Mainstreaming the Marginalised: Fresh Perspectives on India’s Tribal Story [1 ed.] 0367430533, 9780367430535

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Mainstreaming the Marginalised

This book offers a comprehensive view of the relationship between the Indian tribes and the mainstream. It covers key topics such as health, education, development, livelihood, disability and culture, and presents new insights by focusing on the perspective of the 21st-century tribal youth of the country. The volume explores inclusive education for scheduled tribes children; mainstreaming tribal children; mental health and superstition; ageing and morbidity and psychological distress among elderly tribal population; empowerment via handicraft; livelihoods via non-timber forest produce; the Forest Right Act; the tribal sub-plan approach; tribal cuisine and issues of food; identity; myths and feminism. The book combines fresh research viewpoints with ideas on implementable solutions that would facilitate a more inclusive development for one of the most marginalised communities while highlighting critical issues and concerns. An important intervention, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of tribal studies, sociology, rural sociology, development studies, social anthropology, political sociology, politics, ethnic studies, sociolinguistics, education and public policy and administration. Seemita Mohanty is Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. Her current research interests include English language teaching, sociolinguistics and cultural studies. She has published three books, in addition to several research publications in national and international journals of repute.

“It would be no exaggeration to say that the process of economic development in India has so far grievously neglected the well-being of the tribal communities. This wonderful and timely anthology presents a detailed picture of the developmental and cultural concerns, and in particular the issues of education and health that confront these communities today.” Pulin B. Nayak, Former Professor and Head, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India

“The range of themes on tribal issues and problems that have been chosen in the book are very well-delineated. This anthology will certainly be a welcome addition to the existing literature on the subject.” R. Siva Prasad, Honorary Professor, e-Learning Centre, and Former Professor of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad, India

Mainstreaming the Marginalised Fresh Perspectives on India’s Tribal Story Edited by Seemita Mohanty

First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Seemita Mohanty; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Seemita Mohanty to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-0-367-43053-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-05780-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-00098-3 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983 Typeset in Sabon by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

Dedicated to those tribal youths whose endearing smiles still shine through that maze of trials and tribulations

Contents

Listof figures Listof tables Acknowledgements List of contributors

ix xi xiii xiv

Introduction 1 SEEMITA MOHANTY

PART I

Health and education 11   1 Inclusive education for children with developmental disabilities: Scope and challenges 13 RAMAKRISHNA BISWAL AND PRATIKSHA SATPATHY

  2 Mainstreaming tribal children: Scaffolding English language learning using multi lingual strategies 36 K. VISWANATH AND SEEMITA MOHANTY

  3 Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress among tribal elderly: Is there an association? 53 JALANDHAR PRADHAN

  4 Beliefs on etiology and healing practices of mental illness among tribes in Eastern India 73 RAMAKRISHNA BISWAL, CHITTARANJAN SUBUDHI AND ABHIJIT PATHAK

  5 Educating tribal children: Can information dissemination stimulate community participation? 89 KAUSHIK CHATTOPADHYAY AND SEEMITA MOHANTY

viii Contents PART II

Development and empowerment 105   6 People’s response to development: A case of India’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups 107 APPARAO THAMMINAINA

  7 Empowerment via handicraft: An empirical study on tribal women of Odisha 123 BIKASH RANJAN MISHRA, PRASANTA PATRI, BHARAT KUMAR DASH AND LOPAMUDRA D. SATPATHY

  8 Forest Right Act and the problems and prospects of nontimber forest product management: A study on particularly vulnerable tribal groups of Odisha 141 NIHARRANJAN MISHRA AND M. SANATAN RAO

  9 Implementation of tribal sub-plan schemes in Odisha: An assessment 156 NARAYAN SETHI, PADMAJA BHUJABAL AND LISMA ROUT

PART III

Culture and identity 171 10 Characters on the periphery: A feminist perspective on Mahabharata and Ramayana 173 ADITI DIRGHANGI AND SEEMITA MOHANTY

11 Rethinking Santal identity: A study of Binti as a creation myth and its impact on Santals in contemporary tribal India 189 NANDINI TANK AND UPENDER GUNDALA

12 Identity and individuality: Revisiting Indian tribal cuisine 204 SHRADDHA CHATTERJEE AND SEEMITA MOHANTY

Index

219

Figures

1.1 Developmental disabilities in Odisha. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.2 Prevalence of developmental disabilities in Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​ Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.3 District-wise prevalence rate of DD cases in Odisha. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​ _To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.4 District-wise prevalence of developmental disabilities from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​ Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.5 Prevalence of Mental Retardation in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​ gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.6 Prevalence of Cerebral Palsy in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/ CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.7 Prevalence of Autism in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​ Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx 1.8 Prevalence of Multiple Disability in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​ gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx

24

25

25

26

27

28

29

30

x Figures 2.1 Performance of the learners after one week of explicit oral vocabulary instruction with the aid of pictures. Source: Authors’ own calculation 3.1 Prevalence of morbidities by sex and age among tribal elderly. Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data 4.1 Perceived supernatural etiology among the respondents. Source: Authors’ own classification 4.2 Beliefs on etiology and path of resorting to healing choices. Source: Authors’ own classification 5.1 Proposed model for decision making at the local context. Source: Authors’ own classification 5.2 Intervention model—IAMA. Source: Authors’ own classification 7.1 Sampling strategy. Source: Compiled by the authors 7.2 Distribution of households: literacy and ethnicity wise. Source: Compiled by the authors from primary data

45 62 79 82 97 98 130 133

Tables

1.1 Comparative Chart of Provisions Regarding Inclusion under PwD Act (1995) and RPwD Act (2016) 21 2.1 Sample of the M ulti-lingual Resource Prepared to Facilitate the Use of Home Language for English Language Teaching 45 3.1 Profile of the Study Area 55 3.2 Variables Used in the Study 58 3.3 Percentage Distribution of Ederly Respondents by Selected Socio-Economic and Demographic Characteristics 60 3.4 Percentage of Respondents Having Selected Morbidities by Gender 62 3.5 Percentage of Respondents Having Deformity and Psychological Distress by Sex 63 3.6 Percentage of Respondents Having Multi-Morbidity, Physical Disability, Psychological Distress, and Functional Disability (ADL and IADL) by selected Socio-Economic Characteristics 64 3.7 Associating Morbidity to Disability and Psychological Distress 68 3.8 Logistic Regression Analysis Associating Multi-Morbidity to Disability and Psychological Distress 69 4.1 Demographic Information of the Respondents (Patients with Mental Illness) 78 4.2 Causal Explanation of Mental Illness based on Supernatural Etiology 79 4.3 Type of Healers Consulted by the Patients at the First Instance after Onset of the Illness 80 7.1 Number of Surveyed Households and their Craft business 131 7.2 Socio-Economic Variables of the Study 132 7.3 Summary Statistics of the Variables 134 7.4 Regression Estimation 135

xii Tables 7.5 Probit Model Estimation 136 7.6 Correlations of Parameter Estimates 137 7.7 Chi-Square Tests 137 8.1 Description of Independent Variables Used in the Logit Model 145 8.2 Logistic Regression Results 147 9.1 Flow of Funds from SCA to TSP during 2002–16 165 9.2 Tribal Sub-Plan in Sundargarh District of Odisha (block wise) 166 9.3 Description of the Variables 167 9.4 Descriptive Statistics 168 9.5 Regression Result 169

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the collective effort put in by all the authors, who in one way or the other have been associated with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, in the past few years. My gratitude is first and foremost towards all the contributors of the volume. I sincerely acknowledge the financial support received from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, which aided towards the timely completion of some of the research studies reflected in this anthology. I am thankful to Professor Animesh Biswas, Director NIT Rourkela for his constant support and encouragement. I am grateful to Professor Pulin Nayak for kindly agreeing to read through the Introduction section. His approval provided the much-needed confidence to move ahead. I am fondly indebted to my friend Priyanka Misra, a publishing professional, for showing me a way forward in the publication process. I sincerely thank Shoma Choudhury and Rimina Mohapatra of Routledge India Originals for their enthusiasm and sincerity. It has been a pleasure working with both through the publishing process. A special note of gratitude to all my students because of whom I find the energy to continue beyond my limits. Finally, thanks to my mother and my two daughters who, no matter how much I irk them, still love me in their own unique ways.

Contributors

Ramakrishna Biswal is Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. He has published research articles in the areas of emotion, mental health, cyber-bullying and juvenile delinquency in peerreviewed international journals of repute. He has also contributed book chapters and co-authored a book on poverty. Currently, he is actively engaged in research related to engineering pedagogy, ethical engineering and text analysis with his Indian and international collaborators. Padmaja Bhujabal is currently Doctoral Research Fellow in Economics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela, India. Her areas of expertise are economics of development and financial economics. She has published several research articles both in national and international journals. Shraddha Chatterjee is a PhD scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Odisha, India. Her research interests include cultural studies, food and diaspora and ecocriticism. Kaushik Chattopadhyay is a Doctoral student at NIT, Rourkela, India, in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has a background in Mass Communication and holds keen interests in the area of communication for social change and development. Bharat Kumar Dash is Research-cum-data analyst at Siddha Development Research and Consultancy Private Limited, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. He has worked as a research assistant in a Ministry of Tribal Affairs sponsored research project in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela. He received his MA in Economics from Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha. His research interests include applied econometrics, public finance and agricultural economics. Aditi Dirghangi received her PhD degree in English from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela, India. Her research

Contributors  xv interest includes gender studies, mythology studies, Indian writings in English and speculative fiction. Upender Gundala is Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. He completed his PhD from the University of Hyderabad. His areas of interest are English studies, translation studies, cultural studies, censorship and literature in India, Indian literature in English and Indian historiography. Bikash Ranjan Mishra is Assistant Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, Odisha. He obtained his PhD in Economics from IIT Kanpur with specialisation in industrial organisation and international trade and investment. He has more than 10 years of teaching and research experience. He has several publications in international journals such as Emerging Market Finance and Trade, Journal of Economic Studies and International Journal of Social Economics. Niharranjan Mishra is Associate Professor of Anthropology and is currently also Associate Dean (Academics) in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at NIT, Rourkela, India. He had his academic training at the University of Hyderabad. He specialises in natural resource management and sustainable livelihood, displacement issues, tribal and rural development and agrarian studies. He has over 60 publications in professional journals of repute. Before joining NIT, he has worked in institutions like NIRD, Hyderabad, and CSD, New Delhi. Seemita Mohanty is Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India, and has 23 years of teaching and research experience. She is a Homi Bhabha Fellowship recipient and is currently the Coordinator of the Centre of Excellence for Tribal Studies at NIT Rourkela, funded by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. Her research interests include English language teaching, sociolinguistics, cultural studies, and Indian English literature. She has published 3 books, in addition to 30 research publications in national and international journals of repute. Abhijit Pathak is a Research Scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at NIT, Rourkela, India. He has published research articles on mental illness and Indian cinema, caregiver's distress and caregiver's explanatory models. He has also contributed book chapters on gender differences in caregivers' stress and review on distress in India's geriatric population. Prasanta Patri served as a Research Associate sponsored by a Ministry of Tribal Affairs sponsored research project in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela, India. Currently he is a PhD scholar

xvi Contributors in Economics in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Indore, India. His research interests include environment economics, climate change, water and sanitation and women empowerment. Jalandhar Pradhan is Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, Odisha, India, and has been involved in teaching and research in the areas of health economics including health equity and efficiency, socio-economic inequality in health and healthcare financing. Currently, he heads the Centre of Excellence for Public Health Nutrition at NIT Rourkela, funded by UNICEF. M. Sanatan Rao has worked as a Project Associate in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at NIT, Rourkela, India. Currently he is a Research Scholar in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal. His research area includes agricultural economics and natural resource management and sustainable livelihood. Lisma Rout is a Research Fellow at Centre of Excellence in Fiscal Policy and Taxation (CEFT) at Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, India. She completed her PhD in Economics from Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India. Lopamudra D. Satpathy is Assistant Professor in Economics in Sushilavati Government Women’s College, Rourkela, India, appointed under Odisha Education Service, Government of Odisha. She obtained her doctorate degree in economics from IIT Kharagpur with specialisation in productivity analysis, industrial organisation and international economics. She has several publications in international journals such as Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, Journal of Management Research, South Asia Economic Journal and International Journal of Economics and Business Administration. Pratiksha Satpathy is a Counselling Psychologist in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, India. She has worked in projects related to mental health of women, developmental disabilities in children and takes keen interest in studying the problematic behaviour of youth related to lifestyle and technology. She is currently engaged in research related to addictive behaviours and holistic developmental factors among adolescents. Narayan Sethi is Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela, India. He has published 5 books and around 40 research papers in international journals in the area of international trade, finance and development. He has obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. He has more than 10 years of experience in both teaching and research.

Contributors  xvii Chittaranjan Subudhi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, India. He has published research articles in the areas of health and especially in tribal mental health, and several articles in national and international peerreviewed journals. Nandini Tank is a doctoral research fellow in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela, India. Her research interests include tribal studies, popular culture, visual studies and English studies. Apparao Thamminaina is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. He completed his PhD from the University of Hyderabad. He earlier served as an assistant professor at NIT, Rourkela, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. His research areas include identity, development, public policy and gender. K. Viswanath received his PhD degree from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela, India. His area of research is ELT for first-generation tribal children, and he is currently working on bridging the gap for tribal children from rural backgrounds who are being educated in urban English-medium schools. He has taught English at the high-school level for more than 20 years.

Introduction Seemita Mohanty

One of the categories under which the Cambridge English Dictionary categorises “mainstream” is “social responsibility” and it defines it as the “act of including people who have particular difficulties or needs in the same schools or places of work as everyone else.” When we speak of mainstreaming the marginalised it is in this context that we need to take the discussion forward. A lot has already been written about the tribes of India, their lives and livelihood, their issues and problems, yet even after 73 years of Independence the central theme effusing through any tribal discourse in the country is one of persistent poverty, and its concomitants—deprivation, marginalisation, ignorance, unemployment, illiteracy and illness. When the country is looking forward to a “$5 trillion economy by 2024 from a current $2.8 trillion economy, which as stated by the honourable Prime Minister as “challenging but achievable,” it is highly ironic that for a substantial section of our population it hardly holds any meaning as all they have to look forward to is more deprivation and marginalisation. As pointed out by Sharma (2019), the economy would require nominal growth of over 12% in dollar terms for the next five years to reach such a target. The question that arises here is, can the tribals expect a share of the current, and the proposed development pie, or are they doomed to their fate of marginalised existence, since a strive towards mainstreaming usually effects critiques that underscore the loss of culture and traditions, rather than perceiving the larger picture of social and economic accruements. Today when we are about to complete the second decade of the twentyfirst century, India certainly has made significant progress from being an “impoverished country … with a shattered economy, a minimal rate of literacy and horrific poverty” (Gosai, 2013) post-Independence, to arrive at a juncture where indigenously built satellites and spacecrafts are being launched by our scientists and engineers with just a fraction of the money that NASA spends on its space missions. Since 1947 the literacy level of the country has risen from 16 per cent to 74 per cent in 2019, child mortality rate has reduced significantly, with notable rise in life expectancy level (from 31 to 68.7 as per National Health Profile 2019 report). The rate of growth has increased from a meagre 1 per cent to around 8 per cent, while the DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-0

2  Seemita Mohanty percentage of population living below the poverty line has decreased from 90 per cent to around 21.9 per cent in 2011 as per estimation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) being a “critical driver of economic growth” is essential for the country’s economic growth, as well as being illustrative of India’s “changing orientation to the world.” Since the 1990s, from a cumulative total of $15.4 billion for the whole decade, FDIs in India have risen to a remarkable $300 billion in 2016. According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), for the year 2018–19 alone, India has attracted FDIs worth $44.36 billion. India’s share of global gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms has increased from 5.5 per cent in 2010 to 7.74 per cent in 2018. According to Plecher (2020), it is projected to increase to 7.97 per cent by 2025, which reflects the growth story of India’s economy. On a similar note, as per the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s share in global trade (merchandise and services) was 2.1 per cent (481.74 USD billion out of total 23,044 USD billion) for exports and 2.6 per cent (600.62 USD billion out of total 23,112 USD billion) for imports in 2017. Since then, exports have been growing continuously, and currently for the first time in 2018–19, total exports have touched more than half a trillion dollars. While we cannot always rely on figures to provide the complete picture, yet according to IMF, India is now the world’s third largest economy, behind United States and China, in PPP terms in 2019. As asserted by Tharoor (2012), “it is a country whose real and visible weight counts in the world.” But the whole idea behind giving these positive images is also to highlight the contradictions that exist in India’s development story, which if left unaddressed will continue to grow and thwart all attempts by the State and the people to bring parity among all sections of the society. In addition to economic growth of the country, the need of the hour is a high rank in the Human Development Index (HDI). No doubt, between 1990 and 2017, India’s HDI value increased from 0.427 to 0.640, an increase of almost 50 per cent, indicating significant achievement in being able to move millions of people out of poverty. Yet, even after 73 years of Independence, India is ranked at 130 out of 189 countries in the latest human development rankings by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). India’s HDI value for 2017 is 0.640, which puts the country in the medium human development category. The HDI is a composite index of outcome indicators in three dimensions: A long and healthy life, as reflected in life expectancy at birth; the acquisition of education and knowledge, as reflected in the mean years of schooling (adjusted for out of school children) and literacy rate (age seven years and above); and the standard of living and command over resources, as reflected in the monthly per capita expenditure adjusted for inflation and inequality. (India Human Development Report, Govt. of India)

Introduction  3 It is true that within South Asia, India’s HDI value scores above the average of 0.638 for the region, with Bangladesh and Pakistan, being ranked 136 and 150, respectively. But with other Asian countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China, and Korea ranked much higher than India, the country has a lot to answer to its own citizens. With widespread inequalities abounding among the people of the country, sustained human development progress is simply a pipedream now. People in countries with high human development index live an added 19 years, and also spend an additional 7 years in school, compared to those living in the group of low human development countries. This division is itself visible within India with a section of the people enjoying high HDI, while a section lives in utmost misery. Certainly, as observed in UNDP data, between 1990 and 2017, India’s life expectancy at birth has increased by nearly 11 years, with even more notable improvements in expected years of schooling. A school-going child today in India can expect to stay in school for 4.7 years longer than in 1990, and India’s GNI per capita has increased by an astounding 266.6 per cent between 1990 and 2017. Yet, a country with a high level of inequality prevailing among its people faces a bigger loss in HDI as compared to a high human development country. The UNDP Report states that “low and medium human development countries lose respectively 31 and 25 percent of their human development level from inequality, while for very high human development countries; the average loss is 11 percent.” According to Selim Jahan, Director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP, “while there is ground for optimism that the gaps are narrowing, disparities in people’s well-being are still unacceptably wide. Inequality in all its forms and dimensions, between and within countries, limits people’s choices and opportunities, withholding progress.” The Government of India, with its flagship development schemes like Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Skill India Mission, Ujala Yojna, Prime Minister Ujjwala Plan, Poshan Abhiyan, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Swachh Bharat, Make in India and other such initiatives in livelihood generation, school education and healthcare, is certainly trying its best to address this issue, but inequalities exist and continue to pose a major challenge for India as it progresses economically. Various state governments at their level have also implemented a wide variety of social protection measures, through which they seek to safeguard the interests of all beneficiaries, and also strive their best to ensure that all the corollaries of the country’s huge economic and commercial progress, achieved in the aftermath of liberal economic policies, and industrialisation, reaches the last mile. Yet, as we travel into the tribal hinterlands of the country, the gap between the haves and have-nots becomes so unnerving and all pervasive that the only prospect that can be assumed to effect any hope for them is a quality education, an education that includes both their traditional knowledge and the formal learning system that entitles one to professional healthcare, to structured livelihood options, and an awareness to demand

4  Seemita Mohanty and avail one’s legal and human rights. Lele (2017) writing for the World Economic Forum states that “unlike its East and Southeast Asian neighbours, rapid economic growth has not been inclusive enough to reduce the numbers of Indians living in poverty.” It is no surprise then that as per World Bank figures the country with the largest number of extremely poor people in the world, numbering 176 million, reside in India. Shashi Tharoor, in his chapter “The Idea of an Ever-ever Land” in Left, Right and Centre: The Idea of India (2017) reflects, How does one approach this land of snow peaks and tropical jungles, with twenty-three major languages and 22,000 distinct dialects including some spoken by more people than Danish or Norwegian, inhabited in the second decade of twenty-first century by over a billion individuals of every ethnic extraction known to humanity? How does one come to terms with a country whose population is nearly 30 percent illiterate, but which has educated the world’s second largest pool of trained scientists and engineers, whose teeming cities overflow, while two out of three Indians scratch a living from the soil? What gives strength to the “idea of India” as a modern nation is our democratic rights, which in spite of the myriad problems facing the country, give every citizen a chance to break free from a weary and debilitating subsistence-level existence. But is this “idea of India” prevailing enough to make each and every citizen of the country to break away from “the hampering threadlike pressure of small social conditions, and their frustrating complexity,” as expressed by George Eliot in her novel Middlemarch. Life for a majority of the strong 1.1 million tribal population (census 2011) in India is arduous and fraught with uncertainties. It is a process that they have been enduring even before the country got its independence, and the question that needs to be answered is how long should they endure this. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel, or is it a never-ending one? All this of course was in a pre-COVID era. Today, it is an altogether different world. The year 2020 will go down in the annals of the world’s history as the year of COVID-19, the coronavirus disease that has affected 5.36 million till now worldwide, with death toll standing over 342,000. Economists are still counting the worldwide losses, while even developed countries like Germany, and United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada and Australia are unable to figure out how to handle the pandemic. Life is not going to be the same anymore. The only thing that looks constant is the uncertainties that the disease is leaving in its wake. Yet we know that the world will progress, India will grow and India’s tribes in their own ways will prevail to make “Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) India” a sustainable programme. Even in these uncertain times, local Odia newspapers cite examples of tribals in remote villages of Koraput and Malkangiri districts

Introduction  5 successfully sustaining themselves through poultry farming, or growing and selling vegetables, or through kendu leaf business. Since independence tribal communities of India have been a major area of study in the social sciences; in recent years even science and engineering scholars have delved into research on tribal life and living, to develop technology that would provide a better way of life for the rural poor. Farming and agriculture are of course one area where technology holds the key, in addition to creating products like solar lights, smokeless chula stoves and Sal leaf plate and cup-moulding stoves (Mukherji, 2019). There is a surfeit of literature today from social sciences that speak on tribal issues and problems, yet within this abundant critical lore on India’s tribes, the focus is primarily on their survival, their historical and political identities, their sociocultural and economical depravity and also on their unceasing resistance to sustain despite the adversities. Scholarship on tribes and the mainstream is not as extensively available as on the other key aspects. Through this volume we try to draw attention to the need of conducting expansive research on tribes and mainstream societies in the sense how tribes can be a part of the mainstream. In order to understand Indian tribal society, one needs to be aware of the complete range of relationships that are shared between the tribal people and the mainstream society. The key here is how we define mainstream in the context of this book. Chaudhury and Patnaik (2017) suggest that “implicit within the concept of mainstream is the idea of integration”. They have spoken about socio-cultural and psychological integration of communities within the mainstream. In the context of our work, mainstream does not refer to any social, political or religious mainstream. It simply speaks of an inclusive space where the tribal people get quality education, instant healthcare, better livelihood opportunities and access to a way of life that promotes stability and security. This would then reflect positively on any evaluation of the Indian society as a whole. It is true that even after 73 years of the country’s independence it is the Scheduled Tribes (STs) who constitute some of the most deprived communities of the country. Despite numerous plans and policies by successive governments, the benefits are yet to percolate down to the neediest tribes. Some of the chapters in this book are the outcome of research studies that were undertaken under the aegis of the Centre of Excellence for Tribal Studies, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela (Odisha), funded by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India. Odisha, with a high concentration of tribal population (22.8% as per Census 2011), is the appropriate location for undertaking research relating to STs. And NIT, Rourkela, located in the tribal heartland of Eastern India, has a special responsibility towards the tribal communities of the country. Yet, certainly the responsibility does not lie in only highlighting the impoverishment and deprivation of the tribal population, but

6  Seemita Mohanty in proposing positive and practical solutions, as observed through our lived experiences due to our daily proximity with the tribal communities. The chapters in this book certainly focus on conventional topics of discussion like health, education, livelihood, disability and culture, but, they also offer new insight into these topics by focusing from the perspective of the 21st-century tribal youth whose dreams and aspirations do not deviate much from any other youth of the country. The issues are analysed simultaneously from a researcher’s perspective, in addition to proposing implementable solutions that could facilitate a more inclusive development, focus being on the tribal youth of the country. The majority of authors are young researchers and scholars who bring in new and fresh perspectives on some key issues and concerns of some of our most marginalised communities who certainly deserve much more from their motherland, but which has been denied to them for far too long. The chapters are interwoven through the common strands of health, education and the likes, but are independent chapters of their own, standing on their own ends, espousing key takeaways for making life a bit easier for our tribal brethren. The book consists of 12 chapters divided into 3 sections, focusing on health and education, development and culture. Health and education being the cornerstone of any robust economy, maximum number of chapters in the book focus on these two pillars. Livelihood matters channelled through two key elements in a tribal’s life, minor forest produce and handicrafts, bring up the third pillar, while cultural constructions in the form of food, feminism and identity collectively complete the fourth vital anchor. The first section comprises five chapters on health and education. The chapter by Biswal and Satpathy, with which this section begins, speaks about removing barriers to inclusive education for scheduled tribe children suffering from developmental disabilities (DDs). This is an important topic of discussion when we talk of an inclusive and sensitive society. It is a double blow for tribal children suffering from DDs, with their marginalised background on one side, and their disability on the other. The authors examine the various policies and their underlying necessities for inclusive education of Children with Developmental Disabilities (CwDDs). They identify the various challenges involved in implementing inclusive education for CwDDs and suggest measures for better execution by using technology as an enabler in enhancing scientific rigour and authentic data representation. Two other chapters in the same section, by Viswanath and Mohanty, and Chattopadhaya and Mohanty provide practical solutions towards improving classroom experience for poor tribal children. The first one speaks about how English learning can be initiated for tribal children in an additive language-learning situation, while the other narrates an experiment on collaborative information dissemination process that builds trust and consequently generates community participation in the children’s learning process, resulting in increased participation of children in the formal

Introduction  7 school system. The best way to embark on a country’s development is to strengthen the education system. These two chapters thus posit some innovative and experimental methods for enriching the teaching-learning process for underprivileged tribal children. The chapter by Pradhan speaks about the relationship between psychological distress and disability and the risk of developing morbidity among elderly tribal population of Odisha. The author suggests policy formulation specific to age and gender to ensure healthy ageing. The last chapter in this section by Biswal et al. explores the beliefs of tribal people on etiology of mental illness. The authors are of the opinion that “green space” that is so integral to a tribal’s life can be used as therapy to address mental illness. The section on development consists of four chapters while the last three chapters deal with cultural aspects. In Chapter 6, “People’s Response to Development: A Case of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups,” Apparao Thamminaina delves into the dynamics of development, taking education as a reference point to examine the causal sequences. It reveals how the stakeholders interact with one another at various intersecting points to gain and amplify the benefits of development. Chapter 7, “Empowerment via Handicraft: An Empirical Study on Tribal Women of Odisha,” enquires into the status of tribal women-artisans by carrying out an in-depth analysis of the socio-economic determinants based on their autonomy, mobility and participation in decision making. Handloom and handicraft being integral to the tribal livelihood, the authors argue that the government should prioritise the upliftment of tribal women-artisans by providing them free training, financial assistance and appropriate market price for their products. This can entail tribal women empowerment which is the need of the hour. As stated by Banerjee et al. (2019) India’s growth process should entail jobs that also include semi-skilled jobs for those who are currently underemployed or unemployed, and incomes for more number of women by increasing labour participation of women, as less number of women in the workforce ultimately “limits the talent pool that the economy can draw upon.” Chapter 8 on Forest Right Act by Mishra and Rao explores the problems and potentials of forest-based micro-entrepreneurship in tribal regions of Odisha. It seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the vulnerable tribal communities in the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) sector, which is another key component integral to their livelihood. Lack of proper training programmes has resulted in the primary collectors being unaware of new and sustainable harvesting methods of NTFPs. The authors suggest that in addition to effective training, the tribal communities should be given the choice of gathering, processing and selling the NTFPs, which would ensure a sustainable future for them. The chapter by Sethi et al. examines the implementation of the tribal sub-plan (TSP) strategy, and how it affects the progress of tribal development policies. Notable benefits of the

8  Seemita Mohanty TSP schemes meant for the development of tribal communities are yet to be achieved. No doubt there have been improvements in their access to healthcare, education, housing and employment opportunities, still a lot remains to be done; hence governments should intensify their efforts in strengthening the implementation of the TSP schemes, as it holds the potential to uplift the tribal people to a more secure and worthier existence. The last section on cultural representation through the gateway of tribal cuisine, mythical female fringe characters, and the tradition of Binti and identity building, consists of three chapters, entirely disparate yet with connected strands as they collectively image the mainstreaming of the marginalised. Chapter 10, “Characters on the Periphery: A Feminist Perspective on Mahabharata and Ramayana,” explores the discourse of the significance of female characters who belong to “other” tribes or clans rather than the royal clan by examining the narratives of the subaltern voices. It examines the importance of women in the margins, interwoven with crisis of identity, and patriarchal dominance as seen in the two epochal epics. It retells the stories of four mythical women who were belittled, misunderstood and disregarded, and were even used as cautionary tales. The authors examine the lives of these “other” women, all whose voices have been muted or discarded, because of the inherent perception that they do not matter, even though their stories were equally important in advancing the epics. The voices of these women are all the more important today to make people understand that a 21st-century woman is not going to be in the margins any longer, she is slowly but surely carving a place for herself, and it is now for the world to attune to her needs and aspirations. Chapter 11 on Binti as a creation myth and its impact among Santals in contemporary tribal India explores the changing contexts of Santals and validates the re-thinking of their youths in regaining the Santal identity, particularly based on their creation myths. The key aspect of the study is to explore the creation myth Binti, focusing significantly on how it works towards the reestablishment of the Santal identity. It also analyses the Santal folklore tradition, focusing on their oral narratives as performing art and locates the creation myths from the aspect of their ethnic culture and its significance among the Santal youths, in the wake of modernity. Chapter 12, the final chapter on “Identity and Individuality: Revisiting Indian Tribal Cuisine,” analyses the ways in which the Indian tribal cuisine remains distinctive amidst the multiple variations of food available in the Indian society. This chapter brings forth the uniqueness of tribal gastronomy with an aim of establishing the food-ethnicity of the tribals. Highlighting the idea of tribal cuisine is not just to manifest its singularity but also to popularise its distinct qualities among both tribes and non-tribes. The authors observe that a tribe’s food choices help us to delve further into the lives of the tribes—it narrates a tale of their origin, settlement and migration. It also offers an insight into their personality, passion and livelihood.

