CHALLENGES OF TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN MAHARASHTRA

Transcription

1 CHALLENGES OF TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN MAHARASHTRA Devidas Sonawane Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik, India ABSTRACT Development of Tribal Population is a key issue in our country for up-lift of socioeconomically backward classes in India. Major problems of tribal community are illiteracy, low level of education, poor health conditions, poverty and unemployment, lack of development opportunities and above all, insensivity towards development. Maharashtra is one of the 17 states in the country with tribal population. Union and State Governments are implementing plans for development of Tribal community but the efforts are lacking political willingness or there is administrative apathy in implementing the plans. This paper attempts to find reasons behind slow path of development of Tribal people in the State of Maharashtra. It is observed in this paper that the provisions made for Tribal Development in Maharashtra are inadequate to fulfill the requirements of the society and further, whatever provisions are made those are not fully utilized. Keywords: Tribal Development; TSP Provisions; Allocation of Funds; Utilisation of Provisions INTRODUCTION The tribal population of India may be divided into three principal territorial zones, namely, the North-Eastern Zone, the Central Zone, and Southern Zone. Article 366 (25) of the Constitution of India defined Scheduled Tribes as Such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of this Constitution. By the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, issued by the President in exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article 342 of the Constitution of India, 255 tribes in the 17 states were declared to be Scheduled Tribes. 1 This article is an attempt to review the progress of Tribal society in Maharashtra during recent times under Tribal sub plans aimed at Tribal Development. Report of the Study team on Tribal Development Programmes A study team on tribal development programme with the object of giving practical effect to the recommendations made in the 4 th 5 year plan draft for welfare of Scheduled Tribes and for assisting State Governments in evolving concrete schemes of development, especially adapted to the needs of tribal communities and scheduled areas was constituted by the Planning Commission under the Chairmanship of P. Shilu Ao in October, The Committee was asked to: 133

2 Look into the problems and needs of tribal communities in each state. Appraise the working of tribal development programmes, especially during 3 rd Five Year Plan. Ascertain how far the schemes formulated so far have enabled the tribal communities to secure an adequate share in the benefits accruing from the general development programmes. make detailed recommendations regarding the lines on which the schemes should be oriented in the 4 th Five Year Plan to accelerate progress; and suggest measures for strengthening the administrative machinery and harnessing tribal leadership to ensure their fullest participation in the task of economic and social development. 2 The Prime Minister (Jawaharlal Nehru) has laid down a Pach Shila for tribal development and if the following five principles are observed, we may look forward to progress in the tribal areas with confidence and hope. If, however, they are ignored, there may well be a change for the worse rather than for the better. This is what the Prime Minister has said: Development in various ways there has to be, such as communication, medical facilities, education and better agriculture. These avenues of development should, however, be pursued within the broad framework of the following five fundamental principles 1. People should develop along the lines of their own genius and we should avoid imposing anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their own traditional arts and culture. 2. Tribes rights in land and forests should be respected. 3. We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do work of Administration and development. Some technical personnel from outside will, no doubt, be needed, especially in the beginning. But we should avoid introducing too many outsiders into tribal territory. 4. We should not over-administer these areas or overwhelm them with a multiplicity of schemes. We should rather work through, and not in rivalry to, their own social and cultural institutions. 5. We should judge results, not by statistics of the amount of money spent, but by the quality of human character that is evolved. 3 New Approach to Tribal Development There are 35 districts in the Maharashtra State and the tribal population is largely concentrated in the western hilly districts of Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Nashik and Thane (Sahyadri Region) and the eastern forest districts of Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia, Nagpur, Amravati and Yavatmal (Gondwana Region) As directed by the Government of India in the villages where more than 50 per cent of the population was tribal, were constituted into Integrated Tribal Development Projects. (ITDPs) The villages where the tribal population was only marginally less than 50 per cent were also constituted into additional ITDPs and these were called the Additional Tribal Sub Plan (ATSP) Blocks\Projects. 134

