. The lyrics of their songs have to be read in the light of Hindu ritual, although the names of gods have been replaced by Christian saints, acquiring nowadays a new meaning with their repositioning towards touristic audiences.

Racial and gender inequality, as well as other forms of discrimination has been a part of the South African, American and Indian histories for a very long time. Even today racial disparity is still very evident in the South African and American societies whilst discrimination based on caste is still prevalent in the Indian society. This is illustrated by continued racial discrimination and the remaining signs of societal segregation. Due to continuing disparities amongst the people, it became necessary to implement affirmative action programmes. Focusing in particular on education and jobs, affirmative action policies require active measures to be taken to ensure that blacks and other minorities enjoy the same opportunities for career advancement and school admissions that had been the nearly exclusive province of whites in SA and the USA, or for the forward castes in India. Affirmative action has been both praised and denounced, as an answer to racial inequality. One of the key issues that arise when affirmative action is discussed is whether or not affirmative action in fact promotes equality and atones for past prejudices. Another concern is whether the current affirmative action policy is the right policy to use. The issues surrounding affirmative action seems to be universal as are the circumstances. Perhaps the most widespread similarity among the programmes in these very different countries has been that group preferences and quotas are almost always discussed. The debate on affirmative action exists because it is a very divisive issue and it affects different groups of people in different ways, and some groups or persons seemingly benefit more from affirmative action than other persons or groups. In addition, it causes people to be classified into groups, and at the same time, strives to break down group barriers. It is an issue that is difficult to resolve because people have varied ideas about how the problems of racial inequality and historical discrimination should be addressed
Jurisprudence
LLD