Introduction  9 The book thus presents fresh insights into tribal issues and aspects that are anticipated to initiate some key changes in policy perspectives, enabling a gradual shift to the mainstream space for the Indian tribes. The varied and perceptive ideas on diverse topics chaptered through the book provide implementable solutions to some of the crucial requirements of life such as healthcare, education, and livelihood. The young authors discuss and deliberate on some relatively uncharted topics relating to the tribals, such as education for scheduled tribe children with developmental disabilities, mental health and supernatural belief systems of tribal people, ageing and morbidity and psychological distress among tribal elderly, female fringe characters in myths and tribal cuisine. We hope that the volume, along with providing an academic insight into the Indian society, would also be useful to administrators and policymakers for better decision making.

References Banerjee, Abhijit, Gita Gopinath, Raghuram Rajan and Mihir S. Sharma. 2019. What the Economy Needs Now, edited by Abhijit Banerjee, Gita Gopinath, Raghuram Rajan and Mihir S. Sharma. New Delhi: Juggernaut Books. Chaudhury, Sukant K. and Soumendra Mohan Patnaik. 2017. “Introduction.” In: Indian Tribes and the Mainstream, edited by Sukant K. Chaudhury and Soumendra Mohan Patnaik: 4. Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Gosai, Dushyant. 2013. “History of Economic Growth in India.” International Policy Digest, April 24. Accessed on 10 January 2021, https​:/​/in​​tpoli​​cydig​​est​.o​​rg​ /20​​13​/04​​/24​/h​​istor​​y​-of-​​econo​​mic​-g​​ro​wth​​-in​-i​​ndia/​. Human Development Index. 2016. Open Government Data, April 1. Accessed on 19 January 2021, https​:/​/da​​ta​.go​​v​.in/​​catal​​og​/hu​​man​-d​​evelo​​pment​​-inde​​x​-ind​​​ia​-an​​ d​-wor​​ld. Lele, Uma. 2017. “How Technology Is Transforming the Lives of India’s Farmers.”. World Economic Forum, October, Accessed on 10 January 2021, https​:/​/ww​​w​ .wef​​orum.​​org​/a​​genda​​/2017​​/10​/i​​ndia-​​fourt​​h​-ind​​ustri​​al​-re​​v​olut​​ion​-f​​armin​​g/ 2. Mukherji, Rina. 2019. “Touching Rural Lives with Technology.” The Hindu BusinessLine, January 25. Accessed on 10 January 2021, https​:/​/ww​​w​.the​​hindu​​ busin​​essli​​ne​.co​​m​/spe​​cials​​/indi​​a​-int​​erior​​/touc​​hing-​​rural​​-live​​s​-wit​​h​-tec​​hnolo​​gy​​/ar​​ ticle​​26092​​510​.e​​ce. Plecher, H. 2020. “India’s Share of Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 2025.” Statista, December 8. Accessed on 19 January 2021, https​:/​/ww​​w​.sta​​tista​​.com/​​ stati​​stics​​/2713​​28​/in​​dias-​​share​​-of​-g​​lobal​​-gros​​s​-dom​​estic​​-prod​​uct​-​g​​dp/#:~​:text​ =India's%20s​hare%​20of%​20glo​bal%2​0gros​s%20d​omest​ic%20​produ​ct%20​ (GDP)​%20ro​se%20​to,pu​rchas​ing%2​0powe​r%20o​f%20t​he%20​rupee​. Sharma, Mihir. 2019. “Can India become a $5 Trillion Economy?” The Economic Times, June 20. Accessed on 10 January 2021, https​:/​/ec​​onomi​​ctime​​s​.ind​​iatim​​ es​.co​​m​/new​​s​/eco​​nomy/​​indic​​ators​​/can-​​india​​-beco​​me​-a-​​5​-tri​​llion​​-econ​​omy​/a​​rticl​​ eshow​​​/6986​​9145.​​cms​?f​​rom​=m​​dr. Tharoor, Shashi. 2012. Pax Indica: India and the World of the Twenty-First Century. New Delhi: Penguin Books India.

10  Seemita Mohanty Tharoor, Shashi. 2017. “The Idea of an Ever-Ever Land.” In: Left, Right and Centre: The Idea of India, edited by Nidhi Razdan. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. UNDP Human Development Report. 2018. 2018 Statistical Update: Human Development Indices and Indicators, September 14. http://hdr​.undp​.org​/en​/2018​ -update.

Part I

Health and education



1

Inclusive education for children with developmental disabilities Scope and challenges Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy

Inclusivity in education is both a means and an end in itself that widens the horizon of opportunity for everybody, liberates a person through the fountain of knowledge, wisdom that they garner through years of hard work, and dedication. Following the paths of equity and equality, the policymakers came up with effective strategies such as the Persons with Disability Act (PwD Act, 1995), Right to Education Act (RTE Act, 2009), the National Trust Act (NT Act, 1999) and Right of Persons with Disability Act (RPwD Act, 2016), to ensure education for all, irrespective of their physical or mental condition. These policies were the steppingstones to ensure inclusion in education. However, Inclusive Education (IE) could not be achieved to a satisfactory level especially for Children with Developmental Disabilities (CwDDs). Since Developmental Disabilities (DD) is a group of non-progressive conditions of a person due to brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, post-natal or infant stages of development, the children suffering from these disabilities remains dependent on others for care and protection. Under such circumstances, the implemented policies lack proper provisions to cater to the needs of CwDDs. The current chapter examines various policies and their underlying provisions for Inclusive Education of CwDDs along with analysing the spread of DD among tribal children in the state of Odisha so as to highlight the issues. Apart from enumerating the intervention plans, we also suggest some measures to be considered that might assist in framing and implementing successful IE policies. The best way to embark on a country’s development is to strengthen the education system and IE as a policy has the potential to congregate the diversity and uplift everyone for a better future. Education liberates an individual by providing access to the abundance of knowledge. But what if access to education is difficult in the first place? The world’s largest democracy, India is a country with an estimated 1.3 billion people representing 17.74 per cent of the world population (Worldometers​ .inf​o, 2019). The Geneva-based World Economic Forum ranks India at 68 (the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil) in the Annual Global Competitiveness Index (Schwab, 2019). Two of the major indicators DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-1

14  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy of growth and development for any country are the quality of health and quality of education. While the former ensures less burden on illness-related expenditures, the latter ensures quality manpower through proper training. Collectively they contribute to the gross productivity of a country. While health is being majorly discussed all over, education is being taken for granted. India’s education system is the second largest in the world with over 200 million school-age children (Singal, 2007). However, in India, 6.04 million children aged 6–13 are out of school with Odisha having the highest proportion of out-of-school children accounting for 6.10%. Interestingly, about 1.05 per cent of children in that age group suffer from one or the other form of disability and 28.07 per cent of children with special needs are out of school (National Survey on Estimation of out of School Children, 2014). Such a condition necessitates the evaluation of the implementation of current policies for children with special needs. Social justice and equity by themselves stand as strong arguments for providing basic education for all. However, for a country like India having a wide diversity of languages, culture, customs and systems, the challenges to bring uniformity seem to be a far-fetched goal. Moreover, while talking about inclusive education, we utterly fail in its implementation especially for children with disabilities. When IE first came into existence through the Salamanca Statement in 1994, it entailed the need to work for “schools for all” (Toolkit on Disability for Africa, 2016). In the context of education, it refers to the idea that all children should learn together irrespective of the disability or differences from others. Thus, inclusive education comprehends educational practices across institutions that consider the needs of a diverse population focussing on children with special needs like those suffering from developmental disabilities (Lindsay, 2003). Developmental disability is comprehended as a key term that refers to those disabilities that begin during the developmental period and impact the routine functioning of the individual for the rest of their lives. When a person struggles on a day-to-day basis to carry out his daily routine and needs assistance in whatever he does, availing education seems far from reality for such individuals. IE plays a crucial role in assisting such children and accommodating them in the social set-up such that they can access facilities as others and get educated. A well-planned and organized system of IE may assist children with disabilities in attaining equal opportunities in education, employment and empowerment along with complete social integration. However, it is a source of preoccupation for professionals as educating children with disabilities in developing countries is a difficult task to do (Abosi & Koay, 2008).

The acts and the rights Discourses on inclusive education in India have followed a long past while navigating through the evolutionary phases of segregation, integration and inclusion (Kapoor, 2014). The current policies have been formulated

Education for children with developmental disabilities  15 as a result of the changing needs and rising levels of awareness of people with disabilities. The first Act, i.e. Persons with Disability Act, 1995 (PwD Act), although mentioned Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Disability; it did not consider Autism under its array of disabilities. The first traces of provisions for developmental disabilities entailing Mental Retardation,1 Cerebral Palsy,2 Autism3 and Multiple Disabilities4 were noticed in the National Trust Act of 1999 which focussed exclusively in formulating provisions for the four DDs. Here, the scope of disabilities to be enlisted under Multiple Disabilities is restricted to the other 3 Disabilities listed in NTA (1999). Multiple disabilities may be associated with other physical or neuropsychological disorders. In the current chapter, discussions related to multiple disabilities are limited to any combination of neuropsychological disorders only. The Right to Education Act (RTE) 2006 focussed on educational rights of children including those with disabilities. However, it is the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016 (RPwD Act), that has brought provisions with clearly demarcated inclusion and diagnosis criteria for CwDDs. Despite policy formulation in India towards realizing inclusion with a broad focus, improper implementation strategies obstruct the good intent. Several barriers thwart the inclusion of all children, thus, making it a futile exercise. Inadequate teacher-training, attitudinal barriers, insufficient resources, discrimination towards CwDDs, etc., have been observed as probable causes that prevent complete inclusion. Removing barriers would be the first step toward realization of the goals of inclusive education. This chapter addresses the condition of inclusive education for CwDDs in the state of Odisha with special reference to the Scheduled Tribes (STs). A higher percentage of ST population of Odisha is out of school for a variety of reasons. Tribal population of Odisha comprising 22.8% of the total state population is ranked as the 3rd highest ST population in the country. According to Ministry of Education (Earlier, Ministry of HRD) MHRD, there are higher proportions (4.36%) of ST children out of school than any other social category (National Survey on Estimation of Out of School Children Report, 2014). In this chapter, we have discussed this issue in the context of the spread of four types of disabilities across the state of Odisha, critically analysing various policies and Acts intended for CwDDs along with policy suggestions for smooth implementation of the schemes of inclusive education. The major objectives thus framed are: i) To enumerate the scope and provision for inclusive education as suggested in three acts, viz., (a) The Persons with Disability Act (PwD Act, 1995), (b) The Right to Education Act (RTE Act, 2009) and (c) The Rights of Persons with Disability Act (RPwD Act, 2016); ii) To compare the identification and diagnosis of CwDDs as per the Rules of PwD Act (1995) and RPwD Act (2016); iii) To analyse the spread of data for CwDDs (Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability and Multiple Disability) from 2011 to 2016 as

16  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy available in the Child Monitoring System of Odisha Primary Education Program Authority Website (OPEPA) and generate district-wise profile of each disability; iv) To examine the challenges of inclusive education for CwDDs in the context of the PwD Act (1995), RTE Act (1999) and RPwD Act (2016); v) To suggest necessary modifications in the Acts and/or rules for smooth implementation of inclusive education for CwDDs and propose a model district intervention plan.

Inclusive education: origin and history The origin of the term “Inclusive Education” is attributed to the Salamanca Statement 1994 which first endorsed it by implementing practical and strategic changes. It committed “education for all” by following the guiding principle that requires schools to accommodate all children irrespective of their conditions (Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, 1994). However, in India, the efforts to include children were started much before the term originated. The first such initiative that brought handicap into notice and tried integrating such children into the system was by Kothari Commission (1979). Continuing the spirit of welfare for handicapped children, the National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) enumerated measures for integrating the mentally and physically handicapped with the general community. It focussed on integrating children with mild handicaps with the common children and aimed to incorporate the severely handicapped in special schools. It also arranged for vocational training for the disabled and encouraged their education (NPE, 1986). The Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) scheme of 1974 and its amendment in 1992 focussed on providing financial assistance to children with disabilities so as to integrate them in mainstream classrooms. However, it was the 86th amendment of the constitution in 2002 that laid the foundation for mandating free and compulsory education for children aged 6–14 under which the Government of India along with the World Bank took up an initiative called the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA). SSA is a disability-inclusive programme that has specific aspects to benefit children with disabilities. Nevertheless, these policies hardly speak about developmental disabilities in particular and restrict themselves to physical and mental disabilities with the schemes focussing on Mentally Retarded (Educable) and Cerebral Palsied children at large (Bishnu, 2017). i) Scope and provisions for inclusion under the three acts: PwD (1995), RTE (2009) and RPwD (2016) To deal with the shortcomings, Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PwD Act), was drafted and enacted to fulfil the proclamation of full participation, and equality of people with disabilities in Asia Pacific region, albeit certain loopholes in the

Education for children with developmental disabilities  17 drafted document led to underachievement in the enumerated objectives. In the PwD Act (1995), the government ensured free education for children with disabilities until 18 years of age. It was intended to promote the integration of such children into normal schools such that they could mingle with other children and also spend time specially intended for learning in a separate environment. Section 26 (c) of the PwD Act (1995) mentions provisions for setting up special schools for children in need of special education. The Act also strives to equip special schools with vocational training facilities for children with disabilities (PwD Act, 1995). Many such schools have been operational in India after this Act. Though the intention was noble, the special and vocational schools failed to achieve the mentioned goals in the Act. Further, amendments could not deliver what was highly needed to realize the aims established at the beginning. However, Right to Education Act (RTE, 2009) came with a wider scope of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) aiming at access, enrolment and retention of all the children from 6 to 14 years of age. Section 3 of RTE Act (2009) states that a child suffering from disability, as defined by the PwD Act (1995), shall have the right to pursue free and compulsory education. In continuation, Section 12 (c) of the Act mandates privately aided and unaided schools and schools belonging to a specific category for at least 25 per cent intake of children in Class 1 from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups such that the basic aim of inclusion can be achieved. However, this Act restricted itself up to elementary education (RTE Act, 2009). Further, there is no standard definition of weaker sections and disadvantaged groups as it keeps on changing very frequently. In order to develop a legislation compliant to United Nations Convention on Rights of the Persons with Disability (UNCRPD), the RPwD Act was drafted and passed in 2016 that establishes as the most recent and updated policy which takes care of the needs, rights and regulations for the welfare of the people with disabilities. The Act stressed on non-discrimination, full and effective participation and inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in society. It also emphasized on the acceptance of disabilities with respect to differences as a part of human diversity, equality of gender and opportunity, accessibility, regard for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the rights of children with disabilities to safeguard their identities (WHO Report, 2011). Under the Rights of Person with Disability Act (RPwD Act) 2016, the foremost change was a three-fold increase in the number of categories of disabilities from 7 to 21. However, the provisions in the Act were limited in focus especially for those with benchmark disability (i.e., 40% or more than 40% of any disability is called benchmark disability). Chapter 3, Section 16 of RPwD Act, clearly states that the government and local authorities shall undertake all educational institutions recognized or funded by them and they must provide inclusive education to children with disabilities. Section 16 (i) of the Act provides admitting the children with disability without discrimination and assisting them with all kinds of opportunities at par with others. Similarly, other provisions for education

18  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy include accessible surrounding, reasonable accommodation, extending necessary support, individualized or otherwise, maximize academic and social development for full inclusion. The Act has provisions for imparting education in appropriate ways, detecting Specific Learning Disabilities and ways to overcome them, and monitoring participation, progress in attainment and completion of education. Section 17 and all clauses mentioned under it highlight the specific measures to promote and facilitate inclusive education that can be taken for realization of the objectives set under Section 16 (about the duties of educational institutions towards children with disabilities) (Kumar & Kumar, 2018). The RPwDAct (2016) further takes education to the next level by discussing Adult Education in Section 18. It encourages the government and local authorities to take measures to promote, protect, ensure participation of Persons with Disabilities in adult education and continue education programs equally with others. Thus, it is quite evident that though the government had taken an initiative to bring people with disability into the mainstream with others, the PwD Act and the RTE Act lacked proper policy development. Nonetheless, a gradual shift can be noticed from integration to inclusion as we move through the three acts. Although the PwD Act (1995) talks about integration and the RTE Act (2009) mentions about inclusive education, the approaches in these Acts are restricted to a certain age group (6–14). However, the RPwD Act (2016) has emerged as the flag holder of inclusion, as it highlights the important aspects of inclusion and it has given various provisions to promote inclusion. Disabilities identified at an early age, prior to the 6th birthday of a child, are important areas for inclusive practices. However, there is hardly any guideline available with any of the acts regarding early identification and intervention for CwDDs. It is important to have a continuous child development monitoring system after birth (home or institutional delivery). If the doctors suspect any form of future disability in the newborn baby, there should be provisions for early intervention for these children with systematic monitoring of their developmental profiles to facilitate smooth inclusion in the future. Such a system would lessen the burden to a large extent. The current practices fail to integrate the systems in a coherent way. Practicing inclusion with the RPwD Act (2016): Easy or difficult? For the effective realization of the rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Government of India enacted the PwD Act (1995). Having a three-tier arrangement, it is the first such act in the country to provide such notable benefits that include: 1. Policy evolution benefitting Persons with Disabilities; 2. Implementation of the understated clauses in the policy; and 3. Monitoring the implementation and grievance redressal.

Education for children with developmental disabilities  19 While the act contains a number of positive provisions and measures, it still lacked in certain aspects that could establish equality among the people with disability and others. The PwD Act (1995) had a narrow definition of persons with disability and listed mostly medical/physical characteristics. It lacked clear guidelines for the children eligible to be admitted to special schools as it lacked delineated regulations for segregating children who could be integrated and those who needed special education. The shortcomings of Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act (PwD Act, 1995) led to incomplete attainment of the objectives formulated under the proclamation regarding full participation and equality of people with disabilities in the Asia Pacific Region adopted at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific Convention at Beijing (1992). Later in 2007 when India became a signatory in the UNCRPD and the process of enacting new legislation in place of the previously followed PwD Act (1995) began, focus was on making the new framework compliant with UNCRPD. Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPwD Act, 2016) came into effect on December 28, 2016, by the Gazette Notification from the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Government of India. Thereafter, the rules of RPwD Act were released on June 15, 2017, and the guidelines for proper implementation were notified on January 5, 2018, from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment through extraordinary Gazette Notifications (Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities – Divyangjan). To educate the children with disabilities, the RPwD Act (2016) has focussed on the aspect of Inclusion as a prime strategy. Various provisions under the Act that support inclusion and assist in extending the support to the Children with disabilities are enumerated as follows: 1. Section 3 of RPwD Act (2016) directs the authority to ensure that Persons with Disabilities enjoy the right to equality, a life with dignity and respect for integrity equal as others and do not face discrimination at any stage. 2. Section 4(2) ensures equal rights of children with disabilities to express their views on all matters affecting them and to provide them with appropriate support required. 3. Under the circumstances of possible abuse, violence and exploitation of children with disabilities; instances of which were common, Section 7(1) provides legal assistance against such occurrences and assures them of their safety and security through its enforcement. 4. Chapter III, Section 16 entails government recognized educational institutions, or institutions funded by them to provide inclusive education to children with disabilities, which in turn shall: •• Enrol and provide education, sports facilities equally with others, provide accommodation that assists the individual and attends to his/ her requirements.

20  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy •• Provide individualized support to maximize academic and social development including that of the persons who are blind or deaf or both using the most appropriate measures. •• Detect and find ways to deal with specific learning disabilities, monitor progress and participation of education of children with disabilities and also attend to their transportation and high support needs. 5. Section 17 enlists specific measures to promote and facilitate inclusive education such as conducting surveys for identification of Children with Disabilities, establishing teacher-training institutions, training professionals and staff, establishing resource centres, providing learning materials and assistive devices to students with benchmark disabilities. 6. Measures for promotion, protection and participation of Persons with Disabilities in adult education and continuing education plan with others are provided under Section 18 of the Act that assists such persons to take their education forward. 7. Section 27 directs the provision of rehabilitation to Persons with Disability in areas of health, education and employment. 8. Section 30 speaks of restructuring courses, redesigning infrastructure, developing technology to enhance potential and grant funds with essential facilities to promote Persons with Disability in sporting activities. 9. Section 31 gives every child with benchmark disability the right to free education in appropriate environments till 18 years of age and further Section 32 provides aids such as relaxation in age or reservation for higher education among such children. 10. Section 32 (1) entails all government institutions of higher education and other higher education institutions to receive aid from the government for reserving not less than 5 per cent seats for persons with benchmark disabilities (RPwD Act, 2016). The rules are silent about the provisions for the caregivers and most importantly when the child is not able to use her/his brain, how one can ensure the safety and security of the child. Further, deliberation and understanding of the basics of each of the disabilities in general and developmental areas in particular need to be worked out thoroughly. A summary table of the provisions in PwD Act (1995) and RPwD Act (2016) is as follows:  ii) Comparison of identification and diagnosis of children with developmental disabilities using PwD and RPwD guidelines The PwD Act of 1995 was enacted in response to increased pressure from disability activists and the development of policies at an international level. The need for quick action prevented the drafting of a policy with a wider horizon of initiatives and guidelines that could be addressed successfully (Ghosh, 2012). Although the framed policy was an initial step towards

Education for children with developmental disabilities  21 Table 1.1 Comparative Chart of Provisions Regarding Inclusion under PwD Act (1995) and RPwD Act (2016) Provisions

PwD Act (1995)

Number of 7 disabilities, amended to disabilities covered 9 in 2009 System of Education Integration Provision for barrier Mentions the need to free access ensure removal of various barriers for easy access to educational institutions and public places for PwDs Extent of disability At least 40% of covered disabilities mentioned in the Act

RPwD Act (2016) 21 disabilities

Inclusion Has a specific guideline to be followed for providing barrier-free access to PwDs in a time span of 2 years from enactment of RPwD Act, 2016 Provisions are for Persons with Benchmark disabilities, but rights apply for all PwDs irrespective of the extent to which they are affected For Sports and No provision mentioned Allows access to sports and Recreation for sports and recreation facilities along activities recreation access by with education for children accessibility disabled children with disabilities Education for Proposed restructuring Facilitates education for blind blind and deaf examination system by and deaf in appropriate in appropriate letting the children with language, modes and means language hearing impairment of communication take only one language Provision of assistive Every child with disability Only the children with devices, books and can avail the facilities benchmark disabilities can equipment avail these facilities Scholarship grants All the children with Only children with benchmark for students with disabilities are disabilities can benefit from disabilities benefitted with scholarships scholarships Detection of SLD is not mentioned in SLD screening and measures to Specific Learning the entire Act deal with it are highlighted Disability (SLD) and measures for it Establishment of No such provision is Resource centre to be Resource Centre mentioned established for supporting educational institutions Adult Education No provision for Adult Ensures promotion, protection education and participation in adult education Source: Authors’ own classification.

22  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy integration, yet certain discrepancies led to the incomplete attainment of the expected outcomes. Ill-defined identification and diagnosis guidelines were one of the major concerns that did not let this Act to effectively establish it as a complete policy. The specific issues in the identification and diagnosis of CwDDs under PwD Act Guidelines are as follows: 1. The PwD Act (1995) has given clear demarcation of the categories of Mental Retardation (MR). Yet it lacks in naming a standardized IQ Test to identify these categories properly. Thus, the tools used by professionals to diagnose MR lack scientific rigour. 2. The rules state that certification of Mental Retardation will be based on examination having three components namely, clinical assessment, assessment of adaptive behaviour and intellectual functioning. However, the guidelines are silent on how one can carry out these assessments. 3. Although the Act mentioned the term Cerebral Palsy in defining Locomotor Disabilities, it failed to mention the term even once in the rules of these disabilities let alone giving guidelines for its identification and diagnosis. 4. The Act has not considered autism in the list of the seven disabilities that it covers. These concerns in PwD Act (1995) led to its replacement by RPwD Act (2016) in a progressive way, such that, most of the shortcomings were perfected along with rights-based approach favouring the empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Major amendments were done with respect to improved definitions and operationalization of terms, increased focus on rights of PwDs, measures to curb discrimination and with an overall enhanced approach towards inclusion. However, by examining the Act, there emerges a need for clarity on various points that indicate certain ambiguities. While focusing on the identification and diagnosis of disabilities there are certain lacunae, particularly with the recently added and amended disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Intellectual Disability (ID) (earlier MR), and Specific Learning Disability (SLD). The nature and unique diagnostic criteria for each of the above-mentioned disabilities lack clarity which may become a hindrance in the implementation of the provisions enlisted in the Act. The aspects that stand as barriers to identification and diagnosis of CwDDs are discussed as follows: ••

Screening and diagnostic tools for certain disabilities are either not mentioned or are inappropriate for proper screening and diagnosis. For example, The screening tool for ID is not specified however, the diagnosis is to be done using Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS) for Adaptive functioning which ignores the age of the person and might not be able to properly diagnose the case (John, et al., 2018). Even though

Education for children with developmental disabilities  23

•• ••

••

the Binet Kamat Test (BKT) was standardised in the 1960s and might be influenced by Flynn Effect (Roopesh & Kumble, 2016), yet in 2018 it has been included in the guidelines for use. In the case of Intellectual Disability, guidelines insist on diagnosis based on VSMS, IQ and ignore the role of clinical assessment which must be considered for appropriate diagnosis (John et al., 2018). Diagnosis for SLD is done using the NIMHANS Battery that is applicable for children till 12 years of age or grade 7 but the guidelines propose certification at 8, 14 and 18 years of age which is technically out of the scope for the battery. Further, NIMHANS Battery is a screening tool but it has been enlisted for diagnosis which ultimately raises a concern for credibility (John et al., 2018; Balakrishnan et al., 2019). The rules do not mention the ways to assess the severity of Specific Learning Disability which stands as a dilemma for the certifying medical officers to issue certificates with the percentage of disability. Without mapping the percentage, the persons with SLD cannot avail the weighed benefits enlisted as severity cannot be determined (Balakrishnan et al., 2019; John et al., 2018).