3 In the meantime, the Government of India in recognition of the fact that there were some small concentrations of tribal population just outside the Integrated Tribal Development Plans (ITDPs)., directed that in a group of villages having a population of about 10000, if more than 50 per cent of population is tribal, the villages should be brought under the Modified Area Development Approach (MADA) Similarly, if two or three villages having a total population of 5,000 if more than 50 per cent of population belongs to tribal, the same should be constituted into a clusters/mini MADA. Consequent to the recoganisation of the Tribal Development Department done in January, 1992 the 24 Project office s jurisdiction have been so delineated that they cover all the tribal population in the state, whether living in the ITDP, MADA, Mini MADA/ Clusters or scattered elsewhere in the state. According to the 2001 census, out of the total tribal population of the state about 49 per cent reside in the ITDPs (i.e. the Scheduled Area and the ATSP), MADA and Mini MADA clusters, and the remaining 51 per cent live outside this areas. 4 Tribal Sub Plan The concept of drawing up a Tribal Sub-plan, hereinafter shall be referred to as TSP, accounting for all the flows of funds invested in the ITSP was started from Subsequently, the terms TSP and ITSP were used inter-changeably and the ITDPs were often referred to as TSP Areas. Since this work was given to the Tribal Development Department, the annual outlays under the TSP have been as follows. Tribal Development Department and Tribal Sub Plan Annual outlay and expenditure incurred during the from to covering a of recent two decades ending are given in the table 1 5 Table 1gives the figures of TSP Budgetary provisions, its share in State Plan, provision for outlay on TSP and the per cent of expenditure actually incurred against the amounts provided for the to Assuming State Plan Outlay as cent per cent, it can be seen from the table that Budgetary provision has always remained less than the planned outlay, excepting last 4 years from to when budgetary allocations matched with the State Plan outlay. The Budgetable Outlay was 85.4 per cent of the state plan outlay during first five years from to , which dropped to as low as 52.7 per cent of the plan outlay during next five years from to There was a significant improvement in budgetable outlay at 93.4 per cent of State Plan outlay during third from to This is an indication of the state policy to participate more actively with a view to bring rapid tribal development. The same trend seems to have been continued during the more recent from to but it is difficult to comment upon administrative efficiency of the state machinery in better allocation and utilization of TSP funds because the figures of actual expenditure for the recent two years could not be available from Tribal Development Department. 135

4 Year State plan outlay Table 1. Tribal Sub Plan outlay (Rs. Crore) Budgetable outlay per cent of budgetable outlay Out lay provision for TSP. Per cent of TSP prov. to plan outlay of the State Actual Expen -diture agains t TSP Per cent of actual expenditu re to TSP provision (85.4) (85.4) (8.7) (92.5) () (52.7) (9.2) (55.3) () (100..0) (93.4 ) (8.0) (95.2) (95.2) NA NA (8.9) However, success or failure of any plan doesn t depend on allocative efficiency alone. Its implementation part is more important because utilization of funds transmit the benefits of plans to the people for whom the plan is made. Unfortunately, implementation of TSP is not as efficient as the allocation part of it. It is seen from the Table that actual implementation of TSP through expenditure against allocations is poor. During first of 5 years from (91.2) Note: Ompiled from Annual Tribal Sub Plan PP. 4, 58, Figures of actual expenditure for the and are not available, Figures in brackets indicate per cent to total. Another interesting feature of the TSP allocations is in line with the ratio of Tribal population to total population of the state. Throughout the covered in the above table shows that the ratio of TSP outlay to state plan outlay ranged from 5.5 per cent to 9 per cent of the State Plan outlay. Eliminating year to year fluctuations, five yearly averages definitely show an improvement from 8.1 per cent to 9.2 per cent by This can be termed as allocative efficiency of funds for Tribal Development. 91.2

5 , on an average, only 92.5 per cent of allocations could be utilized. This ratio dropped to a miserable level of 55.3 per cent during next five years from to This ratio improved to 95.2 per cent during to and there can be no comments on utilization of funds during to due to non-availability of the figures of actual expenditure. If the funds for any development projects are not released in time and in adequate volume, implementation is always delayed resulting into rise in the cost of project completion. Cost escalation becomes a major hindrance in the way of bringing about desired development at desired time. Important Subsectors of Tribal Development Department The Tribal Development Department has provided the outlay over the from to for important sub-sectors such as Jawahr Rojgar Yojana, for employment guarantee, Rural Water supply for making a provision for supply of safe drinking water, Public Health for rendering health services to tribal population, Education for literacy and attainment of levels of education for tribal people, Roads for providing access to transport system for both, passengers and goods, and finally, Welfare of Backward Classes etc. as follows Table 2 presents data on six heads of Tribal Development aimed at fulfilling different objectives of Tribal Development for the from to distributed into three s for comparing improvement or otherwise over time. Expenditure on Jawahar Rojgar Yojana, Road Development works, Education, Public Health and Rural Water Supply Schemes show a continuous declining share over time; whereas the expenditure on welfare of Backward Classes, a single head of development expenditure shows a long-term rising trend. Table 2. Tribal Development Department Outlays over Important Sub-Sectors (Rs. in Lakh) Year Jawahar Rojgar Yojana Roads Develo p-ment Educa -tion Public Health Rural water supply Welfare of Backward classes Total Allocation for heads (14.4) (22.5) (10.8) (17.5) (10.7) (24.2) (7.3) (10.9) (1.9) (14.3) (6.7) (59.0)