Thus, it is essential to critically evaluate the implementation aspects such that the barriers can be identified, and the highlighted drawbacks can be mitigated. iii) Spread of children with developmental disabilities belonging to the scheduled tribes of Odisha Disability as a term might only draw attention towards those with visible and profound functional impairment. However, it owns much more to itself. With a population of 121 crores, 2.68 crore people are disabled constituting 2.21 per cent of the total population (Social Statistics Division, MoSPI, Government of India, 2016). The numbers might appear insignificant, but the population holds a significant value insofar as an inclusive development is concerned. The fact that this section of the society is stigmatized, oppressed, and marginalized holds true till today but the policies developed for the welfare of this community have put unending efforts to negate the age-old practice of discrimination against them. However, the statistical figures are based on the 2011 Census. With the new RPwD Act having 21 categories of Disability, the forthcoming Census will witness a big jump in the numbers. Ignoring such a large section of the populace would be a boomerang for any progressive society. The National Trust Act (NTA, 1999) entails provision for the constitution of a body that would ensure the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, and Multiple Disabilities. The major objectives of this Act are to equip and empower the Persons with Disabilities under these four categories to live independently with their families, close

24  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy to their own community. So, in order to assess the spread of such children belonging to the Schedule Tribe (ST) under these four categories in Odisha, secondary data were obtained from the Children with Special Needs (CWSN) section in the portal of Child Monitoring System, Odisha Primary Education Program Authority (OPEPA) website. The data included the number of cases for each disability from 30 districts of Odisha which were analysed to examine the prevalence of these disabilities.. Among the four Developmental Disabilities, Mental Retardation has the highest prevalence with 46 per cent, second is Cerebral Palsy covering 29 per cent of the cases, third is Multiple Disability with 20 per cent prevalence, and the least prevalent is Autism with only 5 per cent of cases of all the cases reported under Developmental Disabilities (See Figure 1.1). Figure 1.2 reports the prevalence of Mental Retardation to be the highest and Autism to be the lowest among the four developmental disabilities across the years. The highest number of cases in Mental Retardation has been recorded as 795 in 2013–14 and the lowest as 420 in 2015–16. Autism is documented as the least prevalent DD having 86 cases reported as the highest in 2011–12 and 45 cases reported in 2015–16 as the lowest. The figure shows a continuous decrease in the number of cases in all DDs except in Mental Retardation where there is a slight rise in the year 2013–14. The prevalence rates of DDs are found to be spread unevenly across the districts of Odisha. Figure 1.3 clearly depicts Keonjhar district to have the highest prevalence with 18.8 per cent, Mayurbhanj with 13.4 per cent and Sundargarh district is reported to be the district with third-highest prevalence with 7.1 per cent. Kendrapara is found to be the only district having no DD in 2011–16. It can be clearly seen from Figure 1.4 that Keonjhar reports the highest number of cases consistently in all five years with the

Mulple Disability 20%

Ausm 5%

Mental Retardaon 46% Cerebral Palsy 29%

Figure 1.1 Developmental disabilities in Odisha. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​ Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

Education for children with developmental disabilities  25 900 800

795

731

718

Number of Cases

700 600 500

644 483

460 362

400

447 328

430 318

266

300 200

86

100 0

79

2011-12

74

2012-13

420

214

59

2013-14

185

45

2014-15

2015-16

Years Mental Retardation

Cerebral Palsy

Autism

Multiple Disability

Figure 1.2 Prevalence of developmental disabilities in Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​ /​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx. 18.8

20 18

13.4

14 12 10 5

4.2 2.4

2.5

RAYAGADA

KORAPUT

MALKANGIRI MAYURBHANJ

0.3

0.5 0.8 NUAPADA PURI

0.8 KEONJHAR KHURDHA

0 KALAHANDI

0.1

1.1

KANDHAMAL KENDRAPARA

0.9

4.7

3.4

2.6

SAMBALPUR SONEPUR SUNDERGARH

4.6

DHENKANAL GAJAPATI GANJAM

CUTTACK DEOGARH

BOLANGIR BOUDH

ANGUL BALASORE BARAGARH BHADRAK

3.3 4 2.1 2.2 1.6 2.1 1.8 2 2 0.4 0.2 0

JAJPUR JHARSUGUDA

6

7.1

6.2

4.9

NAWARANGPUR NAYAGARH

8

JAGATSINGHPUR

PERCENTAGE

16

DISTRICTS

Figure 1.3 District-wise prevalence rate of DD cases in Odisha. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​ gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

26  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy

Figure 1.4 District-wise prevalence of developmental disabilities from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​ /​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

number of cases decreasing consistently in the consecutive years. The successive decrease in the number of cases is also observed in few other districts such as Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Puri, Rayagada, and Sonepur. Other districts show mixed trends with a specific increase in the number of cases in the year 2013–2014 and 2014–2015. The districts of Gajapati and Mayurbhanj saw a remarkable rise in the number of cases jumping from 47 in 2012–2013 to 94 in 2013–2014 for Gajapati and from 183 in 2012–2013 to 224 in 2013–2014 for Mayurbhanj. A similar rise in the number of cases can also be observed in the years 2014–2015 in Angul district. However, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts witness massive decrease in the reported cases from 268 and 203 in 2014–2015 to 113 and 148, respectively, in 2015–2016. There is no data available for Kendrapara district. It is already discussed that the prevalence rate of Mental Retardation is the highest (46%) among the four developmental disabilities in Odisha. When we look at district-wise prevalence, it is observed that the lowest or zero cases have been reported from Kendrapara while the highest numbers of cases were reported from Mayurbhanj (158) in the year 2013–14.   Keonjhar district tops the list in Cerebral Palsy with 150 cases recorded in 2011–12 whereas Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara have not recorded a

Education for children with developmental disabilities  27

Figure 1.5 Prevalence of Mental Retardation in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

single case in the span of 5 years. A significant drop in the number of cases from 123 in 2014–15 to 13 in 2015–16 observed in Keonjhar is interesting from a researcher’s point of view. The fall could be attributed partially to the migration of the families in search of work or parents concealing the information of children with disability out of social fear attached with the stigma related to disability. Most of the districts show gradual increase and then decrease in the number of cases with almost all the districts having a low count of cases except Keonjhar and Puri.  Autism is the least prevalent Developmental Disability with minimal cases reported under it. Most districts do not report even a single case such as Baragarh, Bhadrakh, Boudh, Cuttack, Ganjam, Kendrapada, Malkangiri, Nayagarh and Puri. Highest number of cases were reported in Koraput with 14 cases in 2011–12 which was reduced to 3 in 2015–16. Nawarangpur shows consistency in reporting 10 Autism cases across these years.  Multiple Disabilities is the highest occurring Developmental Disability amongst all to have recorded 181 cases in 2011–12 in Keonjhar, followed by Mental Retardation (158) in 2013–14. Keonjhar has a remarkably high case of multiple disabilities that has successively decreased through years but still remains the most prevalent DD in 2015–16. The districts of Bhadrak,

28  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy

Figure 1.6 Prevalence of Cerebral Palsy in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurdha, and Puri have not recorded any case of Multiple Disability from 2011 to 2016 while Baragarh and Nuapada have recorded 1 case each in 2014–15 and 2015–16, respectively. There is a huge difference in the prevalence of Multiple Disabilities in Keonjhar and all other districts. The cause however unknown calls for detailed research that can elicit upon the large number of cases being reported from that particular district. iv) Challenges in implementing inclusive education for CwDDs and suggestive measures A policy is conceptualized in papers and commanded into action through gazettes. While the absence of particular policy or failure of the existing ones might be the major reasons behind the formulation of new ones, mere acceptances of reports aren’t enough. A detailed investigation of past failures will help frame new ones with mended loopholes such that stronger policies can be framed. Policy is merely a guideline to be implemented in the field for action. In the absence of proper implementation of the laid-out guidelines in the policy, the objectives of development are considered to be arbitrary. The RPwD Act (2016) is the most recent Act with amended provisions for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), yet its outreach is limited and accessibility

Education for children with developmental disabilities  29

Figure 1.7 Prevalence of Autism in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​ /​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

restrained. There could be a number of reasons but, an extensive exploration has resulted in the enumeration of the following points: a. Idea of ground reality: the basic concern Policies talk about providing equal rights to Persons with Disabilities, but the basic concern arises in their identification itself. The available surveys and other secondary sources of information about CwDDs often fail to capture the ground reality for several reasons. First, limited trained and competent workforce poses several challenges compromising the reliability and validity of the information gathered. Second, the accessibility of tribal areas is a concern as they are remotely located and often in the woods and mountatins that are hard to reach. Furhter, people living there are totally cut off from the outer world. Third, even though there are facilities of diagnosis camps, many people are unaware of such events and are thus deprived of the benefits. Hence, enumeration of Persons with Disablities for correctness of data (identification, diagnosis, asessment of percentage of disability and certification) to enable them to avail various government and non-government benefits needs a fresh look. Geo-Tagging and Real-time Data Gathering methods are the need of the hour for reliable and valid information in the tribal regions.

30  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy

Figure 1.8 Prevalence of Multiple Disability in different districts of Odisha from 2011 to 2016. Source: Authors’ classification based on secondary data available at http:​/​/ope​​pa​.od​​isha.​​gov​.i​​n​/CTS​​Repor​​ts​/CW​​SN​​_To​​tal​.a​​spx.

b. Barriers (physical) to accessibility: a threat to inclusion Barriers to accessibility for people with disabilities is a major contributor in their exclusion, especially the physical one like ramps, lifts, toilets, safe roads and buildings etc. As per a study conducted by Swabhiman—State Disability Information and Resource Centre; out of 265 public buildings and facilities audited in Odisha, 65 per cent were entirely inaccessible with a lot of architectural and environmental barriers. A total of 35 per cent had some parameters of accessibility while only 23.9 per cent of built structures had a ramp and 20.2 per cent buildings had an elevator. Around 5.9 per cent of the buildings had separate toilets for persons with disabilities (PwDs) of which only 12.1 per cent were identified by a sign. These numbers are indicative of the distressing condition of the projected assistive facilities for people with disabilities in India (Swabhiman, 2012). It is, therefore, an immediate necessity to implement the policy directives to make the places accessible to CwDDs such that their movements are not restricted, and they obtain free passage to visit places. c. Who cares for the caregivers? As our focus is mainly on four developmental disabilities—Intellectual Disability, Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Multiple Disabilities—that are

Education for children with developmental disabilities  31 concerned with compromised mental functioning, people suffering from these are forever dependent on caregivers as their brains do not function optimally. The policies also fail to address the complete range of assistive facilities to Persons with Disabilities in mainstream inclusion as it neglects the guardians associated with them. There are no provisions for the primary caregivers or rather Guardians as the recent policy (RPwD 2016) calls them. Although guardians spend most of the time with PwDs, other than travel facilities, they are not entitled to any concession, reservation or pension for their livelihood and sustenance. As they spend a lot of their time in providing care and looking after the welfare of persons with disabilities, they do not and/or cannot engage in any other work to earn for their living (Pathak & Biswal, 2021) Hence, they must be given certain privileges like a substantial amount as salary, pension, concessions, etc., in order to keep them motivated and encouraged to take care of CwDDs. d. Dearth of competent authorities and professionals: The harsh reality The policies direct that the government shall delegate persons with requisite qualifications and experience as certifying authorities who shall issue the certificate of disability. However, for the diagnosis and certification of disabilities like Intellectual Disability, Autism and Multiple Disabilities, the availability of adequate numbers of Clinical/Rehabilitation Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Occupational Therapist is the major bottleneck. The dearth of competent authorities, professionals for identification, and treatment leads to gross neglect of CwDDs. As a result, people suffering from these disabilities left unattended and unaided. Thus, there is an increased need for professionals to join and assist in the process of identification, diagnosis, treatment and certification of these newly focused unconventional diseases. e. Possibility of Inclusion: A reality check While talking about a country like India with an extensively diverse population with manifold needs, inclusion seems to be an arduous goal to achieve. The melanges of disabilities found across the lands vary not only in types but also with the magnitude in each type. Under these circumstances, accommodating the concept of complete physical inclusion is a big challenge. Although the concept is comprehensible on papers, establishing it on the grounds is a completely different aspect and must be carefully examined before generalizing it. With every policy passed, the implementation strategies, ideas of availing benefits and grievance redressal are strongly focussed while designing them. Hence, the real scenario of how the benefits come alive can only be judged thereafter. However, the basis of the policy must be perspicuous enough for implementing the core value and focussing on it is a major aspect of policy implementation.

32  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy v) Proposed district intervention plans Upon reviewing the spread of developmental disability among children in the 30 districts of Odisha, it was clearly seen that Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh (primarily tribal districts) have relatively large number of reported cases. Although there are policies that are being implemented for contriving inclusion, these district administrations should, by themselves, come up with certain effective strategies to deal with the existing situations. The purpose of the research, however, is not restricted to finding drawbacks or eliciting challenges. It simultaneously tries to suggest alternatives and prospective solutions that might assist in dealing with the issues. Thus, few potential strategies that might help in achieving inclusion are enumerated as follows: •• •• •• •• ••

Professional training, development of teachers and administrative members to be competent enough for establishing an inclusive environment; Bringing architectural and infrastructural changes to ensure easier access and smooth mobility to children with disabilities; Allocating funds for facilitating the children with disabilities to get resources for offering better education services (Sakiz & Woods, 2014); Engaging local resources and collaborating with NGOs working in the disability sector for increasing manpower to assist the CwDDs in learning; Community education and awareness drives can be conducted to overcome attitudinal barriers of the people such that they can qualitatively aid inclusion (Sharma et al., 2019).

Discussion and conclusion Based on the objectives, secondary data sources and primary observations, the chapter provides a broad spectrum of understanding the issue i.e., the efficacy and effectiveness of inclusive education especially for children with developmental disabilities along with suggested measures for improvement. Numerous policies have been framed to incorporate children with disabilities into the mainstream education system. However, their implementation efforts have failed dismally in establishing a stronger framework for inclusive education. This chapter reflects upon the broader challenges that thwart the practice of the framed policies by elucidating various flaws in them. While it was clearly understood that the previous policies like PwD Act (1995) and RTE Act (2009) had limited provisions for people with disabilities, the recently framed RPwD Act (2016) emerged as the flag bearer of inclusion with mitigated flaws and enhanced provisions. We discussed in detail about the policies that took progressive steps towards inclusion. The RPwD Act (2016) is assessed in detail while analysing each of its provisions that are included for assisting children with disabilities. The various barriers

Education for children with developmental disabilities  33 to identify and diagnose children with developmental disabilities such as outdated scales, ambiguous instructions and incomplete guidelines were also enlisted. The focus has also been drawn on the various challenges in the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disability (RPwD Act, 2016) that have hindered the administration of inclusion, and mitigation strategies have been suggested to deal efficiently with the flaws. Along with the policy assessment, the current chapter also analyses the spread of Developmental Disabilities among Children belonging to the ST community in Odisha. It is seen that Mental Retardation is the most prevalent Developmental Disability in Odisha followed by Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Disabilities and lastly Autism. The highest number of cases of Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Disabilities and Autism are reported from the tribal districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Koraput, respectively. While Keonjhar district is observed to have the highest prevalence of both Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Disabilities, the district of Kendrapara does not report any case of Developmental Disability. The spread of these disabilities across the districts is also observed to have an inconsistent pattern in the span of five years. It is evident from the discussions in the chapter that the execution of coherent strategies for inclusive education is an arduous task. The critical barriers, limited resource, and attitudinal constraints make it even more challenging to achieve complete inclusion. Although remarkable improvements have already been initiated through policy revisions and formulation of effective plans, the results are not yet satisfactory. Thus, we need to conduct more intense research to find out the lacunae in the system, develop policies that look after the overall aspect of inclusion, devise new tests and assessment tools instead of using the old and out-dated versions, train more people to be competent enough in order to trace the issues at the grassroots level, introduce better facilities and provisions for caregivers such that they do not abandon CwDDs. All the aforementioned measures could be small yet powerful steps in the direction of achieving inclusion. The pertinent results shall only be visible with sustained efforts in the direction of accommodating change and not in repeating the same mistakes.

Notes 1 Mental retardation refers to a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person which is specially characterized by sub normality of intelligence. 2 Cerebral palsy refers to a group of non-progressive conditions of a person characterized by abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, peri-natal or infant stages of development. 3 Autism is a condition of uneven skill development primarily affecting the communication and social abilities of a person, marked by repetitive and ritualistic behaviour. 4 Multiple Disabilities are a combination of two or more disabilities as defined in clause (i) of section 2 of the Person with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (1 of 1996)” (NTA, 1999).

34  Ramakrishna Biswal and Pratiksha Satpathy

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Education for children with developmental disabilities  35 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. 2016. Disabled Person in India: A Statistical Profile 2016. http:​/​/mos​​pi​.ni​​c​.in/​​sites​​/defa​​ult​/f​​i les/​​publi​​catio​​ n​_rep​​orts/​​Disab​​led​_p​​erson​​s​_i​n_​​India​​_2016​​.pdf. Pathak, A., and R. Biswal. 2021. “Caregiver’s Perspective in the RPWD Act (2016) of India”. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 56: 102544. doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102544. Epub 2020 Dec 31. PMID: 33461037. Roopesh, Bangalore N., and Chaitra N. Kumble. 2016. “Binet Kamat Test for Intelligence – Issues with Scoring and Interpretation” [Letter to the Editor]. Indian Journal of Mental Health, 3(4): 504–505. https​:/​/in​​dianm​​ental​​healt​​h​.com​​ /pdf/​​2016/​​vol3-​​issue​​4​/Bin​​et​_Ka​​m​at​_T​​est​.p​​df. Sakız, Halis, and Charlotte Woods. 2014. “Achieving Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Turkey: Current Challenges and Future Prospects”. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 19(1): 21–35. https​:/​/do​​i​.org​​/10​.1​​080​/1​​36031​​16​ .20​​1​4​.90​​2122. https​:/​/co​​resch​​olar.​​libra​​ries.​​wrigh​​t​.edu​​/cgi/​​viewc​​onten​​t​.cgi​​?refe​​rer​=h​​ttps:​/​/sch​​olar.​​ googl​​e​.com​/​&httpsredir​=1​&ar​ticle​=1086​&context​=ejie. Schwab, Klaus. 2019. The Global Competitiveness Report 2019. Insight Report. http:​ /​/www​​3​.wef​​orum.​​org​/d​​ocs​/W​​EF​_Th​​eGlob​​alCom​​petit​​ivene​​ssRep​​​ort20​​19​.pd​​f. Sharma, Umesh, et al. 2019. “Addressing Barriers to Implementing Inclusive Education in the Pacific”. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(1): 65–78. https​:/​/do​​i​.org​​/10​.1​​080​/1​​36031​​16​.20​​18​​.15​​14751​. Singal, Nidhi. 2007. “Inclusive Education in India: International Concept, National Interpretation”. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 53(3): 351–369. https​:/​/do​​i​.org​​/10​.1​​080​/1​​03491​​20600​​​84779​​7. Social and Rural Research Institute. 2014. “National Sample Survey of Estimation of Out-of-School Children in the Age 6–13 in India”. https​:/​/mh​​rd​.go​​v​.in/​​sites​​ /uplo​​ad​_fi​​les​/m​​hrd​/f​​i les/​​uploa​​d​_doc​​ument​​/Nati​​onal-​​Surve​​y​-Est​​imati​​on​-Sc​​hool-​​ Chil​d​​ren​-D​​raft-​​Repor​​t​.pdf​. Swabhiman. 2012. A Profile of Disability in Odisha - Trends, Development and Dynamics. Odisha: Women & Child Development Department. Government of Odisha. Accessed on 19 January 2021 https​:/​/ww​​w​.scr​​ibd​.c​​om​/do​​cumen​​t​/208​​ 51993​​7​/A​-P​​rofil​​e​-of-​​Disab​​ility​​-in​-O​​disha​​-Tren​​ds​-De​​ve​lop​​ment-​​and​-D​​ynami​​cs. United Nations. 2016. “Toolkit on Disability for Africa”. https​:/​/ww​​w​.un.​​org​/d​​ evelo​​pment​​/desa​​/dspd​​/2016​​/11​/t​​oolki​​t​-on-​​disab​​ility​​​-for-​​afric​​a​-2/. United Nations. “Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CRPD)”. https​:/​/ww​​w​.un.​​org​/d​​evelo​​pment​​/desa​​/disa​​bilit​​ies​/c​​onven​​tion-​​on​-th​​e​-rig​​hts​-o​​f​ -per​​sons-​​with​-​​disab​​iliti​​es​.ht​​ml. World Health Organization. 2011. “World Report on Disability”. https​:/​/ww​​w​.who​​ .int/​​disab​​iliti​​es​/wo​​rld​_r​​eport​​/2011​​/r​epo​​rt​.pd​​f. Worldometer. 2021. “Countries in the World by Population (2021)”. https​:/​/ww​​w​ .wor​​ldome​​ters.​​info/​​world​​-popu​​latio​​n​/pop​​ulati​​on​-b​y​​-coun​​try/.

2

Mainstreaming tribal children Scaffolding English language learning using multi lingual strategies K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty

The unprecedented growth of English as a world language in the last two decades has made English today the most sought-after language in India. The spread of Internet and globalisation has also assured English of its place as a leading language the world over. In India, English is acknowledged not simply as a language for communication, but also as a path for upward social mobility and economic betterment. It is perceived as a “powerful agent for social change” and is widely recognised as a language of power and opportunities (Pennycook, 2001). Though concerns are constantly being raised by advocates of mothertongue education, more and more parents are showing a definite inclination towards English medium education and it is gaining in prominence with each passing day. In today’s globalised context it is gradually getting entrenched in people’s minds as the keystone essential for improving people’s lives and giving them a better standard of living. This demand for English has necessitated many countries where the primary language is not English to bring about changes in their ELT policies. Consequently, ELT priorities are slowly but surely shifting from English as a second language (ESL) to English as a medium of instruction (EMI) (Dearden, 2016). Tribal communities in India have historically been marginalised sections of the society. Though there have been numerous developmental programmes by the central and state governments to bring about equitable access to education for tribals, inequalities exist and become more prominent with reference to English language learning. Despite warnings from a section of educationists in India who perceive that EMI for tribal children could have an adverse impact on their cognitive development, parents and guardians across caste and class boundaries are keen on English education for their children right from the elementary level (Express News Service, 2020). Parents across India from deprived and marginalised sections of the society are forsaking free education for their children in state-supported schools, and despite the high costs, are sending their children to private schools where English is the medium of instruction. This is a trend that is noticed not only among the urban poor but also among the large rural DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-2

Mainstreaming tribal children  37 communities who when given a chance prefer to send their children to English medium schools. This is substantiated by the exponential increase in the number of English medium schools mushrooming in every nook and corner of the country (Rahman, 2012). The reasons are not difficult to guess, and as observed by Graddol (2010) an “English education leads to higher education and better jobs, and it is seen by lower castes as an escape route from social imprisonment.” Activists like Shepherd (2019) strongly feel EMI for the marginalised communities is the only way to bring them to the mainstream and have been advocating for the introduction of EMI in government schools.

EMI for children from marginalised communities English medium instruction for children from marginalised communities is perceived not just as a means to assimilate them into the mainstream society, but also as a path enabling them to acquire better English language skills that would help them in getting gainful employment, thus enhancing their social status. Available data compiled from the District Information System for Education (DISE) by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) points out that enrolment in English medium schools almost doubled in the period between 2008–09 and 2013–14, while overall enrolment in schools went up by just 7.5 per cent (Nagarajan, 2015). Across India, state governments are routinely introducing English medium education in state-supported schools. Schools run by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) in the National Capital Region (NCR) have started imparting English medium education from nursery and onwards from the academic session 2018–19. The state of Punjab has started English medium sections in government schools from the academic session 2018–19 in 1,424 of the 1,886 schools run by it. From April 2018, 5,000 government primary schools in the state of Uttar Pradesh have started offering English medium education to the children. The Uttar Pradesh government has proposed to start at least five such schools in every block of every district of the state. In Haryana, 418 government schools have introduced English medium sections in class I from the academic year 2018 to 2019 with each section having no more than 30 students. In the state of Telangana 5,000 government primary schools have introduced English medium sections in 2018 and have enrolled 15,000 students. The state of Andhra Pradesh has witnessed a 20 per cent increase in enrolment in government primary schools after the introduction of English medium education. Over 90 per cent of the 9,356 government-run elementary schools in Andhra Pradesh offer English medium education. The states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have set up one English medium primary school in every block. In the year 2014, the state of Rajasthan established 134 Swami Vivekananda Government Model English medium schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi (Express News Service, 2018). In 2016, the

38  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty Odisha government initiated Adarsha Vidyalaya (Model schools), affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), to impart free quality English medium education to children belonging to semi-urban and rural areas. Started with 100 schools, the target is to establish at least one school in each of the 314 blocks of the state, with the key objective of integrating students from small towns and villages into mainstream education. Currently, more than 200 such model schools are functional in the state. Today the demand for English education has reached such an unprecedented level that many state governments have almost been compelled to take measures to address this issue. Sixty-five schools in West Bengal have recently changed overnight from being “only Bengali-medium to having English as another medium of instruction” (Basu, 2019). This has “caused euphoria among students, teachers and guardians” as reported by The Statesman, a leading English daily of the country (Saha, 2019). The Government of Odisha plans to introduce “spoken English” from Class I in government schools. This would be taken up phase-wise, starting with 100 schools it will gradually cover all government schools of the state (“Odisha government school,” 2020). At present children study English as a subject from Class III onwards. In 2019, taking into account the high failure rate in the English paper in the High school certificate examination, the Odisha government decided to increase the duration of the English class to 90 minutes from the current 45 minutes. The Government of Andhra Pradesh also plans to introduce English medium education in all government schools from the academic year 2020 to benefit children from poor families who cannot afford private education (“Introducing English medium,” 2019). Keeping up with this trend of making quality English medium education available to the poorest of the society, the Government of Odisha has also initiated various other schemes to benefit some of the most disadvantaged communities of the country. A serious attempt towards mainstreaming children from deprived tribal communities through English medium instruction is being attempted through an innovative scheme called Anwesha (quest), whereby free English medium education in private English medium schools in urban locations is provided primarily to tribal children from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, along with free residential accommodation in government-run hostels. The authors’ first-hand experience in handling these students and direct interactions with some of the key stakeholders like the schoolteachers, principals and wardens of hostels reveal a key flaw in the said policy. Seven– eight-year-old tribal children without any prior knowledge of English are placed directly in Class 1 alongside students from urban, well-off families, who have already studied English for three years, starting from Nursery till Upper Kindergarten. These children come from poverty-stricken families from remote villages with hardly any exposure to city-life. Well-versed only in their mother-tongues, with rudimentary knowledge of Hindi and Odia,

Mainstreaming tribal children  39 and almost zero knowledge of English, they are suddenly made to face a peer group that is familiar with all the three mainstream languages of the state – Hindi, English and Odia. An interesting point that needs mention here is the fact that under formal schooling in English medium schools in India, a child is expected to learn Hindi and the state language as well. In English medium schools, normally a child is admitted at the age of 3 and starts learning English from the very first day of schooling itself. In the first three years, children are exposed to only English and the other languages are introduced when the learner completes three years of kindergarten and moves to Class I. But this scheme is meant for poor, first-generation tribal learners who get directly admitted in class I, consequently missing out on the first three years of schooling and exposure to English, as a result of which they are put at a disadvantage and are subjected to unfair competition. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2019 that focusses on early childhood education as it is the “most important stage of cognitive, motor, social and emotional development in the human life cycle,” shows that there is a definite lack among a majority of our children in completing the learning tasks appropriate to their age levels, more so in children studying in government schools. In government pre-schools or Aganwadis only 43 per cent could recognise patterns, 23.5 per cent could complete reading tasks and only 36.8 per cent of children could count objects under basic maths category. Dhawan (2020) observes that along with teacher training, and curricular and pedagogical factors, one other factor that significantly impacts children from achieving better learning outcomes is the “lack of a fair and equitable place at the starting line.” Likewise, in the absence of proper educational guidelines and poor scaffolding, Anwesha scheme with all its noble intentions of mainstreaming tribal children from marginalised communities is soon becoming another model of “submersion education.” As Baker and Wright (2017) have stated, “Submersion contains the idea of a language minority student thrown into the deep end and expected to learn to swim as quickly as possible without the help of floats or special swimming lessons.” It is worth noting that a similar attempt of providing mainstream education in the United States was struck down by the US Supreme Court in the landmark Lau Vs. Nicholas case back in 1974 and in the judgement the judge had declared, “There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers and curriculum for students who do not understand English and are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.” Through personal interactions with students the authors have gathered that instead of being a joyous experience, English medium education is becoming stressful for the tribal children and is having an adverse effect on their education. Dixon et al. (2012) suggest that it is essential for teachers to have a clear understanding of the process to teach a second language. In their opinion, the first language should be used as a support to ensure understanding and learning. Salmona Madriñan (2014)

40  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty advocates the use of the first language of the child in the second language classroom to facilitate language acquisition. Currently there is growing interest in the use of home language in ELT classrooms and numerous studies have established the effectiveness of using the home language in language classroom in acquiring the second language (Cummins, 2007; Hornberger & Link, 2012; Meiring & Norman, 2002; Pattanayak, 1990). Sampson (2012) argues that now the debate should no longer be about whether to use the home language in ELT classrooms, but on how and how much to use. Joe and Lee (2013) are of the view that the use of home language by the learners creates a “safe haven” for learners to retreat, relax and reduce their anxiety. Yeh (2012) suggests the use of code switching as an instructional strategy in ELT classrooms and believes that it would facilitate learning. Garcia and Li (2014) and Li (2018) strongly recommend the dynamic use of the learners’ and teachers’ multiple linguistic resources in language teaching.

Facilitating English language learning among first-generation tribal learners This chapter highlights how the tribal linguistic knowledge-base available with a mixed group, first-time tribal learners of English was used as an educational strategy to introduce English language to the students. It was a mixed group comprising mainly of children speaking Kurukh, the language of the Oraon tribe, and Munda, the language of the Munda tribe. Some also spoke Sadri which has emerged as the lingua franca among the local tribals in this part of the state and is used for inter-tribe communication. Some students had some knowledge of the state language Odia and very few students had any knowledge of the national language Hindi. The idea was to build the English vocabulary of the students using the available knowledge-base of various languages. Available research establishes that vocabulary is the fundamental component of any language. Teaching a new language starts with introducing news words in the target language. Various studies have established the importance of vocabulary in learning a new language. Teaching words is one of the most crucial aspects of learning a language as languages are based on words (Thornbury, 2002). Pinker (1994) was of the view that though word knowledge does not guarantee a learner’s ability to communicate in a language, it does facilitate the process whereby learners put thought into words and words into thought. Thus, knowing a word in the target language is the first step in the complex process of learning a new language (Richards & Gibson, 1974; Taylor et al., 2000). To facilitate the English language learning of these children, 500 words were selected in English and a picture-wordlist using all the 6 languages (English, Hindi, Odia, Sadri, Kurukh and Munda) was prepared. It was intended as a teaching aid for the teachers as they were all non-tribals

Mainstreaming tribal children  41 without any understating of the tribal languages. In selecting the words the tribal content was taken into consideration and two main word sources were referred to - Ogden’s list of 850 Basic English words and the list of words recommended in the Report of the All India Seminar of Teaching of English in Secondary Schools in India held at Nagpur in 1957 popularly known as the Nagpur List. Five hundred words, including twenty-three plural words from the twoword sources were introduced, with words such as “book” and “books” being counted as two different words. Out of the 500 selected words, 259 were present in the Ogden List and 394 were present in the Nagpur list. Two hundred and twenty-one words were present in both the lists and 45 words were present in neither. Of the 200 selected words introduced through pictures, 112 words were present in the Ogden List and 139 words were present in the Nagpur List. Seventy-six words were present in both the lists and twenty-five words were present in neither. Available research establishes that the learners’ home language can be effectively used to teach a new language (Atkinson, 1987; Miles, 2004). Similar efforts have been made by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in the state of Chhattisgarh to teach Hindi to the tribal learners in Bastanar region of Bastar district. In 2015, the SCERT, Chhattisgarh, introduced books for classes I and II in a new format. The books consisted of 19 lessons all in Hindi, but the first 7 lessons were designed in such a way that each language lesson was tabulated with equivalent words in 6 prominent local languages. de Jong (2011) outlined four principles for effective instruction to assist educators in decision making within the complex multilingual classrooms: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Striving for educational equity Affirming identities Promoting additive-bilingualis Structuring for integration.

The principle of educational equity draws educators’ attention to the values of respect and fairness. It suggests that instead of treating multilingual classrooms as one entity, we should treat the learners as distinct individuals with distinct language knowledge-base (de Jong, 2013). The resource book developed for the students as explained in this study, seeks to replace the general monolingual English textbook used in the classroom with a multilingual one so as to develop a sense of educational equity in a multilingual classroom (de Jong, 2013). The principle of affirming identities states that engagement in and motivation for learning can be easily facilitated when students feel validated for and are given opportunities to build on what they know (de Jong, 2013). In order to motivate first-time tribal learners to apply themselves to academic effort and actively participate in the teaching-learning process, it is essential not

42  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty only to affirm their tribal identity but also to extend it through interactions with the teachers (Cummins, 2001, p. 2). When first-generation tribal learners hear words in their home language being used freely to facilitate them to learn English, they feel valued and show greater inclination to learn the language. The picture-wordlist is an educational aid that has been designed keeping in mind the linguistic diversity of the first-generation tribal learners. The principle of promoting additive bi/multilingualism suggests educators to build on and add to the learners’ existing linguistic repertoires and to show respect for their native language and provide opportunities to develop their other language skills (de Jong, 2013). The picture-wordlist is designed to achieve these very objectives. The primary purpose is to facilitate English language learning using the existing language base of the learners, but it also helps students to know more about the national language Hindi as well as the state language Odia in addition to other tribal languages. The primary complaint of teachers teaching English in English medium schools is that a child fails to acquire English language skills simply because the child’s home language is not English. The teachers generally perceive the child’s home language as a hindrance for the learner to effectively acquire second language skills. The use of the picture-wordlist creates an environment in the classroom where the learners’ home language is treated as a resource to facilitate the teaching-learning process, rather than as a hindrance. The principle of structuring for integration suggests that a school’s various components—students, parents and teachers, as well as programs and activities need to connect, relate and interact with each other (de Jong, 2013). The picture-wordlist is a perfect example of this integration. It has been prepared after taking linguistic inputs for it, after informal interactions with the learners and their parents.

The teaching-learning process The first 200 words were introduced along with the aid of pictures. Pictures were shown and the children were encouraged to name the object in their home languages. Some children named the objects in their own language while some others could name them with their own language as well as in Sadri, the local tribal lingua franca. A few could name some of the pictures in their own languages, Sadri as well as in Odia and Hindi. Finally, the teacher named the picture in English. The situation was much different before the introduction of this strategy. Most of the learners used to be passive listeners and in spite of knowing the word in their home language or any other language they preferred to remain quiet, the teacher just used to name the word in English and the teachinglearning process largely remained teacher-centric. There was minimal interaction between the teacher and the learners. This experiment was highly successful and in about four weeks most of the students had built an oral English vocabulary of about 200 words

Mainstreaming tribal children  43 while acquiring some new words of six different languages. A lot of studies have established the effectiveness of using pictures as teaching aids for teaching vocabulary (Morin & Goebel, 2008; Silbert, 1997). Carpenter and Olson (2012) suggest that pictures do facilitate learning a foreign language. The words that were selected to be introduced through pictures were the things that tribal children were familiar with in their own mother tongue. These words included common objects of daily use, parts of the human body, common animals and birds. Pictures were shown and the children were encouraged to name the object in any language known to the learners. The teachers were instructed not to discourage the children from giving responses in any language, to acknowledge the response and give the word in English for the picture. Initially the responses from the students came in only in Odia and in very few cases in Hindi. One important thing was noticed that though the children knew the word in their mother tongue, they were not prepared to give the response in the language, they preferred to reply only if they knew the word in one of the dominant languages, in this case either Hindi or Odia. It was essential to build on the self-confidence and self-esteem of these young learners. Loss of self-confidence in a model of submersion education has been documented by Wright (2004). Ken recalls his kindergarten class: “I could tell the difference between an apple and an orange, but I could not tell the words right…I just struggled to say the word. I guess they were just smarter than me.” (p. 14) In submersion education, it is not just the child’s home language that is at stake, there are more important things that come into play. Submersion education can have an adverse impact on the self-esteem and self-identity of a child (Baker & Wright, 2017). Research has established that children learn a word in the target language by associating it with its translation in the native language (Nation, 2001; Carter & McCarthy, 1988). This content-based approach to introduce a new language also provided an opportunity whereby the “existing language resources” that the learners had at their disposal were brought into play in the classroom (Prabhu, 1987). In any language programme, failure to make use of the learners’ existing cognitive and linguistic abilities not only alienates the learner but also fails to make a connection between the new language and her mental world (Position Paper on Teaching of English, NCERT, 2006). This content-based approach was well received by the learners and in just three days most children were able to speak the correct word in English for some of the pictures shown at random. The following 200 words were introduced through picture clues: “Animal,” “ant,” “arm,” “arrow,” “art,” “axe baby,” “bag,” “ball,” “banana,” “basket,” “bear,” “bed,” “bee,” “bell,” “bird,” “black,”

44  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty “blackboard,” “blood,” “blue,” “boat,” “body,” “bone,” “book,” “bottle,” “bow,” “box,” “boy,” “branch,” “brick,” “bridge,” “broom,” “brown,” “brush,” “bucket,” “buffalo,” “bulb,” “bus,” “butterfly,” “button,” “cart,” “cat,” “chain,” “chair,” “chalk,” “chest,” “child,” “chin,” “circle,” “city,” “clock,” “cloud,” “coal,” “cock,” “coconut,” “coin,” “colour,” “comb,” “cot,” “cow,” “crow,” “cup,” “deer,” “dog,” “doll,” “donkey,” “door,” “dove,” “drain,” “dress,” “drum,” “duck,” “ear,” “egg,” “elephant,” “eye,” “face,” “fan,” “feather,” “finger,” “fire,” “fish,” “flag,” “floor,” “flower,” “foot,” “forest,” “frog,” “gate,” “girl,” “glass,” “goat,” “grass,” “green,” “hair,” “hand,” “head,” “hen,” “hill,” “home,” “horn,” “horse,” “house,” “jug,” “key,” “kite,” “knee,” “knife,” “leaf,” “leg,” “lemon,” “lion,” “lock,” “lotus,” “man,” “mango,” “market,” “mat,” “matches,” “mirror,” “money,” “monkey,” “moon,” “mouth,” “nail,” “neck,” “needle,” “nest,” “net,” “nose,” “onion,” “orange,” “owl,” “ox,” “paper,” “parrot,” “pen,” “pencil,” “pig,” “pin,” “pink,” “plant,” “plate,” “plough,” “pot,” “potato,” “rat,” “red,” “rice,” “ring,” “road,” “rod,” “roof,” “room,” “root,” “rope,” “salt,” “sand,” “screw,” “seed,” “sheep,” “shirt,” “shoe,” “skin,” “skirt,” “sky,” “snake,” “soil,” “spade,” “spoon,” “square,” “stamp,” “star,” “stick,” “stomach,” “stone,” “street,” “sugar,” “sun,” “table,” “tail,” “thread,” “thumb,” “toe,” “toffee,” “tongue,” “tooth,” “toy,” “train,” “tree,” “umbrella,” “wall,” “watch,” “water,” “well,” “wheel,” “white,” “window,” “wing” and “yellow.” Following is a sample of the section of the resource prepared for facilitating the use of home language for English language teaching:  At the end of one week an informal assessment was taken. Twenty pictures corresponding to the words “Arrow,” “Axe,” “Basket,” “Bird,” “Bone,” “Coconut,” “Egg,” “Finger,” “Frog,” “Key,” “Mango,” “Monkey,” “Nest,” “Pig,” “Pot,” “Rope,” “Shoe,” “Snake,” “Spoon” and “Umbrella” were shown at random and the learners were asked to name the picture in English.  In the second week, English alphabets were introduced in association with the pictures with which the students were now familiar. The underlying idea of this exercise was to develop alphabet knowledge with reference to the letter name and its shape both in the capital form and lowercase form. In the first two weeks no written work was done, only oral work was done. The idea was to limit the “learning burden” on the tender children who were exposed to a new language for the first time and that too while living away from their parents and being subjected to unfair competition. “Learning burden” of a word is the amount of effort required to learn it and for learners whose language is not related to the second language, the learning burden will be heavy (Nation, 2001). The oral work done in the second week was continued in the third week as well. The following week written tasks were introduced in addition to oral tasks. In the third week children were asked to write 5–6 capital letters a day. Since the target learners were in the age group of 6–8, there was

Mainstreaming tribal children  45 Table 2.1 Sample of the Multi lingual Resource Prepared to Facilitate the Use of Home Language for English Language Teaching English

Hindi

Odia

Sadri

Ant

चींटी (cheenti) तीर (teer) पक्षी (pakshi) रक्त (rakt) हड्डी (haddi) भेंस (bhains) बिल्ली (billee) मुर्गा (murgaa) गंदा (gandaa) कुत्ता (kutta)

ପିମ୍ପୁଡି (pimpudi) ତୀର (teera) ପକ୍ଷୀ (pokhi) ରକ୍ତ (rakta) ହାଡ (haada) ମଇଁଷି (moinshee) ବିଲେଇ (bilaee) କୁକୁଡ଼ା (kukuda) ମଇଳା (moilaa) କୁକୁର (kukura)

Chimti Muin

Poke

Tir

Kanna

Arrow Bird Blood Bone Buffalo Cat Cock Dirty Dog

Munda

Saar

Charai Chede

Oraon (Khudukh)

Ora

Laahu

Mayom Khens

Haad

Jang

khocol

Kaadi

Kaada

Mankha

Billai

Billi

Berkha

Sanda

Sandi

Kakro

Ganda

Sotora

Kechkecha

Kukur

Seta

Alla

Source: Authors’ own classification.

No. of children 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Correctly Correctly Correctly Correctly named all 20 named named named pictures between 15- between 10- between 5- 9 19 pictures 14 pictures pictures

Correctly named less than 5 pictures

Could not correctly name even a single picture

Figure 2.1 Performance of the learners after one week of explicit oral vocabulary instruction with the aid of pictures. Source: Authors’ own calculation.

46  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty no problem with the pencil-grip and control over letter formation so they could cope up with the task load of five letters a day. In the fourth week, the work done in the third week was repeated but instead of writing capital letters, the children were asked to write small letters. The work done during the third and fourth weeks was aimed at developing alphabet knowledge, or in other words, the ability to distinguish letter shapes, names and sounds along with the ability to quickly recall and name each letter (Bradley & Stahl, 2001). Once the children had developed a basic comfort level with English then the other 300 words were introduced, using “translanguaging” pedagogy to support students from varied linguistic backgrounds and to help them to participate in classroom activities (Conteh, 2018). The methodology adopted for this study is totally different from what is followed in English medium schools, where the stress is on the use of only English. The methodology was aimed at making use of “additive-multilingualism” as a strategy towards preventing the English medium education scheme for poor tribal children from becoming a model for submersion education. After the introduction of 200 words through pictures, 40 common action words in English were introduced orally through actions. Each day eight action words were introduced for five days. Available research suggests that mime was more effective in teaching action words (Harmer, 1991). The teacher used to name the word and translate the meaning of the word in Odia/Hindi/Sadri/Kurukh/Munda and then used to ask the children to perform those actions. The aim was to familiarise the children with more common words in English and to build their vocabulary. At this stage there was no attempt to acquaint the students with the spellings of the words being introduced. The use of translation as a methodology to teach a foreign language is usually not appreciated in English medium schools. All English medium schools proclaim English to be their first language and they discourage teachers from using any other language in the classroom. In this study translation was used as a method and the teacher limited the use of translation to explaining the meaning of the word being introduced. Translating words has been acknowledged as the simplest, quickest and easiest way for presenting new words as it provides the learners “instant information about the basic meaning of the foreign language word” (Folse, 2004). The next step was to develop spellings and initially three-letter words were introduced over five days. Each day words from two sound families were introduced and the children were asked to form the spelling of the word as spoken by the teacher. The following words were introduced. Fifty-one three-letter words related to the sound families “at,” “an,” “et,” “en,” “in,” “ig,” “ot,” “og,” “ut” and “un” were introduced. Forty four-letter words related to the sound families “all,” “ell,” “ail,” “one,” “ear,” “ill,” “oat,” “ook,” “est” and “art” were introduced with relation to sound families.

Mainstreaming tribal children  47 Teacher: writing the word “AN” on the board and saying A-N AN Learners: A-N AN Teacher: adding the letter C before AN and saying C-A-N CAN Learners: saying C-A-N CAN and then writing it along Teacher: writing the word AN again and saying A-N AN Learners: A-N AN Teacher: adding the word P before AN and saying P-A-N PAN Learners: saying P-A-N PAN and writing it along

Using content-based vocabulary learning for better student engagement This content-based activity was aimed at introducing phonological awareness in the learners. Previous researchers have written extensively on this. Dickinson et al. (2003) have provided evidence that oral language skills, especially vocabulary development play an important role in phonological awareness and also predict development of reading comprehension at a later point. Ashton-Warner (1963) developed the “organic” activities approach to reading and writing in which she began with teaching to children, the words which they wanted to learn and used this “key vocabulary” to introduce children to writing and reading. It is essential for learners to develop familiarity with words. The more “deeply and thoroughly” a student is familiar with a word there is more likelihood of the word being recognised, spelt and used by the learner (Joshi et al., 2008–2009). This system of introducing words is followed in English medium schools in India. In most schools when English is introduced at the Kindergarten level, the focus is on word formation alone and not much on the meaning of the word. In most cases the meaning is assumed to be understood by the teachers or the children pick up the meaning in due course of time when they encounter the same words in later contexts. Since the learners of this study were being introduced to English for the first time and since they were to catch up with those children who had studied English for at least three years, it was considered imperative to tell the meaning of the words as well in a language that was known to the children. The picture-wordlist proved to be an effective tool to facilitate this process. The meaning of the word was told to the learners in the home language of the students. Then the learners were made to read the words that were supported with pictures. The words covered in this way were the parts of the body, number names, colours and food items. Teacher: (pointing to the word “lion” printed under the picture of a lion and reading) l-i-o-n lion. Learners: l-i-o-n The next set of words that were introduced were 50 describing words (adjectives and adverbs). These words were introduced to the children as opposite

48  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty words with the help of pictures. Then words such as in, on, under, above, below, behind and between (prepositions) were introduced with the help of pictures and other oral activities. Thereafter the words related to the days of the week, then months of the year and question words (what, when, where, who and why) were introduced. Before introducing any word, the meaning of the word in a language understandable by the learners was told by the teacher. Each day a small passage was provided to the learners and the learners were asked to read it. The passage comprised words that were already introduced to the learners. Model reading was done by the teacher and then the learners were asked to read; wherever the learners struggled to identify a word, the teacher prompted to read the word by breaking it up into letters. Wherever the learners required a clarification regarding the meaning of the word it was provided in the home language of the learner. Linguists differ on the number of times a word needs to be exposed to the learners before it becomes a part of their vocabulary. According to Ur (2012) what matters more than the number of times of its exposure is the way in which learners encounter the word that determines how well they retain that particular word. The words need to be important for the students’ present situation and culture. Montgomery (2007) classified vocabulary under four headings namely, Reading Vocabulary or the words that a learner is able to recognise while reading; Listening Vocabulary or the vocabulary which is recognised by the learner when listening to speech; Writing Vocabulary or the words that a learner is able to write; and finally Speaking Vocabulary or the words that the learner is able to use while speaking. In this study activities aimed at developing listening, speaking, reading and writing were designed where the learners were made to use the words that were introduced to them.

Results and Conclusion The picture-wordlist in six different languages was well accepted by the teachers. It was helpful in expanding their own language base and also provided them an opportunity to explore other new languages. Teachers started connecting the words in the tribal languages to make simple sentences to attract the attention of the learners in their own home language. Teachers agreed that it made the classroom interactions more effective and it was helpful in developing a rapport with the learners. Since the teachers are mostly non-tribals it is difficult to establish rapport with young learners which is very essential for an effective teaching-learning process. The learners showed more eagerness to learn English when English words were presented along with their home language. The increased motivational levels of the learners resulted in better levels of attention in the class. The use of the home language of the learners led to a situation where the learners were no longer shy of accepting their tribal identity; rather they seemed to be

Mainstreaming tribal children  49 proud of it and identified with it. The teacher as well as the students agreed that their increased interest level and enthusiasm were primarily because of the use of their home language in the classroom. Though the picturewordlist was primarily prepared for English language teaching, it proved to be helpful in introducing the other two languages - Odia and Hindi, which the learners are mandated to study but even these languages are different from the home language of the learners. Teachers teaching Hindi and Odia reported that after the implementation of multilingual strategies for English language teaching, the learners have shown a marked improvement in learning Hindi and Odia as well. During informal interactions with the learners, they agreed that they were happy when their home language is used to teach English to them. This increased enthusiasm was leveraged by the teachers to set additional ELT tasks for the students and the students happily completed these tasks. This experiment was conducted in an urban school and all the children were tribals. More studies are needed to test the effectiveness of this method where there is a mix of tribal and non-tribal students. The authors strongly believe that this method may be replicated in situations where there are non-tribal students along with tribal children as it would give an opportunity to the non-tribal students to learn tribal languages and enhance their linguistic base, in addition to building a more empathetic attitude towards marginalised and endangered languages and communities of the country. The most interesting aspect of this study is that it is not limited to any language or any particular group of students. In any multilingual setting and among any diverse student base this study can be replicated with just a bit of effort shown by teachers and the school administrators. People need to understand that our varied languages and our diverse cultural traditions are assets that very few countries of the world can match, and hence it is our joint responsibility to ensure that we give a better future to our tribal children through educational schemes that are effective not only on paper but also in classrooms.

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52  K. Viswanath and Seemita Mohanty Rahman, Maseeh. 2012. “Language exodus reshapes India’s schools.” The Guardian, May 15. Accessed on 10 January 2021 https​:/​/ww​​w​.the​​guard​​ian​.c​​om​ /ed​​ucati​​on​/20​​12​/ma​​y​/15/​​india​​-sch​o​​ols​-e​​nglis​​h. Richards, I. & Gibson, C. 1974. Techniques in Language Control. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers. Saha, S. K. 2019, March 11. “English sections and education.” The Statesman. Accessed on 14 January 2021 https​:/​/ww​​w​.the​​state​​sman.​​com​/o​​pinio​​n​/eng​​lish-​​ secti​​ons​-e​​ducat​​ion​-1​​​50273​​7917.​​html. Salmona Madriñan, M. 2014. “The use of first language in the second-language classroom: A support for second language acquisition.” GIST Education and Learning Research Journal, 9(9), 50–66. https://doi​.org​/10​.26817​/16925777​.143. Sampson, A. 2012. Learner code-switching versus English only. ELT Journal, 66(3), 293–303. SCERT. 2015. Integrated Textbook Hindi, English and Mathematics Class I. Chhattisgarh: SCERT. Shepherd, K. I. 2019. “Language policy: Education in English must not be the prerogative of only the elites.” The Wire. Accessed on 15 January 2021 https​:/​/th​​ ewire​​.in​/e​​ucati​​on​/en​​glish​​-medi​​um​-sc​​hools​​-new-​​educa​​​tion-​​polic​​y. Silbert, E. D. 1997. Teaching Aids for the Language Teacher. New York: Henley and Heinla Publisher Inc. Taylor, B., et al. 2000. Reading for Meaning: Fostering Comprehension in the Middle Grades. New York: Teachers College Press. Thornbury, Scott. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Ur, Penny. 2012. A Course in English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wright, Wayne E. 2004. “What English-only really means: A study on the implication of California language policy with Cambodian American students.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7(1), 1–23. https​ :/​/do​​i​.org​​/10​.1​​080​/1​​36700​​50408​​​66779​​8. Yeh, C. C. 2012. “Instructors’ perspectives on English-medium instruction in Taiwanese universities.” Curriculum and Instruction Quarterly, 16(1), 209–232.