6 Table 2. Tribal Development Department Outlays over Important Sub-Sectors (Rs. in Lakh) Year Jawahar Rojgar Yojana Roads Develo p-ment Educa -tion Public Health Rural water supply Welfare of Backward classes Total Allocation for heads (6.7) (13.9) (0.8) (7.4) (2.3) (69.0) Note: Figures in the brackets indicate per cent to total allocation of all the six sub plans. Source: Compiled from Annual Tribal sub plans for the respective years Though the former 5 services need much development, especially for the tribal population, it is not known as to why the relative share of expenditure on these much desired services is declining? In terms of absolute expenditure, there is over ten times rise in money expenditure on all the six heads of development, but if the expenditure is deflated by the amount of inflation rate over the, there is much likely hood of real expenditure on development has declined rather than increased. This is not a real political will to develop tribal community. Plan outlay and Expenditure Table 3 presents the figures of planned expenditure on Tribal Development and its relative share in State Plan Expenditure from 5 th Five Year Plan onwards till : Table 3. Plan Outlay on Tribal Development Programme in Maharashtra State (Rs. Lakh) Plan/ Period Plan outlay in Maharashtra Growth over Previous Outlay on Tribal Sub Plan Growth over Previous per cent of Col.3 to Col.2 5 th Five Year Plan th Five Year Plan th Five Year Plan to to to to to to for the entire Source: Compiled from Annual Tribal sub plans for the respective years Table 3 shows that plan outlay and outlay on TSP in Maharashtra, both are increasing over time. However, during the entire covered in the Table, Total plan outlay increased by a little over 15 times, whereas the outlay on TSP has increased over 28 times that of the base of 5 th Five Year Plan. If we compare the growth in the outlay over the previous, outlay on TSP has increased at a higher rate than the State budgetary provision throughout the. For the as whole, average rate of growth per time has 138

7 been 70.9 per cent for State Plan outlay whereas the TSP outlay increased by 84.2 per cent is a positive development. Table 4 analyses utilization of funds allocated by the State for TSP for a of recent three decades which shows that the utilization of funds is lagging behind authorized funds. The table indicates that the growth in the budgetary provision and utilization was highest in the year in absolute terms and lowest during the to In terms of growth over previous, highest growth rate was recorded during the to and the lowest during the to showing negative growth over previous. The reasons for abnormal growth and abnormal decline during these s need further investigation. Table 4. Provision and Expenditure under Tribal Sub Plan Area of Maharashtra State (Rs. In Lakh) Period/Year Budget Provision for TSP Growth over Previous Actual Expenditure Growth over Previous Actual expenditure as % of Budgetary provision to to to to to to for entire Source: Compiled from Annual Tribal Sub Plan P. 484 Actual expenditure exceeded the allocations only during the to Aggregate utilization of funds allocated works out to 93.8 per cent for the entire, lowest utilization of just 79 per cent was experienced during the year On an average, budget provision for TSP grew by 106 per cent and actual expenditure increased by per cent. CONCLUSION From the above discussion, following inferences have been arrived at: 1. The allocations for Tribal Sub Plan are not well thought. Funds are allocated under different heads of Tribal Development depending upon funds available at the state level. 2. No Special priorities for Tribal development are specified as these are not reflected in budgetary allocations. There seems to be no rationale behind deciding the priorities in Tribal Development. 3. It seems that no feedback on the needs of Tribal people is collected while deciding on schemes for their development, which is the core part of any plan for tribal development. 139

8 4. Allocations for TSP are too inadequate in relation to their socio-economic backwardness and that the implementation is too sluggish as has seen in the underutilization of scanty funds at the disposal of Tribal Welfare Department. 5. A more Humanistic Approach is needed to tackle the problem of overall development of tribal community as the gap between advanced communities and tribal community is too wide. REFERENCES 1. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government of India, Dec.1955,July 1973, The Tribal People of India, P. No Tara Datt, (2001), Tribal Development in India (Orissa), Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi,110002, P Thapar, Ramesh, 1977, 1993, 1996, Tribal Caste and Religion in India, Mc Milan India Limited, PP Annual Tribal Sub-Plan & , Government of Maharashtra Tribal Development Department, PP Annual Tribal Sub-Plan & , Government of Maharashtra Tribal Development Department, P