3

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress among tribal elderly Is there an association? Jalandhar Pradhan

A majority of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) today are witnessing demographic transitions along with a rapid increase in life expectancies (Vancampfort et al., 2017). However, there have been contradictions whether additional years gained are associated with a healthier life or not (Crimmins and Beltran, 2011). It is estimated that by the end of 2025, about 70 per cent of the world's older population will be residing in LMICs (Oni and Unwin, 2015). Demographic changes are intertwined with the epidemiological transition of diseases as there has been a notable shift in the primary causes of disability, morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases (CDs) to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (Santosa et al., 2016). Prevalence of morbidities not only has a physical impact rather they also influence the overall psychological wellbeing among older adults along with the quality of life (QoL) (Molassiotis et al., 2011). Patterns of chronic illness, functional status and psychological distress are the major determinants of health among older adults (Raju, 2011). Hence, one’s perceived health condition, especially relating to psychological wellbeing, is a key predictor of health status among the elderly population. Ageing and sickness are two inevitable processes of life. With one-fifth of India’s total population being under the age of 25, ageing is something that does not come easily to people’s mind. Yet at the same time, India is also the country with the highest number of elderlies after China and it is reported that one-third of Indian elderly face at least one chronic health problem (Xu et al., 2017). In India, the burden of both CDs and NCDs is higher among the elderly population which is further intensified by weakening of sensory functions like vision and hearing (Prince et al., 2015). Age-related physiological transformations among the older adults make them more vulnerable to chronic, disabling and multiple health conditions. Available literature relating to interrelationship between morbidity and psychological distress among the older population suggests that advanced age is often accompanied by higher prevalence of chronic diseases and functional decline (Segal et al., 2018; Hossin et al., 2017; Chatterji et al., 2015). Locomotor disabilities are the most rampant types of disabilities affecting DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-3

54  Jalandhar Pradhan all age groups in India though locomotor and speech disabilities are more common at an early age, but visual and hearing disability sets in with advancement in ageing (WHO, 1994; Patel, 2009). Patel (2009) further suggests that mental disabilities are the highest among the working-age population whereas vision and hearing disability are broadly concentrated among older adults. Disability among older population is usually assessed based on difficulty to carry out the activities of daily living (ADL) (Millan-Calenti et al., 2010). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (Millan-Calenti et al., 2010) tries to build up a consensus in its understanding by bringing out a difference between the basic ADL and the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). The ADL is defined as activities essential for an independent life such as bathing, dressing and mobility, while carrying out IADL is more complex and requires a higher level of personal autonomy (Chernbumroong et al., 2013). The IADL scores are associated with the cognitive functioning, capacity to make decisions and interaction with the surroundings. Based on these differences, shortfalls in the IADL normally precede decline in the ADL (Reppermund et al., 2016). Disability is often associated with chronic health conditions such as the presence of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (CVDs), Strokes, and Diabetes Mellitus, resulting in higher institutionalised care along with an increase in morbidity and mortality. After measuring ADL, IADL and morbidity functions, studies reveal that women experience early and rapid functional disability than men (Polenick et al., 2020; Choi et al., 2016). As observed by Banjare and Pradhan (2014), some other factors that predict functional decline amongst elderly are poor self-perceived health, psychological distress, low physical activity, multi-morbidity, chronological age, depression and vision impairment. Rebok et al. (2014) posit that the ability to execute the daily activities in a stable and accepted manner is indicative of Functional Status. Loss of functional status refers to a kind of disability which indicates the negative aspects of the interaction between the individual and the environment. If a person loses his /her functional status, it restricts the social interaction and hinders the overall quality of life (QoL) (Villa et al., 2016). Maintenance of this functional status is a positive health indicator among the older adults and loss of functional status causes increase in the morbidity (Anton et al., 2015). It is a known factor that advanced age brings in deteriorating physical health, cerebral pathology and higher prevalence of mental and behavioural disorders. Additionally, mood problems, especially depression, affect functional daily living among the elderly people (Chapman and Perry, 2008). Various factors related to psychological distress among the elderly population in the Indian setup are: Depression, Adjustment Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Dementia and Delirium (Cognitive Disorders), Psychoses, Bipolar Disorders and Substance-related psychiatric illnesses (Sen and Mukherjee, 2017). A study done by Tiwari (2000) found that mental illness was much higher in the geriatric group (43% compared to 5% in the non-geriatric

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  55 group). Another study by Srinivasan et al. (2010) observed that about 42.5 per cent elderly had multiple health-related morbidities, and a higher number of morbidities were associated with greater disability and psychological distress. Association of disability, morbidity and psychological distress is a complicated state of affairs which requires a different approach and management. The analysis can be done through two standpoints: (1), by investigation of the statistical relations between diseases and deformities and (2) by exploration of major causes that lead to deformity. Understanding the specific chronic condition underlying disability and psychological distress may help to check or delay the disablement process to a great extent. Our focus is not only in reducing morbidity or mortality but also in ensuring optimal health conditions with a disability-free life. Within the given context this chapter tries to explore how morbidity amongst elderly people influences their psychological well-being and disability-pattern. Not many studies are available that examine the above association, especially among the tribal elderly. Therefore, focus is on assessing the prevalence of various morbidities among elderly populations, particularly from various tribes, and subsequently to examine the correlation of various chronic conditions, with the process of disability and psychological distress.

Data and methods Study area and subjects The study has been conducted in Sundargarh district of Odisha where 50 per cent of the population belongs to Scheduled Tribes (Table 3.1). A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among the elderly (60+) populations of four major tribal groups, namely Paudi Bhuiyan, Oram, Kissan and Munda, living in the forest areas of Sundargarh district, Odisha. Out of these four, Paudi Bhuiyan is a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG).

Table 3.1 Profile of the Study Area Sundargarh

Census 2011

Total population Male population Female population Sex ratio Literacy rate (Percentage) ST population

2,093,437 1,061,147 1,032,290 973 73.34 1,062,349

Source: Census, 2011, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India

56  Jalandhar Pradhan A target size of about 400 people was selected as the sample size. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Twenty-seven respondents were unable to respond to the questionnaire due to ill-health. Some others were not available at the time of the interview. Hence, 373 respondents were finally considered for the study ensuing in a response rate of 93 per cent. A multistage sampling design was followed to determine the requisite number of participants for the interview and to increase the efficiency of estimates. A three-stage sampling procedure was undertaken for selection of respondents. At the first stage, the block was selected. At the second stage, the village was selected and at the third stage target respondents were selected. According to Census 2011, there are 17 blocks in Sundargarh, namely, Kuarmunda, Nuagaon, Bisra, Lathikata, Hemgiri, Rajgangpur, Lephripara, Kutra, Sundargarh, Bargaon, Subdega, Balisankara, Tangarpalli, Lahunipada, Koida, Bonaigarh and Gurundia. Lahunipada and Bonaigarh were two of the blocks that were chosen randomly. From each village 20 respondents with equal number of male and female respondents (i.e. 10 each) were chosen. A total of 20 villages (10 from Lahunipada and 10 from Bonaigarh) were chosen to obtain the necessary number of respondents. Munda and Paudi Bhuiyan tribes mostly reside in Lahunipada block, while Kisan and Oram tribes reside in Bonaigarh. Five villages were selected for each tribal group. A sampling framework for male and female respondents was arranged separately at the village level. A listing of all the households in a selected village was finalised. All members aged 60+ from each household were listed during the listing. Age and gender of each member were noted. Consequently, 10 male and 10 female elderly persons were selected by using systematic random sampling procedure.

Methods Before starting the field survey, each respondent was requested to sign a form of consent. To identify the prevalence of morbidities, the respondents were asked to share whether in the past one year they had been informed by any doctor, nurse or any other health-worker that they suffered from any ailments, such as Diabetes, Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Thrombosis or Stroke, Heart disease or Angina, Skin disease, Cancer, Cerebral Embolism, Alzheimer’s disease, Liver or Gall Bladder illness, Renal or Urinary tract infection, Chronic lung disease, Asthma, Depression, High blood pressure, Cataract, Dementia, Loss of all natural teeth, Injury due to fall (in past one year) or Paralysis. All the morbidities are addressed in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10). The ICD is the standard diagnostic tool for health

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  57 management, epidemiology and clinical purposes. This includes analysing the health status of the general population. It is utilised to screen the occurrence and prevalence of diseases and other medical issues, providing a picture of the general wellbeing of the populace . For descriptive analysis, we have categorised the prevalence of morbidity into four groups: (1) elderly having no morbidity, (2) elderly having one morbidity, (3) elderly having only two morbidities and (4) elderly having three or more morbidities. Multi-morbidity is defined as those who have two or more morbidities (Banjare and Pradhan, 2014). Assessment of physical disability was achieved by considering difficulties in activities like walking, speaking, hearing, chewing, vision and memory. The Katz Index of independence in ADL, commonly called the Katz ADL is the most efficient way of assessing the ADL of the elderly. Dichotomous (yes/no) reactions were recorded for autonomy in every function i.e. six functions to be specific, mobility, dressing, toilet, self-control, bathing and feeding. The score ranged between 0 and 6. A score of 6 demonstrates full functional status, 4 shows moderate decline and 2 or less demonstrates extreme functional deterioration (Graf, 2006). So, a score of 3 was settled as the cut-off value. The scale developed by Lawton and Brody was used to estimate the IADL, which calculates competency in skills such as supervising finances, shopping and cooking. These are skills highly essential for independent living. This Lawton IADL scale can be scored in few different ways, depending on the aim of the assessment and the usage of information. The most common method is to rate each item dichotomously (0 or 1). The score runs from 0 to 8. The score of 4 was set up as a cut-off value and the elderly individuals who scored above 4 were characterised as having good IADL functions. The ones who scored below 4 were detected as having bad IADL functioning (Gallo and Paveza, 2006; Lokare et al., 2011). An institutionalised, PGI Health Questionnaire-N-1 was used to assess psychological distress in the elderly people (Wig and Verma, 1973). This survey professed to gauge neuroticism among sample cases i.e. those with uneasiness, wretchedness, mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondriasis, and was able to distinguish those mentally unstable from the stable. The symptoms which the subjects perceived and ones the doctors identified were estimated by the questionnaire. Thirty-eight items were compartmentalised into two sections (Section A and Section B). Physical and mental afflictions of aged subjects were monitored by Section A and Section B, respectively. The minimum and maximum possible score for the full questionnaire was between 0 and 76. Accordingly, z-score was estimated. If the value of z-score was greater than −0.50, it was counted as poor psychological health. Detailed description regarding the predictive variables, major parameters considered for the study and the instruments used for conducting the study have been given in Table 3.2.

58  Jalandhar Pradhan Table 3.2 Variables Used in the Study Predictive variables Parameters

Instruments

Morbidity

No morbidity At least one morbidity At least two morbidity Three or more morbidity

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10

Vision, hearing, walking, chewing, speech, memory

Questionnaire containing dichotomous responses (Yes/No) Katz scale

Disability Physical disability Activities of Daly Living (ADL)

Feeding, continence, transferring, toileting, dressing, bathing Using the telephone, Lawton scale Instrumental shopping, preparing food, Activities of Daly housekeeping, doing laundry, Living (IADL) using transportation, handling medication, handling finances 38 questions related to PGI Health Psychological psychological wellbeing Questionnaire-N-1 (Wig distress among the elderly and Verma, 1973) Part A assesses the physical distress and Part B assesses the mental distress among the elderly subjects Source: Author’s own classification

The independent variables of the study included both demographic and socio-economic variables. While the demographic variables were—sex (male/female), age (60–65/66–70/ above 70 years) and marital status (currently married, divorced/separated, never married)—the socio-economic variables were—education (no education, primary/secondary/higher secondary), working status (own farming, agricultural labour, small business, others and even not working), family type (single, nuclear, joint), state of economic dependence (self-earning, dependent on others), living with spouse (Yes/No), types of houses (kachha, semi pucca, pucca) and separate room for cooking (Yes/No). A cluster of variables that represented the risk behaviour of the respondents were—smoking tobacco (Yes/No), consumption of alcohol (Yes/No), chewing of tobacco or other intoxicant (Yes/No) have also been included in the study. The analysis was carried out in the following manner. First, the frequency distribution of elderly by their background characteristics and cross-tabular analysis of the self-reported health status of the elderly across their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics with chi-square test of significance was carried out. Later, logistic regression analysis was performed to

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  59 examine the association between multi-morbidity and disability and psychological distress. Analysis was carried out using STATA 13.

Logistic regression Logistic regression has been applied to predict the dependent variable based on the values of independent variables (predictors). Here the dependent variable is dichotomous, labelled as “0” and “1”. And the odds ratio for the value labelled “1” is a linear combination of one or more than one independent variables. Further, the independent variable can be a binary or continuous variable. Therefore, logistic regression estimates the probability of certain events as existing or not. The logistic regression equation can be written as follows:

æ p ö ln ç ÷ = a + b1x1 + b 2 x2 + b3x3 +  bi xi + e è1- p ø

where p is the probability of occurrence of disability or psychological distress, p (y = 1); β1, β2, β3,… βi refer to the beta coefficients; x1 x2 x3 ….xi refer to the independent variables and e is the error term.

Results Demographic features and socio-economic profiles of respondents Table 3.3 showcases the demographic characteristics of the respondents along with their socio-economic profiles. It indicates that male population (50.7%) is slightly more than the female population (49.3%) in the study area. Around 64 per cent respondents belong to the age group of 60–65 while 17 per cent fit in the 66–70 age group and 19 per cent who are above 70 years are categorised in this age group. Nearly 53 per cent of the respondents are currently married, 43 per cent are widowed/divorced and 4 per cent are in the category of never married. Educational status of the respondents shows that majority of them have no formal education (57.4%) and some of them have completed primary (16.4%), secondary (18%) and very few have completed higher secondary education (8.3%). Similarly, a majority of respondents are not doing any work (50.4%) and only 15.3 per cent of them are engaged in their own farming, 6 per cent of them are doing small business and 7 per cent are working as agricultural labour. Majority of the elderly population belongs to joint family (71.8%) and 4.6 per cent and 23.6 per cent belong to single and nuclear families, respectively. Nearly 50 per cent of the sample respondents have self-earning source while other 50 per cent are fully dependent upon others to meet their economic needs. About 52 per cent of the respondents are staying with their spouse and 48 per cent are living alone. Around 51 per cent of the sample

60  Jalandhar Pradhan Table 3.3 Percentage Distribution of Ederly Respondents by Selected SocioEconomic and Demographic Characteristics Covariates Sex Male Female Age of the respondents 60–65 years 66–70 years 70+ years Marital status Currently married Widowed/divorced or separated Never married Education status of respondents No formal education Up to Primary Up to Secondary Higher Secondary and above Working status Own farming Agricultural labour Small business Others Not working Family type Single Nuclear Joint State of economic dependence Self-earning Dependent on others Living with spouse Yes No Risk behaviours 1 (Smoking of Tobacco) Yes No Risk behaviours 2 (Consumption of Alcohol) Yes No

%

N

50.7 49.3

189 184

64.1 16.6 19.3

239 62 72

52.8 43.2 4.0

197 161 15

57.4 16.4 18.0 8.3

214 61 67 31

15.3 7.0 5.9 21.4 50.4

57 26 22 80 188

4.6 23.6 71.8

17 88 268

49.3 50.7

184 189

52.3 47.7

195 178

43.7 56.3

163 210

81.5 18.5

304 69 (Continued)

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  61 Table 3.3 Continued Covariates Risk behaviours 3 (Chewing of Tobacco or other intoxicants) Yes No Type of house Kachha Semi Pucca Pucca Separate room for cooking Yes No Total (N)

%

N

46.1 53.9

172 201

30.6 33.5 35.9

114 125 134

50.9 49.1 100.0

190 183 373

Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data.

population has separate rooms for cooking while 49 per cent has no such facility. If we consider the type of house where the respondents are staying, results suggest that around 36 per cent of them stay in pucca houses, 34 per cent in semi pucca houses and 31 per cent in kachha houses. Since a significant number of the sample respondents are addicted to consumption of alcohol (81.5%) and majority of them are also involved in smoking tobacco (43.7%), the aged population is more prone to high-risk behaviour.

Morbidity profile by gender Table 3.4 shows the prevalence of diseases among the male and female elderly. It shows that majority of respondents suffer from arthritis (37%) followed by cataract (35.4%) and diabetes (30%). Around 46 per cent and 29 per cent of tribal women and men, respectively, are suffering from arthritis. Similarly, asthma is more common among females (26%) than males (12%). No female respondent is suffering from cancer and dementia while in case of male respondents, it is 0.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively. In addition, dementia, COPD, depression, osteoporosis, paralysis, and renal or urinary tract infection is more among male elderly as compared to their female counterparts. However, the prevalence of liver illness and loss of natural teeth shows a similar pattern with marginal difference between male and female. The prevalence of morbidity among the sample respondents has been depicted by age and sex (Figure 3.1). Multi-morbidity is higher among male elderly (67.7%) as compared to the female (65.2%). Similarly, 27.7 per cent females are suffering from one type of morbidity while it is 22.8 per cent in case of males. However, 9.5 per cent males and 7.1 per cent females are free from any kind of illness. Morbidity prevalence by different age groups shows that respondents from higher age groups are associated with more comorbid conditions as three or more morbidities (89%) and multi-morbidity

62  Jalandhar Pradhan Table 3.4 Percentage of Respondents Having Selected Morbidities by Gender Morbidities

Male (N = 189) Female (N = 184) Total (373)

Arthritis Cerebral-embolism, stroke or Thrombosis Heart disease Diabetes Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Asthma Depression High blood pressure Alzheimer’s disease Cancer Dementia Liver or gall bladder illness Osteoporosis Renal or urinary tract infection Cataract Loss of all natural teeth Accidental injury (in the last one year) Injury due to fall (in the last one year) Skin disease Paralysis

28.6 1.1

45.7 1.6

37.0 1.3

0.5 20.6 14.8

2.2 21.2 9.2

1.3 20.9 12.1

12.2 19.6 17.5 0.0 0.5 2.6 0.5 18.0 20.6 34.9 8.5 11.1

26.1 15.2 18.5 2.2 0.0 0.0 0.5 12.0 13.6 35.9 8.7 2.2

19.0 17.4 18.0 1.1 0.3 1.3 0.5 15.0 17.2 35.4 8.6 6.7

20.1

8.2

14.2

15.9 1.1

17.9 0.5

16.9 0.8

Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data.

Figure 3.1 Prevalence of morbidities by sex and age among tribal elderly. Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data.

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  63 (96%) are higher in the age group of 70+ years as compared to other age groups. Population in the age group of 60–65 mostly suffer from multimorbidity (53.6%) followed by only one morbidity (34.3%), two morbidities (30.5%) and three or more morbidities (23%). In total only 8.3 per cent elderly are free from prevalence of any kind of disease.

Disability and psychological health status Table 3.5 indicates the status of psychological wellbeing, disability, ADL and IADL conditions of the respondents. Physical disability is more common among males (72%), while psychological distress is more among females (30%). In terms of functionality reported by the respondents with respect to ADL, results indicate that males face higher ADL-related disabilities (80.4%). The IADL score indicates that females are more prone to the IADL-related disabilities (25.5%) as compared to males (24.9%).

Socio-economic and demographic differentials in multimorbidity, disability and psychological distress Table 3.6 represents the socio-economic and demographic differentials in multi-morbidity, physical disabilities, and psychological distress. Multimorbidity is higher among males (67.7%) as compared to their female counterparts (65.2%). Physical disability is more common among males (72%) while psychological distress (30%), ADL (23%) and IADL (25.5%) are mostly found in case of female respondents. Age-wise analysis reveals that respondents above the age group of 70 are more prone to diseases and disabilities as compared to any other age groups. While only 10 per cent Table 3.5 Percentage of Respondents Having Deformity and Psychological Distress by Sex Deformity and psychological distress Physical disability status Not disabled Disabled Psychological distress No distress Distress ADL (disability)* Functional Not functional IADL (disability)** Good Bad

Male (N = 189) Female (N = 184)

Total (373)

28.0 72.0

31.0 69.0

29.5 70.5

83.1 16.9

70.1 29.9

76.7 23.3

80.4 19.6

77.2 22.8

78.8 21.2

75.1 24.9

74.5 25.5

74.8 25.2

Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data. Note: * Activities of daily living status; **Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

Sex Male Female Age of the respondents 60–65 years 66–70 years 70+ years Marital status Currently married Widowed/divorced or Separated/ Never married Education status of respondents No formal education Literate Working status Currently working Not working Family type Single/nuclear Joint State of economic dependence Self-earning Dependent on others Living with spouse Yes No

Covariates

72.0 69.0 59.0 82.3 98.6 64.0 77.8 79.0 59.1 56.2 84.6 61.0 74.3 58.2 82.5 64.1 77.5

67.7 65.2 53.6 82.3 95.8 56.9 77.3 74.3 56.0 51.9 80.9 53.3 71.6 54.3 78.3 56.4 77.5

14.9 32.6

7.6 38.6

10.5 28.4

10.8 35.6

32.2 11.3

14.7 33.0

10.0 32.3 59.7

16.9 29.9

8.2 35.4

2.2 39.7

1.0 29.1

1.1 41.0

33.2 5.0

8.6 35.2

1.7 35.5 73.6

19.6 22.8

8.7 43.3

0.0 49.7

1.0 34.7

0.5 49.5

43.0 1.3

8.6 43.8

0.4 45.2 90.3

24.9 25.5

195 178

184 189

105 268

185 188

214 159

197 176

239 62 72

189 184

Multi-morbidity* Any physical Psychological ADL IADL N disability distress (disability)** (disability)***

Table 3.6 Percentage of Respondents Having Multi-Morbidity, Physical Disability, Psychological Distress, and Functional Disability (ADL and IADL) by selected Socio-Economic Characteristics

64  Jalandhar Pradhan

72.4 69.0 75.0 50.7 73.8 67.7 84.2 73.6 56.0 63.2 78.1 70.5

68.1 65.2 70.7 47.8 73.3 60.7 79.8 72.0 50.0 56.8 76.5 66.5

14.7 32.2 23.3

41.2 20.8 10.4

25.6 21.4

24.3 18.8

17.8 27.6

12.1 30.6 21.2

33.3 24.0 8.2

22.7 19.9

24.0 8.7

23.3 19.5

Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data. Note: *Two or more morbidities, ** Activities of daily living status and ***Instrumental Activities of daily living

Risk behaviours 1 (smoking of Tobacco) Yes No Risk behaviours 2 (Consumption of Alcohol) Yes No Risk behaviours 3 (chewing of Tobacco or other intoxicants) Yes No Type of house Kachha Semi Pucca Pucca Separate room for cooking Yes No Total 12.6 38.3 25.2

46.5 24.8 7.5

27.9 22.9

29.6 5.8

27.0 23.8

190 183 373

114 125 134

172 201

304 69

163 210

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  65

66  Jalandhar Pradhan elderly are suffering from psychological distress in the age group of 60–65, it is around 60 per cent for the age group of 70+ years. Similarly, a notable portion of the elderly has functional disabilities, both ADL (73.6%) and IADL (90.3%), in the age group of 70+ years. Multi-morbidity is higher among widowed/separated women as compared to those who are currently married. Further, physical disability (78%) and psychological distress (33%) are also more common among these widowed women. Education plays an important role in reducing diseases and disabilities. The results show that multi-morbidity is less among literate people (56%) as compared to the illiterate (74.3%). Similarly, the functional disabilities (33.2% and 43% for ADL and IADL, respectively) are more among those who are illiterate as compared to the literate (5% and 1.3% for ADL and IADL, respectively). Physical and psychological disabilities are less among those who are currently working (56.2% and 10.8%, respectively) as compared to those who are not working (84.6% and 35.6%, respectively). In terms of functional disabilities, a larger proportion of respondents who are not working tend to suffer more as compared to their counterparts. Psychological distress is more in joint families (28.4%) as compared to the nuclear families (10.5%). Additionally, multi-morbidity (71.6%) and physical disabilities (74.3%) are also higher among those respondents who belong to joint families. Only 1 per cent of respondents from nuclear families have any kind of functional disabilities as compared to those from joint families (29.1% for ADL and 34.7% for IADL). The state of economic dependence reflects that those who have self-earning capacity are less prone to multi-morbidity (54.3%) as compared to those who depend upon others (78.3%). Further, both physical disability and psychological stress are more among the respondents who depend on others to meet their economic needs. Around 50 per cent of dependent people have a form of IADL disability while it is zero among the self-earning population. Similarly, those respondents who are living with their spouse are less prone to any kind of psychological, physical and functional disabilities. Risk behaviour of the respondents shows that those who are consuming alcohol or any other type of tobacco are associated with higher multimorbidity, more physical and functional disabilities while those who are less addicted to these products are suffering less from any kind of diseases and disabilities. The respondents who do not smoke tobacco suffer more from psychological stress (27.6%) as compared to those who smoke less (17.8%). Around 74 per cent of the sample who chew tobacco suffer from multi-morbidity and 73.8% suffer from physical disabilities. The types of houses also determine the severity of diseases and disabilities. Those respondents with pucca houses have less chances of getting ill health as compared to those who have kachha and semi-pucca houses. Multi-morbidity is more among the people with kachha houses (79.8%) followed by semi-pucca (72%) and pucca houses (50%).

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  67

Associating morbidity to disability and psychological distress The association of morbidity with any physical and psychological disability has been analysed using the chi-square test (Table 3.7). The result shows that both physical disability and psychological distress are significantly associated with the number of morbidities reported. From the people having three or more morbidities, 87.2 per cent are associated with physical disability, and 45.6 per cent are associated with psychological distress. Similarly, those who have no morbidity prevalence are also not associated with any kind of psychological distress and IADL disability. Logistic regression analysis was applied to measure the adjusted effect of multi-morbidity on disability, psychological distress and functional disability (both ADL and IADL), by controlling other demographic and socioeconomic covariates (family type, sex, working status, state of economic independence, marital status, age, education, type of house, availability of separate room for kitchen, and life-style indicators like smoking, alcohol consumption, chewing tobacco or other intoxicants). The result shows that multi-morbidity is significantly associated with physical disability, psychological distress and functional disability. The probability of having physical disability is 1.87 times more among those who have multi-morbidity, as compared to the reference category.  Similarly, the chance of having ADL disability is 4.34 times higher among those who have multi-morbidity as compared to those who do not have multi-morbidity. IADL disability is 9.94 times higher among the tribal elderly having multi-morbidity as compared to those who do not have multi-morbidity. Similarly, psychological distress was also 3.25 times higher among the elderly having multiple morbidities as compared to those without any multi-morbidity. All the results are statistically significant at 1 per cent level.

Discussion and conclusion This study explores the prevalence of morbidity and its association with psychological distress and disability among tribal elderly in Odisha, India. Various studies have been conducted on multi-morbidity, physical functioning, disability and psychological distress. However only some limited studies have given attention to specific disorders causing disability and psychological distress among older adults. A comprehensive understanding of morbidity, disability and psychological distress requires linking functional disability to the underlying diseases which cause them. Morbidities by gender indicate that both females and males have similar patterns of morbidities except a few variations. Our study revealed that females were more prone to diseases such as arthritis and asthma, whereas depression, dementia, osteoporosis and renal or urinary tract infection are more common among males. This concurs with a similar study conducted by

***significant at 1% level Source: Author’s own calculation from survey data.

43.0

3.2 2.1

87.2

42.839***

ADL disability

12.1

41.9 55.3

No morbidity Only one morbidity Only two morbidities Three or more morbidities

χ2

68.7

Physical disability

Number of Morbidities 73.604***

χ2

Table 3.7 Associating Morbidity to Disability and Psychological Distress

53.7

11.1

0.0 3.2

IADL disability 109.187***

χ2

45.6

11.1

0.0 8.5

Psychological distress

70.702***

χ2

68  Jalandhar Pradhan

Ageing, morbidity and psychological distress  69 Table 3.8 Logistic Regression Analysis Associating Multi-Morbidity to Disability and Psychological Distress Multi-morbidity

Physical ADL IADL Psychological disability§ disability§ disability§ distress§ (Odds (Odds Ratio) (Odds Ratio) (Odds Ratio) Ratio)

Not having multimorbidity ® Having multi-morbidity

1.000

1.000

1.000

1.000

1.873***

4.434***

9.940***

3.252***

*** significant at 1% level; ® Reference group § Adjusted for age, sex, marital status, education, working status, family type, state of economic independence, lifestyle indicators (smoking of tobacco, drinking of alcohol, chewing of tobacco or other intoxicants), type of house and availability of separate room for cooking. Source: Authors own calculation from survey data.

Jadhav et al. (2012). Our results indicate a positive association of co-morbid medical conditions with physical disability and psychological distress. The prevalence of multi-morbidity is higher among male elderly (67.7%) as compared to the females (65.2%). Findings by NSSO (2004) and Pandey (2011) have indicated that elderly males experience more physical disability than their female counterparts. Other studies have also revealed that increasing age is positively associated with functional disability in terms of ADL and IADL (Guralnik and Simonsick, 1993; Andrade, 2010). Functional disability, increasing age and gender are all contributory factors for higher levels of morbidity and mortality among elderly, as suggested by Marengoni et al. (2011). Polenick et al. (2020) and Choi et al. (2016) have observed that due to improved life-expectancy, elderly people spend a notable duration of their lives with functional difficulty. It is concluded thus that morbidity is closely associated with disability and psychological distress among the tribal elderly. Prevalence of morbidity, disability and psychological distress increases with increase in age. Since there is a significant association between morbidity, psychological distress and disability, health-planning should consider all the three aspects together when policies are framed at both micro and macro levels. Our study has highlighted that females and elderly males lying in the age bracket of 70 and above are more prone to functional disabilities and psychological distress. This segment of population should be given due consideration in any geriatric policy formulation. This will serve as an enabler for the tribal population to be a part of the mainstream healthcare system, which can further lead to proper health care delivery to the elderly population whose disabilities and wellness play a major role in determining the health and wellbeing of the society in general. However, this study is only limited to one district of Odisha. So, generalising the results of the study needs further investigation to get better ideas regarding the associations of these three aspects.

70  Jalandhar Pradhan

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72  Jalandhar Pradhan Vancampfort, Davy et al. 2017. “Chronic physical conditions, multimorbidity and physical activity across 46 low- and middle-income countries”. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1): 6. doi:10.1186/ s12966-017-0463-5. Villa, Patricia et al. 2016. “Functional status and quality of life in elderly intensive care unit survivors”. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(3): 536–542. Wig, N. N. and S. K. Verma 1973. “PGI health questionnaire N-1: A simple neuroticism scale”. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 15(1): 80–88. World Health Organization. 1994. “Health care for the elderly: A manual for primary health care workers”. https​:/​/ap​​ps​.wh​​o​.int​​/iris​​/hand​​le​/10​​​665​/1​​19522​ Xu, Xiaolin, G. D. Mishra and M. Jones 2017. “Evidence on multimorbidity from definition to intervention: An overview of systematic reviews”. Ageing Research Reviews, 37: 53–68. doi:10.1016/j.arr.2017.05.003.

4

Beliefs on etiology and healing practices of mental illness among tribes in Eastern India Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak

Cultural disparity has always affected the Indian healthcare system. Varied and diverse modern and traditional healers are found in each corner of the country to alleviate mental illness. Folk healers and religious healers are the predominant choices for a majority of the population. Being home to the largest tribal population of the world, India with 705 tribal groups has a greater vulnerability to mental health issues for a variety of reasons. In the case of tribal society, magico-religious practices are frequently resorted to treat various illnesses including mental illness. They have traditional beliefs, customs and practices to deal with mental illnesses which have not been explored much. Attributing supernatural powers as the prevalent aetiology because of a strong belief in those forces in their culture, lack of awareness about mental illnesses, inaccessible, inadequate or no modern medical facilities, could be some of the major barriers among the tribal populace that hinders them from seeking healthcare from mainstream healthcare centres. Mental health problems of Indian tribal people have not been a major area of study. Among people who seek modern healthcare systems, their cultural settings do not get reflected in the priority list of healthcare providers. Despite several positive aspects of their culture, tribal problems get ignored or are never discussed in a clinical setting. Possibly, understanding and exploring the positive attributes of their habitation and culture could help add value to modern treatment. For example, the abundance of nature in sync with the tribal lifestyle certainly provides a favourable atmosphere for an early cure. In recent years, the psychiatric community has brought the concept called “green space” in treatment practice. Green space can be understood in terms of grass, herbs and other kinds of vegetation stretches on a geographical area. Medical and social sciences, especially, the psychology stream has tried to enquire the positive effects of green space on mental health across habitat and age group (Engemann et al., 2019; Barton & Rogerson, 2017; Astell-Burt & Feng, 2019). Researchers and practitioners often overlook such a vital aspect of tribal living. Hence, keeping in view the optimal cultural dynamics, the current chapter deals with three important issues: (i) to explore and describe the tribal people’s beliefs on aetiology of mental illness; (ii) to examine the prevalent healing preferences and DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-4

74  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak practices for mental illness among tribal populations and (iii) to suggest how the favourable cultural setting of tribal can help in addressing mental illnesses for a healthy lifestyle. The present study followed methods from “medical anthropology” which is highly acknowledged in the field of mental health research. Medical anthropology is the study of health and disease within a cultural context. This method allows the researchers to examine the dominance of culture on the causation of illness and health-seeking behaviour of individuals in a society and their environment, by understanding the interrelationship between humans and other species. It is a discipline concerned with biological and socio-cultural aspects of human behaviour, their influence on health and disease in a particular society over a period of time. A purposive sampling of patients visiting a modern healthcare practice after many rounds of unsuccessful visits to the magico-religious practitioners was considered for the current study. The key informants of the study are persons with mental illness or their caregivers (mostly close family members) belonging to tribal communities (N = 50) who are currently attending tertiary health care. Observations and interviews were the primary methods to collect information from the sample over a period of 10 months. Each patient was interviewed more than thrice during the period of data collection. Qualitative information obtained from the patients were then analysed based on two primary themes, i.e., beliefs on aetiology and beliefs on healing practices. Supernatural causes guide the belief system of the tribal in explaining mental illness which is often reinforced by the folk/traditional/ religious healers. The easy availability of those healers in the regions makes the tribal people resort to the traditional healing system. Hence, training the traditional healers to understand the scientific basis of illnesses could prove beneficial for the people living in the tribal regions. At the end, every cultural setting has some positive feature and tribal ecology is no exception. With abundant green space, it becomes much easier to manage mental illness as opposed to the urban culture where architects are busy in creating artificial green space to ensure peace and tranquillity of mind. American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2019) defines mental illnesses as health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behaviour (or a combination of these). Mental illness is associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work and family activities. Cultural factors are indispensable in the case of mental illness. Individual learning, upbringing, thought processes, perception and judgement are culturally bounded. Therefore, a belief system on the causal explanation of mental illness tends to differ from the medical, or the biomedical or even more comprehensive bio-psychosocial model. Krammer et al. (2002) in their approach clearly explained that development and behaviour are products of interaction with the immediate environment. This immediate environment comprises of groups and subgroups which shape individual behaviour. The major components of immediate environment include labels such as race, ethnicity,

Beliefs and practice—East Indian Tribes  75 religious beliefs, the peer group and the gender division. These components are processed through their roles, expression of ideas, for e.g. in daily affairs, power structures, the social status they belong to and the age criteria. These labels are the driving force of an individual’s action, judgement, and the decision they undertake. Therefore, the heterogeneity of cultural practices is a significant determinant in diagnosing any mental disorder.

Cross-cultural explanation of mental illness In the past, understanding natural phenomena through observation led to the formulation of a number of hypotheses which were subsequently put to test. Some explanations proved correct while others proved false through scientific investigation. Illness causation also followed the same tradition, and in the primitive societies, the supernatural causation is one of the prevalent explanatory models. Even today, Indians in general mostly attribute mental illnesses to supernatural phenomena like ghosts, black magic, past deeds, and witchcraft (Nambi et al., 2002; Bannerjee & Roy, 1998; Balhara & Yadav, 2012; Ram et al., 2016; Avasthi et al., 2013). Other explanations echoed through studies were, excessive masturbation, vaginal secretion and sexual dysfunction (Kishore et al., 2011; Vishwanathan et al., 2014; Thangadurai et al., 2014). The lack of recognition of the medical model in case of mental illness among people is due to the lack of awareness about mental illness, in short predominance of mental health illiteracy. A study conducted by Ogorchukwu et al. (2016) in South India on late adolescents’ mental health literacy found that around 29% knew about Common Mental Disorder (CMD) and only 1.31% had any idea of psychosis. Another study conducted by Gaiha et al. (2014) in five states of India showed an awareness of psychosis by only 6% of the respondents. Thus, such illiteracy on mental illness compels families as well as the society to conceal cases of mental illness. In simpler terms, people have a stigmatised attitude towards mental illness. The word “stigma” in the context of mental illness comprises of rejection of the patient and the family, a sense of shame felt by the family of the patient and exclusion of the person with mental illness by adverse social judgement by the community members (Weiss & Ramakrishna, 2006; Venkatesh et al., 2015). Variations in stigma can be seen across cultures and there are studies which have explained such variations. The presence of stigma is more where non-medical models on mental illness dominate over the medical model. Abdullah and Brown (2011), through their study presented a variation in stigma across cultures. Chinese Americans were more stigmatised than European Americans when diagnosed with schizophrenia. Other studies also corroborated with this finding—people with African origin and Africans who migrated to the United States were more stigmatised than European Americans, Europeans and Latin origin people (Adewuya & Makanjuola, 2008; Carpenter-Song et al., 2010; Bailey et al., 2011; Fosu, 1995).

76  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak The manifestation of a non-medical explanation, rejection of illness and stating it as something else leads to treatment practices that are often unscientific and involves indigenous healing techniques. Flooded with the notion of stigma, people secretly take their family members or friends and acquaintances, to faith healers or traditional healers, which may not guarantee successful intervention, but enjoys mass appeal. The prominent explanation for such tendency lies in their ignorance, lack of understanding of mental illness and its scientific treatment (Sorsdahl et al., 2010; Agara et al., 2008; Anger Mayer et al., 2009; Kulhara et al., 2000). The domination of such practices is also due to the non-availability of medical facilities. Khoury et al. (2012) in their article “Explanatory Model and Mental Health Treatment: Is Vodou an Obstacle to Psychiatric Treatment in Rural Haiti?” stressed that the non-availability of adequate medical and psychiatric facilities in the vicinity push people to take treatment from Vodou priests. Thus, the lack of psychiatric facilities is an impediment in achieving the biopsychosocial model of understanding illness. The study also pointed out the lack of trust in biomedical and psycho-social models for a favourable outcome. Such tendencies develop due to regular treatment from a non-medical practitioner. Ghanaian researcher Fosu (1995) put up the same results where women with supernatural explanatory models relied less on medical treatment than on traditional practitioners or faith healers. Such attitude and perception remain consistent in other parts of the world too. Fung and Wong (2007) worked with five groups of Asian immigrants who showed variation in the explanatory model within themselves and with the American population and showed resistance to the biomedical treatment for mental illness. The obstruction for reliability and faith in scientific treatment can be resolved when practitioners and patients or treatment-seekers share the same cultural background. Practitioners can give their logic incorporating explanations originating from the native culture, thus improving the chances of acceptance of scientific treatment (Bhugra, 2006; Callan & Littlewood, 1998; Murdock et al., 1978a).

Theoretical framework The Explanatory Model (EM) is used as the theoretical framework here. EM helps to understand the importance of culture and the cultural meaning of mental illness. The concept of “EM” was introduced by Arthur Kleinman which is used to examine the health and sickness from a medical anthropological perspective (Kleinman, 1981). EM indicates “notions about an episode of sickness and its treatment that are employed by all those engaged in the clinical process” (Kleinman, 1981; Lloyd et al., 1998). It is very important to know a person’s own ideas about his/her illness. This perspective helps us to determine the local concept of mental illness, how a person constructs his experiences about his or others’ illness and help-seeking behaviour for a particular illness. It is especially more relevant when the exact or

Beliefs and practice—East Indian Tribes  77 probable causes of the illness is less known and does not have any significant visibility either to the public, or to the individual himself or to the clinician. Mental illnesses are often difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to treat as the physical symptoms are absent in the patient. Such a phenomenon gives rise to the non-acceptance of illness by the patient thus letting the symptoms worsen with time just to affect the body even after a clinical diagnosis by the physician. These issues motivated us to understand mental illness from a cultural explanation perspective.

Data and methodology With an aim to explore the prevalent beliefs related to mental illness present in the tribal communities, we have observed and interacted with 50 patients and/or caregivers undergoing psychiatric treatment/attending to the patients during the study period in the Department of Psychiatry, Ispat General Hospital (IGH), Rourkela, in the state of Odisha. IGH is a multispecialty hospital in Rourkela city in the Sundargarh district of Odisha. In Sundergarh district, tribal population holds more than 50 per cent of the total population i.e. 50.75 per cent (Sundargarh District Census, 2012). The observations were made during June 2015 and May 2016. During this period, 1,920 patients visited the Outpatient Department (OPD) and among them 369 patients were from the tribal community. The tribal patients who were admitted in the Inpatient Department (IPD) were included in the study for a long-term observation, aged 18 and above and under remission with proper medication. Patients refusing to give consent, unable to talk and persons with any developmental disorder were excluded from the study. Apart from behavioural observation, to collect information from the patients, a semi-structured interview schedule following “Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC)” was used for patients and their family members or caregivers. The interview schedule, an integration of epidemiological and anthropological research methods, and extensively used for the mixed-method study (Weiss, 1997), was later translated into local language for better understanding. Some of the information gathered was quantified and qualitative information was transcribed for further analysis. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse the data. Prior approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee Review Board of IGH Rourkela, and Institute Ethical Committee, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.

Results Socio-demographic information We began with descriptive information about the patients listed in Table 4.1, showing the frequency counts and percentage of distribution for gender, age and marital status of the respondents (people with mental illness)—50 cases

78  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak Table 4.1 Demographic Information of the Respondents (Patients with Mental Illness) Frequency (N = 50) Percentage (%) Gender Age Age group

Marital status Family type (N = 50)

Male Female Mean Range Under 20 21–40 41–60 Above 61 Married Unmarried Joint Nuclear

28 22 36.34 54 (18–72) 4 28 17 1 32 18 9 41

56 44 08 56 34 02 64 36 18 82

Source: Authors’ own classification.

with mental illness from the tribal population. The representation of male and female patients is 28 (56%) and 22 (44%), respectively. The age of the patients with mental illness ranged from 18–72 with the mean age of the sample being 36.34. Majority of the sample (56%) belongs to the age group of 21–40. Regarding marital status, 64 per cent respondents with mental illness are married while 36 per cent respondents with mental illness are unmarried. The age of those unmarried ranged from 18 to 40. Regarding family type, most of the families (82%) belonged to nuclear families, whereas only a few families (18%) belonged to the joint family system. Cause of mental illness: beliefs on supernatural etiology To explore the causes of mental illness among the tribal people, we followed Maurice Eisenbruch’s (1990) “classification of natural and supernatural causes of mental distress.” From a sample of 50 patients, we found 20 patients who believe in supernatural aetiology, listed in Table 4.2. In other words, 40per cent patients or relatives of the patients with a mental illness believe in some supernatural causation. Eisenbruch (1990) has categorised four types of the aetiology of mental illness: (i) Western physiological, (ii) non-Western physiological, (iii) stress and (iv) supernatural. In our study, we observed that 40 per cent of the patients believed in the supernatural causation of mental illness, listed in Table 4.2. A detailed description of the supernatural causes is presented in Figure 4.1. The supernatural beliefs on aetiology of mental illness have been categorised into three subgroups: (i) mystical, (ii) animistic and (iii) magical

Beliefs and practice—East Indian Tribes  79 Table 4.2 Causal Explanation of Mental Illness based on Supernatural Etiology Supernatural

(Mystical) Violation of social rules (Animistic) Dangerous unprovoked spirit (Mystical) Seeing, hearing or feeling something ominous (Animistic) Someone did sorcery (Mystical) Bad or ominous sensations (Mystical) Violation of birth control (Mystical) Effect of previous life

N= 50

%

20

40

07 04 03

14 08 06

02 02 01 01

04 04 02 02

Source: Authors’ own classification.

Sexual relationship with others

Social Rules Violation Ominous Sensation

SUPERNATURAL

Dangerous Unprovoked Spirit

Having non-veg on auspicious days Not performing daily rituals at home Mastrubation

Sorcery

By the neighbour due to previous enemity

Adoption of Birth Control Methods

Abortion of First Conceived

Effect of Previous life

Figure 4.1 Perceived supernatural etiology among the respondents. Source: Authors’ own classification.

based on the Maurice Eisenbruch’s theory (1990). Mystical aetiology refers to the violation of social rules (sexual relationships with others, having nonvegetarian food on auspicious days, not performing daily rituals at home and doing masturbation), ominous sensation, adoption of birth control and effect of previous life. Animistic aetiology of mental illness comprises of dangerous unprovoked spirit and sorcery as the supernatural causes of mental illness. Magical explanations form a third small subgroup between the mystical and animistic subgroups where someone deliberately casts a spell. We did not find any such explanations from the patients studied here. In Figure 4.1, it is evident that violation of social rules, sexual relationship

80  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak with multiple persons, having non-vegetarian food on auspicious days, not performing daily rituals and masturbation are the cause of mental illness perceived by the respondents. Likewise, dangerous unprovoked spirits, doing sorcery by the neighbour, abortion of the first conceived and effect of the previous life are also perceived as the aetiologies of mental illness. Healer and healing preferences Belief is the best therapy for healing. It may be a belief towards the doctor, or the medicine prescribed by the doctors, or any kind of therapy which the patient believes would work for him or her. Belief is a very important factor for healing of any kind of illness. Belief in the Indian society is highly associated with spiritual values and various ritual practices. Even, beliefs in supernatural aetiology have no effect irrespective of educational status (Adewuya & Makanjuola, 2008). The culture in which a person is brought up exerts tremendous pressure to believe something from childhood, and that also matters in healing preferences and healthcare support when the person becomes an adult. Findings from the sampled population directly reflect their personal experience of healing preferences regarding mental health problems. This section starts with the types of healers consulted by the patients after the onset of the illness. Data referring to Table 4.3 show the types of healers consulted by the patient with mental illness at the first instance after diagnosis of the illness. Nearly about one-third (36%) of the patients with mental illness consulted the traditional healers after the onset of the illness in the first instance. Traditional healers include all types of healing other than modern health care practice. It includes faith healers, religious healers, astrologers, temple healing and local herbal healers who follow non-scientific ways of healing practices. An equal percentage (36%) of patients also consulted medical professionals while 28% of the respondents did not take any action after

Table 4.3 Type of Healers Consulted by the Patients at the First Instance after Onset of the Illness Types of Healers Traditional healers

Medical professionals No action

Frequency (N=50) Percentage % Faith healers Religious Healers Astrologer Local Herbal Healers

Source: Authors’ own classification

18 10 05 02 01 18 14

36 20 10 04 02 36 28

Beliefs and practice—East Indian Tribes  81 the onset of illness on account of improper understanding about the illness, and the adversities it could bring to the social and economic conditions of the family. Supernatural aetiologies are the culturally accepted aetiology (Padmavati et al., 2005). In “supernatural cause” as a perceived aetiology, we found reasons like doing something forbidden (societal or cultural rules); dangerous unprovoked spirits; seeing, hearing, or feeling something ominous; someone doing sorcery or black magic; doing the wrong thing during pregnancy and the effect of previous lives. As mentioned by Kleinman (1981) supernatural causation theory is common to many cultures. Research related to this sphere has supporting evidences on supernatural aetiology of mental illness across the country (Kishore et al., 2011; Kate et al., 2012; Chakraborty et al., 2013; Saravanan et al., 2007, 2008; Thara et al., 1998). Kar (2008) found that 85.5 per cent patients with mental illness believe in supernatural aetiology of illness, with 29.8 per cent believing in planetary influences. Previous literature on healing preferences and practices confirm that traditional healing practices are prevalent and widely acceptable among all societies (Beiser et al., 2003; Farooqi, 2006; Dyck, 2004). Due to India’s cultural ascendancy, traditional healers are the first and foremost choice among two-thirds of patient with mental illness (Thara et al., 1998; Kar, 2008; Campion & Bhugra, 1997). Traditional healers have an upper hand in healing process due to easy availability and proximity with community people in most of the rural and tribal areas. As suggested by Thara et al. (1998) approximately, eight out of ten patients resort to religious places to get relief from mental illness. Mishra et al. (2011) found that 51 per cent of patients with mental illness sought help from traditional healers during the course of illness. Lahariya et al. (2010) observe that 69% of the respondents consult traditional healers after the onset of the illness. In our study, we found that 28 per cent of the respondents have not taken any action at the initial stage of mental illness because of lack of awareness about mental illness, which becomes a main reason for aggravation of the illness at a later stage. Existing literature shows that 52 per cent are not aware about the appropriate place for treatment and 26 per cent respondents report that symptoms will disappear on its own (Lahariya et al., 2010). In addition to the above discussion on etiology and healing preferences, treatment choices of the tribal however, are not restricted to one form, rather it varies with different combinations of (a) approaching a traditional healer, (b) a modern medical professional or (c) at times no action. Figure 4.2 represents the number of people with mental illness who believe in supernatural aetiology and the path of resorting to various healing choices. The supernatural belief aetiology guides which forms of treatment the tribal resort to. However, it is not fixed to one form of healing. They may approach either traditional healers or medical practitioners or may take no action. People who do not take any action may also visit either traditional healers or medical professionals or both. From our study, we have discovered these three

82  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak

Tradional Healers

Paent with Mental Illness

Supernatural Beliefs

Medical Professionals

No Acon

Figure 4.2 Beliefs on etiology and path of resorting to healing choices. Source: Authors’ own classification.

forms of healing to which the tribal resort to, based on their supernatural beliefs. It shows the patients’ unevenly distributed choice of treatment. The purpose of any healing method is to cure the patient. Patients approach healers who can cure them, but the variation of choices is restricted to their beliefs. Many of the patients even adopt both traditional healing as well as modern healing simultaneously for quick relief. Such a dynamic choice is termed “eclectic healing” (Biswal et al., 2017). Green space: a favourable tribal cultural setting When traditional healing practices are preferred for a variety of reasons, can we think of any other favourable settings that would help people with mental illness to recover from the disease? One such remedy to be considered is the tribal ecological habitat. From the perspective of treatment, a new stream of research has associated greenery and its impact on mental health. The psychiatric community has named this concept “green space” (a vegetation cover over a specific stretch of land in a particular geographical area with a canopy of trees, covered with grass, herbs and shrubs). In the modern world, a fast lifestyle has pushed human beings to earn on weekdays and rest on weekends. There is hardly an ounce of time that is spent by humans with nature, and people take holidays or break only when they start to suffer from mental illness. Urban planners and city administrators have tried to build “green space” for recreational and aesthetic purposes, and many studies favour green space for treating Common Mental Disorders (CMD) in urban settings of the developed world (Tagles & Idrovo, 2012; Shanahan et al., 2016; Maas et al., 2009). The positive benefits of “green space” are not only confined to CMD but also extended to severe psychiatric illness (Engemann et al., 2018). Few studies have also explored the size of green space and its impact on health. The higher the proportion of green space the more it favours mental

Beliefs and practice—East Indian Tribes  83 health (Alcock et al., 2014; Barton & Rogerson, 2017; Astell-Burt & Feng, 2019). However, there is gap in literature on the rural counterparts where in most cases, “green space” lay in abundance. So, what other factors make psychiatric illness immune to “green space” in rural settings is a question for further inquiry. Apart from it, few researchers have done cross-continent studies while taking age differences and how green space has neutralised the other life stressors and promoted mental health (Well & Evans, 2003; van den Berg et al., 2010). So, the perception of green space as a remedy for mental health across culture, gender, severity of illness etc., opens up scope for future researchers. Another scope of the mental health field along with “green space” which has not yet been explored is the natural environment, tribal society and their lifestyles. The tribal way of life is quite different from the contemporary urbanised world. People have shared beliefs, shared resources and community cohesiveness that strengthen mental wellbeing. Scholars like Turner (1984) and Fabrega and Silver (1973) have recognised the role of a shared belief system or common explanatory framework in the healing process. Kleinman has used this recognition of the role of cultural meaning in healing in his explanatory model. People suffering from various neurotic illnesses can heal themselves by learning from this inter-linkage among illness, cultural significance and suffering. Residing in tribal settings and teaching the tribal way of life can also open various possibilities for mental wellbeing. Such strategies can not only recognise the importance of tribal culture but also economically uplift the tribal communities. This can lift the importance of tribal culture from the frame of medical science and can limit encroachment on their land. The bi-directional process will create a new healing practice: preserve the ethnicity and biodiversity of the area (Tagles & Idrovo, 2012; Hartig et al., 2003; Schiffman, 1992).

Conclusion The current chapter attempted to explore and describe tribal people’s beliefs on aetiology of mental illness through an empirical investigation of patients in a clinical set-up wherein it was observed that supernatural aetiology plays a vital role, and it is deeply rooted in their culture. This perceived supernatural aetiology among the tribal population compels them to resort to traditional healers or taking no action after the onset of the illness. Empirical evidence suggests that socio-cultural milieu plays a major role in the formation of beliefs on aetiology and healing preferences of mental illness among the tribal and their family members. There is a need to recognise and incorporate the role of community, cultural meaning and explanatory model on the part of modern mental health services. Tribal culture and modern mental health services can learn from each other to build effective and valid mental health interventions. The only concern here is that, taking no action after the onset of mental illness

84  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak may be detrimental to the individual and the family members in the long run. More awareness is required in such cases. However, only creating awareness does not necessarily translate to consulting modern physicians. At the same time, we are not quite sure if the practices mentioned above are right or wrong. There is enough scope for further study prior to reaching any conclusion. We have also attempted to understand if the cultural settings of the tribal have anything more to offer in terms of healing. We found that one of the most beautiful natural healers which are abundantly present in a tribal setting may come to the rescue of many patients with mental illness. It is known as “Green Space.” Harnessing the positive impacts of “Green Space” could be a win–win situation for all. Green spaces not only drive physical fitness, but also, bring psychological wellbeing to the people with and without mental illness. Nature’s wilderness along with the tribal way of life can become a therapeutic tool to fight against psychological distress and associated mental disorders to ensure lasting peace and tranquillity. The social advantage of using “green space” as a therapy can prevent encroachment of land in the name of development and protect the environment. Tribal habitat may be considered as a method of natural healing and can be promoted as “Green Therapy” for various mental illnesses.

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88  Ramakrishna Biswal, Chittaranjan Subudhi and Abhijit Pathak https​:/​/ww​​w​.jfm​​pc​.co​​m​/art​​icle.​​asp​?i​​ssn​=2​​249​-4​​863​;y​​ear​=2​​015​;v​​olume​​=4​;is​​sue​ =3​​;spag​​e​=449​​;epag​​​e​=453​​;aula​​st​=Ve​​nkate​​sh. Viswanathan, S. et al. 2014. “Sexual function in women in rural Tamilnadu: Disease, dysfunction, distress and norms”. The National Medical Journal of India, 27(1): 4–8. Weiss, Mitchell G. 1997. “Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC): Framework for comparative study of illness”. Transcultural Psychiatry, 34(2): 235–263. doi:10.1177/136346159703400204. Weiss, Mitchell G. and Jayashree Ramakrishna 2006. “Stigma interventions and research for international health”. The Lancet, 367(9509): 536–538. doi:10.1016/ S0140-6736(06)68189-0. Wells, Nancy M. and Gary W. Evans 2003. “Nearby nature: A buffer of life stress among rural children”. Environment and Behavior, 35(3): 311–330. doi:10.117 7/0013916503035003001.

5

Educating tribal children Can information dissemination stimulate community participation? Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty

Development practitioners around the world posit that just like education is the key towards developing a knowledge economy, social awareness is the key towards building an information-based society. Learning, especially school learning from grades I to X are the most vital years for children to shape their physical as well as social and psychological health. However, the formal learning process in our schools is usually a cumbersome process, and for children to retain interest in studying is the most crucial aspect that sustains the entire process. Motivation thus becomes essential here because it gives strength to the path that leads the child towards the desired action and behaviour (Woolfolk, 2016). One of India’s flagship programmes relating to education is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) that aims at universalisation of elementary education in a decentralised participatory manner where students, teachers, parents and village leaders through School Management Committees (SMC) actively collaborate and contribute to achieve qualitative improvement in the learning outcomes for children under their supervision. Unfortunately, this positive policy proposition, like many of its coordinates, is unable to attract the large, marginalised sections of our country into its ambit. As reflected upon by Manzar (2017), “Why is it always the same group of people like daily-wage earners, Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities who remain excluded even today from all services, entitlements, and rights?” Reasons are multifarious, but one of the important reasons that can be addressed with correct intent is, lack of insight into the importance of information available among the primary stakeholders. As per Census of India 2011, Scheduled Tribes (STs) account for 8.6 per cent of the total population of the country. If we take that in numbers, it is huge—104.546 million. To continue with the data cited in Census 2011, the literacy rate of STs is 59 per cent compared to 73 per cent for all, a gap of 14 per cent. For the state of Odisha, it is 72.9 per cent for all, while it is 52.2 per cent for STs, with a gap of 20.7 per cent. It is undeniably a matter of concern and requires a thorough investigation and understanding right at the grassroots level to mitigate the adverse consequences. Article 21-A of the Constitution of India mandates that free and compulsory education is provided to all children in the age group of 6–14 as a fundamental right. DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-5

90  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) in India, which has been functional for almost 20 years, today holds cent per cent gross enrolment ratio at the elementary level for all school goers. However, dropout rate, as per data accessed from “ST Statistical Profile – at a glance” Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India is a high 62.4 per cent for grades I–X for ST students. It holds the second-highest number of children out-ofschool among South Asian countries, as per UNESCO 2015. Additionally, 30 per cent of the 15–29-year-old youth are not in any employment, education and training (OECD, 2017). If the government and civil society do not scale the problem and think to “re-engage the community for re-education,” it would not be far when the country will lose its demographic dividend. A common consensus in today’s digital age is that digital accessibility can reduce all kinds of inequalities that are now prevalent in the society. To increase transparency and better service delivery “Digital India” campaign continues its journey with this belief that it can bridge the “unbridgeable gap” between the “competent” and the “incompetent” relating to technology access and usage. As a result, on the one side, ICT has changed the outlook of the world for those who have the capacity to avail its usefulness, but on the other it is depleting the opportunities for those who fail to make use of its potentiality, thus making them digitally poor. And it is the vast marginalised sections or communities of our country who suffer the most due to lack of access to communication and information networks and services. Therefore, it is even more crucial that before community members participate in a decision making process, the primary stakeholders are provided with necessary information to be able to give a shape to their collective consciousness. But this participation in decision making, post receipt of apposite information is highly dependent on the community’s own thinking process based on locally appropriate norms, or social capital, the shared network or “local knowledge” (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011), or through some form of “tangible asset” (Vaidyanathan, 2019), namely goodwill, fellowship, value or empathy. To have a responsive publicwelfare system, individual self-awareness, i.e., conscious efforts to assess one’s strength, weakness and capability for logic is essential, and people must know the process of cultivating it. In that sense, access to mass media or exchange of ideas needs to happen in either a formal or informal way within (bonding) or between (bridging) their network (social capital) to satisfy their information needs (Grootaert & Van Bastelaer, 2002; Vaidyanathan, 2019). However, in reality, the involvement of ST participants in their children’s education is often seen to be at a standstill due to several reasons like “thinness” (Chattopadhyay & Bhattacharjee, 2011) of information on opportunities available in the public sphere, or lack of clarity on policy provisions, or psychosocial distance between parents and teachers, or poor literacy level among parents. Lack of awareness limits the parents’ capability to get involved and raise their voice in decision making (Banerjee et al., 2007). However, not all awareness and

Educating tribal children  91 information campaigns produce effective results. An intervention in the state of Uttar Pradesh revealed that only information campaigns had no impact on beneficiaries’ participation in school functioning (Banerjee et al., 2010).

Parental participation in school education among STs For any literate society, parental partcipation in the children’s learning process is a major accountabilty factor towards better learning outcomes. Students attending local government schools are largely found to be unsuitable for the 21st-century competitive job market, so usually, they are unemployed, and this experience disappoints the whole community. It is observed that lack of awareness and motivation among the students, parents and the community regarding the importance of education is one of the major hindrances towards quality education. Parents remain absent in Parents Teachers Association (PTA) or SMC meetings due to top–down hierarchical attitudinal problems, lack of respect for the values and beliefs of tribal people by the school administration, and inefficient ground-level accountability of the service providers. Considering all these, it is quite clear that if we do not find any solutions and create local success stories to inspire the parental generation, the consequences could be disastrous for the future generations. To understand the actual ground-level situation in poor, remote locations of the country, a baseline survey was conducted from July 2018 until December 2018, in five villages in an educationally backward block (EBB), in one of the tribal dominated districts of Odisha. The aim was to understand the level of parental participation in children’s education. Parents, students (grades VI–VIII), teachers, school-heads, community leaders, SMC members and government officers were surveyed on the educational status and the extent of parents’ involvement in elementary education. Given the importance of collecting contextual information from isolated indigenous communities, the study focused on the participant’s perspective, aided by several focus group discussions, face-to-face interviews and informal conversations with community members selected randomly, to gather the required data.

Findings from the baseline survey Children’s basic learning levels were assessed to find out their level of school knowledge. The students were asked to read two paragraphs, one in English and the other in Odia, and complete some basic maths from their textbooks of previous classes. Class VIII students were asked to read from their class VII textbooks, class VII students from class VI and Class VI students to read from Class V textbooks. For writing purposes, we asked them to write six lines about their village or school in both languages, or in the language of their choice. Additionally, class VI students were asked to read from their

92  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty class IV Multi-lingual Education (MLE) textbooks. For the Maths part, class VIII students were asked to solve basic airthmetic from their class V textbook. In English, more than 65 per cent could not read correctly and few were even unable to recognise the alphabets, 85 per cent were unable to explain the meaning of the sentences and 60 per cent of the class VIII students failed in doing basic maths. However, one significant result that was noticed was that almost 70 per cent of the students could read the MLE textbook and explain the meaning of the text written in their mother tongues. Parents and other community members were asked about their level of information regarding their children’s ability to complete tasks from their school textbooks. The response was vague and ambiguous, which informed us that the community members hardly knew anything about their children’s educational status. Data suggests that first-generation learners are the worst performers in schools because they do not get any support from their parents’ side. Several studies affirm that parental support is highly essential for learners from disadvantaged communities (Sheppard, 2009; OECD, 2014). Un-schooled parents also routinely fail to judge the lack of proper learning among their wards. Schools are not able to provide any value-addition to the disadvantaged children, as a result of which the community as a whole does not put education on its list of priorities. Sometimes their inability to provide any constructive inputs in their children’s learning makes them frustrated and disinterested in the whole process. They surmise that the school system leaves their children underprepared. The students are found unsuitable for the 21st-century competitive job market, so generally, they stay unemployed and this experience disappoints the whole community.

PTA, SMC and community participation It is understood that these community-based institutions take decisions based on local needs and oversee the effective use of the resources allocated for the schools. As per the available guidelines of School and Mass Education Department, Odisha, all elementary schools should have a PTA and an SMC. The Parents–teachers meeting (PTM) is the precursor to the SMC meeting, where the parents are supposed to discuss all issues related to their children’s studies with the teachers. Teachers are also supposed to inform the parents about all the available government beneficial schemes. In a two-hour meeting, the first 15 minutes should focus on “sensitizing the parents and local community members on steps being taken for learning enhancement of students” (The New Indian Express 2020). As noted by a popular Odia news channel, “key issues including attendance of students, their education and behaviour in school” were discussed in the June 2019 PTM held all throughout the state (Kundu, 2019). However, as informed by the teachers themselves the PTM is hardly ever attended by the parents, sometimes because of their physical inability, but mostly due to their lack of interest.

Educating tribal children  93 The SMC comprises parents (75%) from the PTA and the remaining 25 per cent are the elected members of the village, schoolteachers and either a student/s or a local well-known educationist. The SMC chairperson and the vice-chairperson are to be elected from among the parents, and the memberconvener is either the school headmaster or the senior-most teacher in his/ her absence. As per the guidelines, the SMC is empowered to look into all the developmental aspects of the school, including conducting meetings every month, ensuring attendance in meetings, agenda settings and follow-up. District Information System for Education (DISE) (2016–2017) data show that 76.88 per cent of all elementary level schools have SMCs, and more than 95.16 per cent of schools that have SMC have a joint bank account with the head-teacher and the SMC chairperson. The school development grant is a sensitive issue because public money is spent. The SMCs in the study area were observed to have four members from the ST community out of the total 12 members. In such a scenario, the SMC is usually controlled not by the community members who are largely illiterate, but by the other literate SMC members. In the study area, schools were reluctant to show the logbooks of the meetings, and some of them requested not to do a photocopy or take photographs of those. Pencils were mostly used in preparing the school registers, and nobody could explain why pens had not been used. SMC meetings were observed to be regularly held, but the participation rate was too low to claim its success. The full moon day of the month is fixed for SMC, a positive parameter as a reminder to parents. The school heads prepare the agenda items for discussion of the SMC meetings according to their interest, and no such serious matters are ever discussed where the parents could raise a question on their roles and responsibilities. The meetings are conducted very swiftly and smoothly with the tribal parent-members hardly getting a chance to contribute. Information accessed from the parents informed us that a majority of the parents were more concerned about their opportunity cost. They were concerned that, moro pila ti school jaiki kichi sikhi nahi (“my child has learnt nothing from going to school”). Parents responded that it would have been better if the child had been with them, rather than in school as they did not gain any essential knowledge from school and nor did they learn their menial job, so how could they survive? Yet, when asked about their children’s attendance in school, and how many times they contacted school authorities regarding their children’s learning and attendance, the answer was mostly evasive. Their own attendance in PTA meetings also elicited vague answers. The majority leave their homes in the morning for daily earnings and return in the evening, so what their children do the entire day they never bother to ask. Their illiteracy and ignorance about schools stop them from getting involved in their children’s learning process. Additionally, lack of information and support from the schools means that they stay out of SMC meetings even if some of them are members of that committee.

94  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty Most of the parents are daily-wage earners, and their children are firstgeneration learners, so they have no financial support to engage in SMC meetings by taking leave from their work. The teachers, generally from general castes, reside outside of the communities, earn a decent amount in comparison to the parents and enjoy a sense of superiority and authority. The school heads commented on parental apathy towards learning. Though the parents attend the PTA and SMC meetings, their contribution is usually minimal, and they give their thumb impressions or signature only for documentation purposes. Most of the time, students remain silent because they are afraid of triggering their teachers’ negative perception towards them, and similarly, parents are passive participants because being illiterate they lack the confidence of raising any questions. It was also observed that parents were practicing proxy attendance by selecting a representative among them to attend PTA or SMC meetings to maintain their presence. The community members are of the opinion that the responsibility of educating a child lies with the schoolteachers, but from the teacher’s perspective, students’ learning outcomes are directly linked to their home environment. Issues such as food, toilet, water and sports equipment are usually the focus of discussion and topics relating to learning, and learning outcomes remain untouched from both sides. The overall results showed that even with the availability of numerous educational welfare schemes designed for indigenous communities to assist for their upliftment, like residential schooling facility, mother-tongue-based multilingual pedagogy, free teaching-learning materials and school uniforms, scholarships, mid-day meal, the actual learning outcomes and school retention rates are in a truly alarming state. The low performance of the students at the elementary level in basic reading, writing and numeracy skills further established a direct link between lack of intergenerational supervision and student performance. The baseline findings indicated that there was a major drawback in information and understanding regarding the present state of children’s education among the parents, and a general lack of awareness and enthusiasm on what could be done to improve participation in SMC meetings. The majority of the parents do not know how the SMC functions and about their role in it for its improvement. People are mostly unaware and lack the motivation to collaborate with the parents who are members of SMC. Overall, at the local level, SMC participation and monitoring are negligible.

Information dissemination stimulating community participation Findings from the baseline survey and review of specific literature suggest that there is a significant gap in the level of knowledge, awareness and motivation for better decision making in local contexts. The questions that arise here are: Without proper know-how of the technicalities, how can

Educating tribal children  95 digitally-poor parents and community members access websites for true information and ask for better service delivery? How much awareness do they have regarding their entitlements and current status of service delivery? How can illiterate parents actively participate in pedagogical development of their children? How can they understand whether teaching-learning is happening in the real sense or not? Are they aware of where their child is positioned in the learning trajectory? Our objective was to study what works and how it works on the ground, so that illiterate parents can understand the dynamicity of the SMC. To answer these questions we tried to know whether grassroots participation could be achieved through an information disemination intervention programme that could enhance parents’ awareness and motivation levels. Can such awareness actually impact during SMC meetings? As an answer to this serious concern, we propose that no top–down or bottom–up communication strategy can work in such a diversified country like India. Instead, it needs a combination of culturally accepted alternative transactional communication media where both digital technology and the traditional mediums of communication are used for information dissemination. Using an experimental design, we analysed the immediate impact of an intervention programme. This chapter speaks about an information dissemination intervention programme called Information, Awareness, Motivation, and Action (IAMA) that was specifically designed and implemented in two villages of Sundargarh district of Odisha to address the issue. The village characteristics of the two selected villages were the same. We collected village-level data on the socio-economic profile, availability of government-aids for education and livelihood provisions, to ensure a complete picture of the community. In one village, we included those participants who were members of SMC. In the other village, we included those who were earlier members of SMC, but currently were out of it. Subsequent members were selected by means of purposive and snowball sampling methods. Banerjee et al. (2014) found that any individual or nodes in a network should be able to identify central individuals within their community through “gossip” without having knowledge of the structure of the network. We intentionally removed the administrative members from our treatment arm because we had observed from our initial survey that when these members were included in conversations, ordinary parents’ responses varied, and the tone of the meeting was inordinately changed. Connecting the community resources with learning activities always has a positive impact on children’s school results. To incentivise it, a school must have open communication between all parties (parents, family and community) in the learning environment (Epstein, 2001). Proper growth and development of a child is dependent not only on what happens during school hours but also beyond it, as this develops social and emotional skills, attitudes, and behaviours of students.

96  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty

Proposed model of internalisation process of information and decision making People’s participation demands a transparent and uninterrupted flow of quality information among the members to develop positive emotion and trust. Confidence usually enhances the negotiation capacity of people. As noted by World Bank (2015), “People are emotional actors whose decision making is influenced by contextual cues, local social networks, and social norms and shared mental model.” Thus, mobilising people belonging to disadvantaged sections of the society, when most of them are illiterate, impoverished and are rigid believers of a particular way of living that shapes their worldview and decision making, requires special care and attention. In 1969, Arnstein had proposed her model of “ladder of citizen participation” comprising eight rungs that spoke about citizen empowerment through citizen participation. It cites the various stages through which “power” can flow during decision making, starting from the first, “manipualtion” level to the eighth “citizen control,” provided there is appropriate “redistribution of power” among citizens which enables them to be a part of the decision making process (Arnstein, 1969). Our study proposes a similar model, a fourstage ladder with 12 subsets, considered from the participants’ perspective to allow people to participate actively in the decision making process with help from the “support menu.” Information is internalised through various “internal subsets of the mind” which are then related to the corresponding “outcome.” Figure 5.1 enumerates the internal course of how policy-related information goes through different stages to reach the outcome stage of attitude and behavioural change, leading to better decision making among participants. The model proposes that better decision making can ensue when diverse information is filtered and effectively packaged, and is made available to the community members through appropriate mediums for them to internalise it for future usage. This “information capital” then influences their awareness level, understanding, and subsequent course of action, which is also simultaneously evaluated for its effectiveness. In the long run, this can govern their thoughts and beliefs, leading to a higher level of understanding and confidence building, and where knowledge and information form the basis of their behaviour and outlook, ultimately resulting in habit formation.

The intervention programme In this section, we describe our information intervention programme initiated in two tribal villages. Data accessed from our baseline study informs that parents are not generally interested in getting involved in PTA/SMC meetings. They cynically informed us that, “nothing will change in the real sense, you come for your own interest, previously, others like you have come to our villages for telling us about several schemes; you have made

Educating tribal children  97

SUPPORT MENU

INTERNALIZATION PROCESS

OUTCOME

STAGE-1 INFORMATIZATION INFORMATION SOURCE

INFORMATIONAL SUPPORT

SUBSETS

INFORMATION FILTRATION

OUTCOME

NON PARTICIPATION

INFORMATION CAPITAL

STAGE-2 THOUGHTS & BELIEFS

AWARENESS

CONSULTATION

SUBSETS

INTEREST

OUTCOME

RECIPROCITY

OUTCOME

COOPERATION

DESIRE

STAGE-3 AFFECTIVE

ACTION

MONITORING

SUBSETS

PRELIMINARY ACTION EVALUATION

CONFIDENCE

STAGE-4 ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOUR

PRACTICE

COLLABORATION

SUBSETS

SUBSEQUENT ACTION EVALUATION

OUTCOME

PARTICIPATION

HABIT FORMATION

Figure 5.1 Proposed model for decision making at the local context. Source: Authors’ own classification.

98  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty

GOVT. SME DEPT. POLICY FORMULATION, IMPLEMENTATION, EVALUATION

STATE LEVEL

ADMINISTRATION

DISTRICT LEVEL

DISTRICT DPC/ DEO

ONE WAY TOP DOWN MULTI MEDIA APPROACH

IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING

BLOCK & CLUSTER BEO/ BRCC/ CRCC

BLOCK & CLUSTER LEVEL

VILLAGE LEVEL (SCHOOLS)

IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING

M I S S I N G

P A S S I V E

L I N K

INTERVENTION:

Two-way Transactional Media Approach Community Communication Tools: • Narrating local success stories by local agents and role models. • Formal content (schemes and benefits) conveyed through informal conversations. • Conducting community meetings (in small groups and in public gatherings). • Designing of posters, leaflets and pictures appropriate to the local context and disseminating those among the community members for information and awareness.

S M C

I A M A A P P R O A C H LOCAL TEACHER

SCHOOL HM IMPLEMENTATION

STUDENTS

PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION AT LOCAL LEVEL

S M C

LOCAL TEACHER ROLE MODEL EDUCATED YOUTHS AS FACILITATORS ACTIVE COLLABORATION (INFORMATION, AWARENESS, MOTIVATION, ACTION)

ICT4D

N E W

A C T I V E

I A M A A P P R O A C H

B R I D G I N G

TWO WAY TRANSACTIONAL MIX- MEDIA APPROACH

L I N K

EDUCATED YOUTHS

Figure 5.2 Intervention model—IAMA. Source: Authors’ own classification.

your progress, but our situation remains the same.” From such responses, it was clear that the intervention method was to be designed carefully built around their perspective so that positive feedback could be generated. Figure 5.2 enumerates the IAMA model that was implemented in two tribal villages of Odisha. Step one: selection of local agents for information dissemination The first step was to identify the local agents who were to be the mainstay of the whole information dissemination process. Few youths from the community, who were educated to at least a high school level, and were recommended by a majority of the villagers, were chosen to be the local agents. After several rounds of discussions with people in the villages, these key persons were identified. Schoolteachers interested to be part of the experiment were also included. These literate youth volunteers were then provided with information on which government websites to access for better information delivery to the tribal villagers on the schemes available for STs. The teacher volunteers were requested to supervise the community youth volunteers on proper information dissemination on the educational schemes, roles and

Educating tribal children  99 entitlements of the SMC members among the parents. Local success stories of tribals who had managed to get government jobs were conveyed to the parents by the youth volunteers, with the hope that it would motivate the students and their parents towards understanding the benefits of education. The first step thus consists of forming a team comprising of local youths, youth role-models, if they are available locally, and schoolteachers who are acceptable and appreciated by the community members. Step two: creating a platform for community engagement and participation A local platform for community engagement and participation is the next step in the process. Initially, it need not be one big meeting but could be divided into several meetings scheduled in the residence of any assenting parent, where the local agents discuss the matters in small groups. Later, a village-level meeting is held in an open area where all the agents together discuss the benefits with the attending parents and other inhabitants. The local schoolteacher strives to neutralise the parents’ preconceived notions relating to their children’s school studies. In these meetings, all queries raised by the villagers regarding welfare schemes, provisions, resources, SMC functioning and children’s actual learning status were answered by the teacher volunteers. Not only the information gap existing in the village about SMC functioning and students’ learning status were addressed by this, but the shared information was also expected to motivate the parents into taking positive action. This apparent cordial relationship creates a bond based on information sharing, which provides the illiterate and poor parents the muchneeded reliability factor, relating to receiving proper information that was missing from their previous encounters inside the school premises. One unique aspect that was observed during these meetings was that it was the mothers who were more concerned and anxious about their children’s education. The poor level of learning among their children was a matter of huge concern for them, leaving them dejected and disheartened, and at the same time angry and exasperated. To some extent, our communication intervention programme tried to address this by informing and persuading them on how to make best use of the available government resources and schemes. Step three: collaborating with local players for motivation and action The whole process that was discussed above required patience and perseverance from everyone involved in the process. The key here was to ensure that the local agents continued with their efforts even after the exit of our team. Proper collaboration was essential between all the local agents, and students, parents and villagers, for the IAMA model to bring positive results.

100  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty The role of teachers and youth volunteers plays a significant factor here. Useful information is filtered according to the needs of the community to form “information capital.” The requisite information is then disseminated to the villagers for their awareness, giving a clear picture of the entitlements of the beneficiaries regarding educational schemes, SMC functioning, roles and responsibilities, which aids towards developing their confidence level regarding their entitlements and utilisation of these privileges. Tribal communities usually trust their informal communication network than any formal ones. Face-to-face conversations on a daily basis with their peer group makes them aware of the various events happening in the wider world. Continuous conversation with the local agents keeps them informed about the various schemes and other aspects, which holds the prospect of gradually motivating them into taking the appropriate and desired action. In each of the villages, a network of key members was constituted to impart information regarding the educational schemes. Putting up posters or banners usually fails to bring any positive outcome as the villagers are mostly illiterate and do not have the capacity to comprehend text messages. They are far more comfortable in the home-based meeting arrangement. The objective remains the same, with the topic varying according to space, time and members included in it. One significant observation was that their poverty and illiteracy persuades them to enquire more on electricity, drinking water, road connectivity, Public Distribution Systems (PDS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and housing. Understandably, education takes a backseat. Persistence and determination become highly essential, and other local success stories of people who have made it through a good education provide the only succor to a difficult task. The onus then lies with the local teacher volunteer to channelise the parents’ preconceived notions relating to education into a positive way through individual counselling and small group meetings. The youth volunteers on the other side, work as facilitators in bringing updated information to the parents. Few inexpensive smartphones with data packs were provided to the volunteers, and with a bit of training on proper handling of websites, they were able to inform the parents about the schemes available for STs. Female members were especially observed to be enjoying their responsibility, as handling of new mobiles and digital media gave them confidence and assurance about their new role as information managers. As suggested by Lal (2017), “today the Internet is no longer a luxury for the rich and welloff. It is a universal facilitator of innovation.” It remains to be seen to what extent these youth volunteers can bring in innovation through accessibility to the Internet for better information dissemination among their brethren.

Conclusion In the absence of a large number of digitally capable individuals among the community members, it was found that interpersonal communication

Educating tribal children  101 helped to build relationships between the local teachers, literate youth volunteers and community members. The sense of “commonness and homogenisation” process established trust on both sides that further helped to change the perception, attitude and beliefs of the community that they are not passive participants in the process of education for their children. Trust deficit against anything that does not come under the ambit of their traditional knowledge is a big reality among tribal populations. It is hoped that this bottom-up participatory information-sharing initiative, shared with them majorly by their own community members, will enable the tribals to change their attitude, and develop trust towards the state education system, thus enabling them to take a stance towards better accountability from the system, which could ultimately provide better eductaion for their children. Educational reforms have usually been top–down processes; no doubt the objectives have always been good, but they fail at the ground level because of the overarching disconnect. One positive impact that was observed was that local success stories motivate the parents to care for their child’s career. Primarily mothers were found to be highly motivated by this and were seen to be getting more involved in the learning process of their child, irrespective of their own literacy level. Children’s attendance in school was observed to have increased, and in the evening hours, they were observed to be sitting down to study in front of their mothers, within the kitchen walls. Poor tribal parents somehow manage their survival, and yet, irrespective of their poverty and illiteracy certainly aspire for a good life for their children, as they do not want their children to face the same livelihood problems that they have faced and are subsequently trapped in intergenerational poverty. Several reasons lay at the centre of the lack of interest among the students and parents, primarily being lack of knowledge on returns to schooling and earning opportunities. Students do not show any interest in pursuing higher studies because of misinformation on net returns, and poor career planning restricts their aspirations. With unskilled jobs being readily available for earning easy money, and with their family and other community members already engaged in it, their disinterest in education becomes just a matter of time. The education system thus needs to gain their trust and train them according to market needs and demands, so that they are able to do away with doing any menial works. Development discourse today is full of ideas and concepts like “citizen participation,” “inclusive growth,” “direct democracy,” “e-governance” and so on which are perceived to bring about change. However, the real problem lies in designing culture-specific messages, and the means of communicating those messages to the end beneficiaries effectively so that their “idiosyncratic wants” (Appadurai, 2004) are met to the capacity towards fulfilling their aspirations and needs. Just providing necessary educational information on the normal channels available to villagers is not sufficient to mobilise the tribal communities in rural pockets of India. Unless and until the available information becomes information capital, and generates

102  Kaushik Chattopadhyay and Seemita Mohanty awareness among the stakeholders, it is not possible to initiate any local action to mitigate the existing social asymmetry. In tribal settings if we wish to encash on our much-vaunted demographic dividend, it is required to have central members from these indigenous groups who can be the information managers to disseminate the messages effectively among their own community members. A mobilisation process led by local success stories can strengthen the social capital, and then only it can create new success stories, not by force but by choice.

The way forward The intervention programme in the two villages was a small experiment to find out whether proper information dissemination ensures better participation from tribal parents in their children’s educational matters. It certainly requires more longitudinal studies to call it a success story. We hope that this small experiment paves the way for more extensive research on this so that it ultimately opens a way forward for the tribal children to integrate seamlessly into the mainstream society backed by strong educational qualifications.

References Appadurai, A. 2004. “The capacity to aspire: Culture and the terms of recognition.” In Culture and Public Action, edited by V. Rao and M. Walton. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Arnstein, Sherry R. 1969. “A ladder of citizen participation.” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), 216–224 https​:/​/do​​i​.org​​/10​.1​​080​/0​​19443​​ 66908​​​97722​​5. Banerjee, Abhijit V. et al. 2007. “Can information campaigns raise awareness and local participation in primary education?.” Economic and Political Weekly, 42(15), 14–20. Accessed on January 12, 2021 https​:/​/ww​​w​.epw​​.in​/j​​ourna​​l​/200​​7​/15/​​speci​​al​ -ar​​ticle​​s​/can​​-info​​rmati​​on​-ca​​mpaig​​ns​-ra​​ise​-a​​waren​​ess​-a​​​nd​-lo​​cal​-p​​artic​​ipati​​on. Banerjee, Abhijit V. et al. 2010. “Pitfalls of participatory programs: Evidence from a randomized evaluation in education in India.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2(1), 1–30. Accessed on January 12, 2021 https://economics​ .mit​.edu​/files​/3117. Banerjee, Abhijit V. et al. 2014. Gossip and Identifying Central Individuals in a Social Network. NBER Working Paper, 20422. Accessed on January 12, 2021 http://www​.nber​.org​/papers​/w20422. Banerjee, Abhijit V. and Esther Duflo. 2011. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York: Public Affairs. Census of India. 2011. Literacy in India. New Delhi: Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Accessed on January 12, 2021. http://www​ .census2011​.co​.in​/literacy​.php. Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra and Swati Bhattacharjee. 2011. “The information deficit: Use of media in deliberative democracy.” Economic and Political Weekly,

Educating tribal children  103 46(52), 45–52. Accessed on January 12, 2021 https​:/​/ww​​w​.epw​​.in​/j​​ourna​​l​/201​​ 1​/52/​​speci​​al​-ar​​ticle​​s​/inf​​ormat​​ion​-d​​efici​​t​-use​​-medi​​a​-del​​iber​a​​tive-​​democ​​racy.​​html. Epstein, J. 2001. School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and improving Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Grootaert, C. and T. Van Bastelaer. 2002. The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical Assessment. New York: Cambridge University Press. Kundu, Sabyasachi. 2019. “In a first, Odisha organises parent-teacher meet in Govt. schools.” OdishaTV. Accessed on January 12, 2021 https​:/​/od​​ishat​​v​.in/​​odish​​a​ -new​​s​/in-​​a​-fir​​st​-od​​isha-​​organ​​ises-​​paren​​t​-tea​​cher-​​meet-​​in​-go​​​vt​-sc​​hools​​-3822​​89. Lal, Ankit. 2017. India Social: How Social Media Is Leading the Charge and Changing the Country. New Delhi: Hachette India. Manzar, Osama. 2017. “The excluded remain excluded.” Mint, May 25. Accessed on January 12, 2021, https​:/​/ww​​w​.liv​​emint​​.com/​​Opini​​on​/aM​​mbvY6​​8wwlT​​ CGBD7​​DjMSI​​/The-​​exclu​​ded​-r​​emain​​​-excl​​uded.​​html. New Indian Express. 2020. “Odisha government schools to hold second PTM on January 16.” The New Indian Express, January 15. Accessed on January 12, 2021 https​:/​/ww​​w​.new​​india​​nexpr​​ess​.c​​om​/st​​ates/​​odish​​a​/202​​0​/jan​​/15​/o​​disha​​-gove​​ rnmen​​t​-sch​​ools-​​to​-ho​​ld​-se​​cond-​​ptm​-o​​n​​-jan​​uary-​​16​-20​​89835​​.html​. OECD. 2014. “Who are the school truants?” PISA in Focus, 35. Accessed on January 12, 2021 http:​/​/www​​.oecd​​.org/​​pisa/​​pisap​​roduc​​ts​/pi​​sainf​​ocus/​​PISA-​​in​​-Fo​​ cus​-n​​35-(eng)​-FINAL​.pdf. OECD. 2017. OECD Economic Surveys India: Overview. Accessed on January 12, 2021. http:​/​/www​​.oecd​​.org/​​econo​​my​/su​​rveys​​/INDI​​A​-201​​7​-OEC​​D​-eco​​nomic​​ -surv​​ey​​-ov​​ervie​​w​.pdf​. Sheppard, Anne. 2009. “School attendance and attainment: Poor attenders’ perceptions of parental involvement in their education.” British Journal of Special Education, 36(2), 104–111 https​:/​/do​​i​.org​​/10​.1​​111​/j​​.1467​​-8578​​.2009​​​.0041​​3​.x. ST Statistical Profile – at a glance. Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. Accessed on January 12, 2021. https​:/​/tr​​ibal.​​nic​.i​​n​/dow​​nload​​s​/sta​​tisti​​cs​/St​​atist​​​ ics85​​18​.pd​f Vaidyanathan, R. 2019. Caste as Social Capital: The Complex Place of Caste in Indian Society. Chennai: Westland Publications. Woolfolk, Anita. 2016. Educational Psychology (13th edition). New Delhi: Pearson Limited. World Bank. 2015. World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Part II

Development and empowerment



6

People’s response to development A case of India’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups Apparao Thamminaina

An analysis of tribal development makes it imperative to understand the concept of tribe, which is often ambiguous and contextual. The term Adivasi refers to “the first inhabitant.” In the global context, Adivasi of India refers to the indigenous peoples. The habitat, language and dialects are the markers of tribal identity in the Indian context (Beteille, 1998). Tribes are whole societies, each with their specific language, territory, culture and customs (Xaxa, 1999). The recognition of tribes as Scheduled Tribes (ST) is not necessarily confined to anthropological and sociological definitions. Tribes in contemporary India are not isolated communities. Inevitable interaction with non-tribal communities and planned developmental initiatives by the state have played a significant role in their integration. According to the 2011 Census, STs constitute 8.6 per cent of India’s total population. They inhabit 18.7 per cent of the country’s total geographical area, usually in hilly and forest areas. The states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka together comprise 83.2 per cent of the total ST population of the country. There are about 705 ST communities in India speaking 105 languages and 225 secondary dialects (Registrar General & Census Commissioner, 2011). Out of these 705, the Government of India identified 75 groups as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). The PVTGs are the most backward and vulnerable among all the STs. Multiple vulnerabilities overlap in some cases, which worsens their living conditions. The Government of India and state governments have implemented several programmes for the multi-dimensional development of these communities. However, the literature indicates no significant impact of development schemes and programmes even after four and half decades of their special status. Their traditional lifestyle, worldview and indifferent response to development interventions are highlighted as significant causes of their backwardness. However, such analysis implicitly emphasises the gap between tribes and non-tribes. Generally, it ignores the progress made by PVTGs, the significance of the state and civil society organisations’ interventions and people’s aspirations for positive development. Focus is needed on such aspects to explore the possibilities for further DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-6

108  Apparao Thamminaina development interventions. This chapter examines how people aspire to participate in those activities which assure change in their lives. Taking education as a reference point, it looks into the processual part where all the stakeholders interact at a dynamic juncture to reap and maximise the benefits.

The context PVTGs were once labelled “primitive” because their position was at the bottom of the literacy table. Odisha has 62 scheduled tribes, including 13 PVTGs. As per Census 2011, STs comprise 22.8 per cent of Odisha’s population, inhabiting 23,208 villages. More than half of the ST population of Odisha resides in 44.7 per cent of the territory of 7 districts, namely, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh. The STs of India are at various socio-economic development levels, with a section of them thriving in taking advantage of the protection and benefits. In contrast, for another section, such programmes and protection have failed to have a potential impact. “A stagnant or declining population, extremely low level of literacy, pre-agricultural level of technology, and a subsistence level of economy” are the characteristics of the second category, as denoted by the guidelines of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. The Government of India recognised 75 groups in 18 states and 1 Union Territory as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) in 1973 and later renamed them as PVTGs in 2006. Regional factors are particularly significant in their identification. A PVTG in one region need not be a PVTG in the other. The habitats of PVTGs are less hospitable, with scarce resources and inadequate communication facilities. Their mainstay is food gathering and shifting cultivation. A few of these groups practice small-game hunting. Policies for the development of PVTGs often evolve from the doctrine of STs. The focus is on livelihood development, physical and territorial security, political participation, economic development and improvement in education and healthcare. Criteria laid down for the identification of these groups remain the same even today. A stagnant or minimal increase in the population growth rate or declining population is a grave concern, along with a low literacy rate and inadequate healthcare, among many others. But policymaking based on general perceptions of development rather than specific local needs is a critical issue. There are numerous government policies, provisions, schemes and privileges that ensure the welfare and wellbeing of STs. The country has an exhaustive framework for welfare policy and its implementation (Vidyarthi, 1986; Venkata Rao, 1988, 2001; Mohanty, 2002; Narayan, 2002; Hooja, 2004; Mehta, 2006; Behera, 2010; Shah & Pathak, 2014). Government organisations at all levels and civil society organisations routinely engage with tribal communities. They principally focus on poverty alleviation

People’s response to development  109 measures, in addition to addressing issues on health, education, livelihood, social justice and empowerment (Roy, 1989; Kundu, 1994; Kalla & Joshi, 2004; Mahanti, 2004; Xaxa, 2008; Chaudhary, 2012; Sundar & Madan, 2016). Yet, the results of welfare schemes implemented for the welfare of STs are debatable  (Charsely, 1997; Reddy & Kumar, 2010; Thakur & Sharma 2012). The PVTGs are vulnerable even today despite having a variety of safety nets. Lack of awareness, poor accessibility and fear of contact often keeps them at bay. In such a context, formal education and functional literacy play a vital role. The decadal growth rate of the population between 2001 and 2011 shows a declining trend for a few PVTGs (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2013). The decline is significant among the Kolams of Andhra Pradesh; Birhor, Korwa Mal Paharia, Parhaiya and Savar of Bihar; Koraga of Karnataka; Cholanaikan of Kerala; Birhor and Kamar of Madhya Pradesh; Birhor of Odisha; Kota of Tamil Nadu and Sentinelese and Shom Pen of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. A few PVTGs have a stagnant population, and others have minimum growth rates. The Siddhis of Gujarat and Great Andamanese of Andaman & Nicobar Islands have no growth in population. This declining population adversely affects participation in education and mass literacy programmes. The study primarily focuses on the Kondhs of Niyamgiri hills of the state of Odisha. They have two main sub-groups; Dongria Kondhs (Jena et al., 2002) and Kutiya Kondhs (Jena et al., 2006), whose populations total 6,306 and 7,232, respectively (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2013). They speak the Kui  language, but part of the community speaks Odia too. They depend on the forest to eke out their livelihood. A small population of the community is engaged in agriculture, Kutia Kondhs in particular, but no statistics are available. The study was conducted among Dongria Kondhs and Kutia Kondhs of Bissam Cuttack, Muniguda and Kalyansinghpur blocks of Rayagada district and Lanjigarh block of Kalahandi district, Odisha. It covered 22 villages from Bissam Cuttack, 6 villages from Muniguda, 8 villages from Kalyansinghpur and 16 villages from Lanjigarh. Qualitative and quantitative methods were administered to collect and analyse data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data from students, teachers, and parents. Schedules were administered among a total of 258 respondents for the quantitative data. The study examined the teaching and learning activities and residential environment in three educational complexes, one each from Bissam Cuttack, Kalyansinghpur and Lanjigarh. The educational complexes are funded jointly by the state and central governments, with the schools offering education till class X.

The development dynamics of education The question of whether formal education is relevant or not for the tribal community is an outdated one. The STs now increasingly believe that a

110  Apparao Thamminaina failure to take advantage of the developmental process leaves them lagging in all aspects of life. A widespread contradiction is that they risk losing their identity if they prefer to take advantage of modern life. Yet, they do not choose to stay away from the opportunities of modern-day living. Nevertheless, the progress is not significant despite tremendous investments for educational development. The reasons include drawbacks in implementing the programmes and several socio-cultural barriers. But these barriers cannot remain forever. Culture is dynamic and people will always adapt and change. Literacy rate The literacy rate of the STs of the country is 58.96 per cent. The average literacy of the STs of Odisha is 52.24 per cent, which is less than the national average for STs. The gap between the literacy rate (73 per cent) of the country and STs of Odisha is 20.6 per cent, according to the 2011 census, which was 25.7 per cent per Census 2001. The decrease in the gap reveals the steady growth in the literacy rate of STs. However, gender differences in enrolment, retention and literacy rate are alarming (Ghosh, 2007). The ST male literacy rate in Odisha is 63.7 per cent, while it is 41.2 per cent for females. Despite several limitations, achievement in literacy rate is noteworthy. A comparison between 1991 and 2011 reveals significant improvement in the literacy rate of all the PVTGs of Odisha. The Mankidia (6.08 per cent in 1991 and 21.14 per cent in 2011), the Didayi (6.22 per cent in 1991 and 34.56 per cent in 2011) and the Bondo Poraja (4.20 per cent in 1991 and 36.51 per cent in 2011) need special mention (Sethi & Mohanty, 2016). There is an approximately 15 per cent increase in the literacy rate of Kondhs between 2001 and 2011. But whether the literacy rate corresponds to any meaningful change or not remains a question. It is essential to design programmes to boost literacy as its functionality improves over time. There have been several schemes introduced for the educational development of STs with particular emphasis on PVTGs. Despite initial setbacks, such schemes have had positive outcomes. The increasing literacy rate is an indicator. ST’s literacy rate was a mere 8.53 per cent in 1961, while it was 28.3 per cent for the total population. However, the literacy rate steadily increased, and the gap between STs and the total population was reduced from 19.77 per cent in 1961 to 14.03 per cent in 2011 (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2013). Major initiatives of the government Odisha has an elaborate institutional framework for tribal development, including for education. The structure and functions of all these institutions are well defined (Panda, 1996). The government of Odisha has established

People’s response to development  111 micro development agencies for every PVTG. For example, they established the Dongria Kondh Development Agency (DKDA) in 1978 and Kutia Kondh Development Agency (KKDA) in 1986. These agencies have been working for the holistic development of the Kondhs. They develop and target group-based strategies for result-oriented outcomes. The work of these agencies has been well-appreciated (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2014). But the topography of the regions inhabited by the PVTGs poses a challenge to develop infrastructural facilities. The school system is affected by a lack of organisational effectiveness. The Government of India implemented the schemes such as the  Anganwadis (community nurseries) (1975) and the National Programme of Education for Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) (2001– 02) in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs). The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) (2004) are established in tribal areas to enhance girl’s participation at the upper primary level. The Government of India has sanctioned 271 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) for the tribal regions, out of which 190 EMRSs are currently operational (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2018). These schools are established in the most inaccessible regions to make quality education accessible to all tribal students. The ashram school system, well-equipped hostels, separate schools and hostels for girl students, and incentives such as the supply of books, uniforms and toiletries for girls have helped increase enrolment. The government launched a programme for strengthening education among ST girls in low literacy districts in 2008. It is an area-based scheme aimed at improving literacy in less developed areas. This scheme is being implemented along with several interrelated programmes. The scheme for the construction of hostels for ST Girls and Boys, the scheme to establish Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub Plan Areas, Pre-Matric Scholarships (Classes IX and X), Post-Matric Scholarships, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowships for STs in higher education and doctoral studies, and Scheme of National Overseas Scholarship for STs are a few incentive-based programmes. Likewise, the Government of Odisha has developed several innovative and incentive-based programmes to promote education among the PVTGs. The ST & SC, Minority, Other Backward Classes Welfare Department has launched the integrated E-Governance Portal, namely PRERANA (PostMatric Scholarship Registration Release and Network Automation), to manage the incentive structure for ST students. The procedures related to the application, processing, sanction and disbursal of Post-Matric Scholarship to the eligible ST students are transparent. This portal helps to avoid administrative bottlenecks and misuse of funds. In the year 2015, the Government of Odisha launched Anwesha (quest) scheme to provide quality education to ST students in partnership with private educational institutions. They have implemented it in 17 districts with a higher tribal concentration. As part of the scheme, the ST students are admitted into Class I in private English medium schools located in district headquarters. The State Government

112  Apparao Thamminaina bears the entire costs, including tuition fees, uniforms, books, study materials, transportation to schools and post-school tutoring. Students get free accommodation and food in the ST hostels located in the town. The government has constructed two urban hostel complexes named Akanksha (aspiration)  in Bhubaneswar. These hostels provide free board and lodging to the students studying post-matric courses in and around the capital city, Bhubaneswar. MTBMLE programme in Odisha The medium of learning is a significant challenge for tribal children. The mother tongue is always the ideal medium of instruction at the primary level. There have been debates on the need for mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MTBMLE) for tribal children, and it has been well established that it is the best way to start school (Pattanayak, 1981; Fishman 1996; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2013). Odisha is one of the pioneering states to launch the MTBMLE programme at primary and upper primary levels since 2007. As part of the programme, a child’s language should be the primary medium of education for the first five years. Currently, in Odisha, the programme is functional in 1485 schools across 17 districts, where tribal children from 21 language groups are being taught in their mother tongues by teachers recruited for the purpose, and teaching-learning materials being provided by the state (Mohanty, 2017). Absenteeism and dropout Absenteeism is a severe problem among Dongria Kondhs, Kutia Kondhs and Lanjia Saoras (Behera, 2014). Seasonal diseases and continuous illness demotivate students from these tribes. Tribal festivals, feasts and cultural programmes hold priority over attending school. Likewise, school activities do not attract tribal children because the textbooks are more relatable to the urban lifestyle (Chaudhuri & Deutscher, 1993). In addition to it, absenteeism is also high among the teachers in tribal areas (Rana & Das, 2004). The government has hugely invested in improving school-related human and physical infrastructural arrangements. The authorities of the state take stock of all the issues annually and address them. However, funding and implementing constraints act as bottlenecks in the process. Accessibility is one of those highly debated issues (Revathi & Geetha, 2012). A separate school administration and the school system in tribal areas ensure accessibility. The implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009, has ensured accessibility of school to tribal children to a considerable extent. Such measures have a positive impact on literacy. Nevertheless, the quality of classroom teaching is not proved effective in terms of tangible outcomes. Education levels are not significant to compete for employment opportunities.

People’s response to development  113 The tribal administration in India, Odisha in specific, has been routinely debating on the curriculum. However, a suitable and alternate curriculum is still a dream. The Odisha government made efforts to bring out an alternate curriculum for tribal schools. New textbooks have been introduced with ample illustrations to make learning easier. The new curriculum has considered the relatability aspect. However, the state fears to overhaul the curriculum as it may dissociate the tribal students from the common curricular framework and employment opportunities. Along with changes in the curriculum, parental and school engagement are significant for children’s full participation. The decentralisation of the education system can aid the active engagement of all stakeholders. A few schools predominantly meant for STs also admit non-tribal students. Even though there are no constraints on admitting non-tribal students, it creates an imbalance in situations where ST students are less in number than non-ST students. For example, the educational complex for girls managed by DKDA has admitted more non-tribal students than the Dongria girls. In such a context, the expected outcome is that the tribal–non-tribal student interactions would be smooth and beneficial for the tribal girls and increase their school participation. On the contrary, it leads to negative results wherein ST students feel inferior to others in a multi-ethnic school setting. The fallouts have been dismal. School attendance of girls gets severely affected as they are often additionally burdened with assisting their mothers in household chores, including looking after younger siblings. They are admitted to schools when they are around 6–7 years old, while non-tribal children start schooling at 4–5 years of age. The dropout of ST children generally starts after the first menstruation. Inadequate, in some cases, lack of female teachers keeps ST girls away from school. Pregnancy cases from ST welfare hostels are reported frequently in media (The New Indian Express, 2019). There are 17 cases reported from ST welfare hostels since 2014 (Singha, 2019). Such a situation poses a severe threat to retain girls in schools. The schools managed in these remote locations do not have adequate benches in the classrooms, lack other institutional facilities like playgrounds, sports equipment, sanitation facilities and healthcare infrastructure. Additionally, the periodic spread of infectious diseases in state-run residential schools is a grave concern. As many as 3,434 students of government residential schools in Kandhamal district of Odisha have tested positive for malaria (The Times of India, 2015). There are no staff or insufficient staff to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the schools. There is often a tendency to engage girl students in such non-curricular activities. The pressure to fulfil such obligations in the school demotivates students. The schools do not have medical facilities and hostels do not have a health centre or medical officer. However, essential medicines are made available in schools. Teachers give medicines to students in case of minor illnesses. The paramedical staff conduct medical camps fortnightly. In the event of illness, the students choose to go home instead of staying in the hostel. Most often, the period of stay at home is

114  Apparao Thamminaina prolonged, which leads to absenteeism. Ultimately, it leads to dropout in those cases where the children frequently fall sick. Overview of the education complexes in the study area Following are some of the common issues faced by the education complexes that were accessed for the study: 1. Poor infrastructure with ill-equipped classrooms, and students being forced to sit on the floor to study in some classes. The schools also lack proper playgrounds. 2. Unhygienic toilets, no appropriate mechanism for disposal of sanitary napkins, lack of cleaning staff and shortage of drinking water are common in all the schools. Students are sometimes assigned the duty of cleaning the school premises. 3. Lack of medical facilities and no counselling facilities for adolescent girls regarding menstrual hygiene. Sex education for students, particularly girl students passing through a very vulnerable phase, is also completely missing. 4. Computer knowledge, which is essential in today’s context, is imparted to the students in a flawed manner. Lack of specialised teachers is a significant reason. 5. Only certified teachers (CT) are available to instruct students starting from Class I to Class X. 6. The public transport system is not available to reach these complexes. Yet, there are some positive aspects to the education complexes, which, despite the various deficiencies, provide a ray of hope to these children from marginalised groups: 1. The medium of instruction is both the local tribal language (Kui) and the state language (Odia), which aids towards a better understanding of the texts by the students. 2. All students get a pre-matric scholarship and all other incentives are provided by the government. 3. There are libraries with a limited number of books that the students are free to use. However, the dropout rate is relatively high among the tribal students, which is a serious concern. The reasons are common and mostly known but have not resulted in a significant positive change yet: 1. There were 65 (25.3 per cent) dropouts out of 257 students in one of the schools. The primary causes are lack of interest in studies (for

People’s response to development  115 37 per cent respondents—a general fallout of being first-generation learners), financial constraints (23 per cent), participation in livelihood activities (11 per cent), distance from school (5 per cent) and lack of family support (5 per cent). 2. In another school the dropout rate was higher as the complex is close to tribal hamlets. There were 87 (33.72 per cent) dropouts in a sample of 258 students.

Problems in participation The fundamental question is whether tribal people are willing to take part in formal education or not. Kamat and Sedwal (2008) have stated that schools have never been a primary concern of the STs, but government policy has made education a core element for integration. Despite having extensive safeguards and incentives, STs feel alienated in the multi-ethnic school environment. Students encounter discrimination, rejection and ill-treatment in schools. Lack of trust in non-tribal people obstructs compatibility among the students in these schools and between teachers and tribal parents (Pradhan, 2004). Parent’s fundamental duty is to provide quality education to their children (Krishna & Prathiba, 2016). Such an attempt by parents always supplements the efforts of the government and non-government agencies. But, for a tribal family, educating children means losing them from the traditional labour force. Convincing such tribal parents is an arduous task. Authorities must conduct awareness camps periodically in tribal regions to demonstrate the positive outcomes of formal learning. The school environment, distance from the village, course content, curriculum and language are external factors. At the same time, income, parental education and peer groups are internal factors that determine the enrolment rate of tribal students (Rami, 2012). The dropout rate is a serious challenge. As per the Department of School Education and Literacy (2018), the average annual dropout rate for STs is 40.2 per cent at primary, upper primary and secondary levels, with the dropout rate among girls being higher after attaining puberty (Krishna & Prathiba, 2016). The academic calendar also ignores tribal festivals, and students get holidays only for the festivals recognised by the state. However, students leave for home during community festivals and stay with their parents for extended periods. The extended stay at home leads to drop out of students. The socio-economic constraints cause failure in universalising primary education among tribal children (Rupavath, 2016), resulting in the education system becoming less citizen-centric. Lack of understanding of tribal languages is another challenge (Lotz, 2004). The state does not recognise the languages of tribal communities. Lack of such recognition ridicules the linguistic identity and excludes tribal children from formal education (Rani, 2000). The tribal children face cognitive and communication problems in the school as the medium of instruction is in the

116  Apparao Thamminaina dominant regional language. On the other hand, a multiplicity of tribal languages with a few learners is a challenge to policymakers. The posting of newly recruited teachers in remote tribal areas without any facilities for families makes them hesitant to serve and cope with the cultural context of tribal students. In addition to it, tribals believe that formal education is not required to accomplish social obligations. In such a context, universalisation of education can permeate to the ground only if the concerned agencies mitigate the social, psychological and economic barriers. Mishra (2010) suggests that mainstreaming education correlates with the present job market eliminates the traditional form of education. It has affected ST’s adaptation process as their knowledge base is mostly oral, non-lettered and non-institutionalised. The psychological and social factors make tribal parents believe that education results in future insecurity (Pradhan, 2010). Lack of guaranteed jobs after school or college degrees forces them to engage their children in traditional activities. The STs believe that the modern education system is rigid with its school timing, dress code and other rules and regulations. A few tribal parents believe that education separates children from their families. Education and gender parity are two significant aspects that help to attain sustainable development. Socially speaking, tribals have better gender parity. However, the disparity is emerging due to the differential participation of both genders in education. Male participation is higher, while girls have severe impediments to complete school education (Mukherjee, 2014). There are fewer constraints for women to participate in non-formal activities at the community level but more constraints to participate in formal activities. Lack of trust in the activities other than those granted by the community is a challenge. There is a striking gender difference in the Gross Attendance Ratio (GAR). It is 56 per cent for males and 48 per cent for females at the higher secondary level. The overall GAR of tribal students falls from 100 per cent at the primary level to 85 per cent at the upper primary and 79 per cent at the secondary levels (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2017). The seasonal variations in school attendance are imminent in tribal areas (Chaudhuri & Deutscher, 1993). Girl students withdraw from secondary and higher education due to domestic chores (Thangamani, 2015). Tribal children learn life-skills and participate in traditional livelihood activities early in life. They get married at an early age and establish a family. The gap between the worldview of tribal communities and formal education is an everlasting concern. As a result, PVTGs stay away from active participation in formal learning. How can we ensure participation? The strengths of tribal children can be tapped well with the mother-tonguebased instruction. It helps to sustain their interest in the formal learning process until they attain maturity. The introduction of a localised curriculum

People’s response to development  117 in their native languages could be a positive intervention. However, it is a distant dream for them as they have few speakers with a minimal number of school-goers. Quality learning depends on teaching strategies and classroom processes. Decentralised decision making and community engagement help to design strategies to increase participation. Specialised training is therefore needed for the teachers to work in the schools meant for tribal children. Formal education can curb traditional expressions and experiences (Kumar, 1983). There must be scope for the tribal child to enliven the experiences he/she gains from the community. Thus, the promotion of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional cultural expressions (Johnson, 2012) in the curriculum is essential. It can be linked with skill education to promote entrepreneurial activities. Meaningful interaction with others can take place if the tribals get their due recognition. For example, business firms of non-indigenous communities in Canada extensively use indigenous communities’ names and symbols (Cassidy & Langford, 1999). Similarly, almost 3,000 schools, colleges and professional sports teams have used Native American names and images as mascots, logos and team names in the United States (Behrendt, 2000). Working for Geographical Indications (GIs) on popular material products of tribal communities and imparting education related to the production of such materials would encourage participation and increase entrepreneurial activities. Factors such as social relationships and means for self-fulfilment related to school context influence student’s general subjective wellbeing (Konu et al., 2002). The development of new higher education in the United States has dramatically changed the higher education for American Indians and Alaska Natives for 30 years. It has enabled community members to identify their own educational needs and develop programmes to meet those needs. The Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) promote a renewed economic, social, political, cultural and spiritual vitality through education. As a result, American Indian people are hopeful about regaining their greatness (Pavel et al., 2001). Similarly, institutions and universities meant for STs must identify potential stakeholders from the communities for an outcome-based engagement. These institutions must promote the tribal’s social and cultural aspects as part of curricular and co-curricular activities. Participation of people increases if the choices are compatible with their culture. Therefore, development agencies must be cautious in social development initiatives, like education and health care, which require massive public participation. Active political participation of people will help in overcoming the deprivations of these vulnerable communities.

Conclusion The PVTGs are receptive to formal learning like any other community. Sustained efforts of the state have resulted in decreasing the dropout rate and increasing literacy over the years. Participation is undoubtedly increasing at

118  Apparao Thamminaina the school level. Introduction of the mother-tongue-based multilingual education model, changes in the curriculum in tune to the local cultural and physical environment, awareness programmes and incentivising mechanisms have shown some encouraging results. However, participation in higher education is linked not only to the competitiveness of PVTG students but also to the job market. Skill development initiatives that ensure employment would increase their participation in higher education. It can have a cascading effect on other aspects such as health, economic inclusion and political participation. The government of India and the governments at the state level have been making significant efforts to conserve tribal culture. Annual celebrations of tribal festivals and sports meets are two such examples. Funding for research, information dissemination and mass education is resulting in positive outcomes. However, the school curriculum must give due value and recognition to the culture and history of tribal communities. Compilations of tribal folklore should be introduced to tribal students from the primary level to ignite their interest. Thus, as observed by Bagai and Nundy (2009), a balance between preserving tribal cultural identity and mainstreaming for economic prosperity is crucial. Additionally, the inclusive development agenda necessitates the making of PVTGs partners in the process. Designing a suitable model to ensure participation depends on the stakeholders involved. The agencies dealing with such a process must build sustainable partnerships with everyone concerned. They must identify the strengths of a community. It can act as a critical driver for participation. It creates interest in building new relationships, makes the partners aware of the need for new skills and opens the window of new opportunities for collaboration. There is a belief that development agencies can think about the best practices (Panda, 2017) of highperforming schools and implement them elsewhere. However, it depends on the suitability to a cultural context. Sometimes, not thinking about a best practice can turn out to be a best practice, given the significant cultural diversity of PVTGs. An incompatible education system as a means of integration and assimilation of tribal communities has proved ineffective for more than 50 years, as the results have been very disappointing. The last two decades are more fulfilling in terms of programmes as well as results. It is essential to provide ample choices to develop people’s aspirations and build capacities to enable them to exercise those choices. Thus, a long-term commitment and a continuous assessment of the impact of integration programmes are essential for positive changes.

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122  Apparao Thamminaina atime​​s​.com​​/city​​/bhub​​anesw​​ar​/Ov​​er​-34​​00​-st​​udent​​s​-tes​​t​-pos​​itive​​-for-​​malar​​ia​-in ​​ -Odis​​ha​/ar​​​ticle​​show/​​48525​​366​.c​​ms. Venkata Rao, P. 1988. Institutional Framework for Tribal Development. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications. Venkata Rao, P. 2001. Tribal Development: Policy and Practice. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. Vidyarthi, L. P. 1986. Tribal Development and Its Administration. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Xaxa, Virginius. 1999. “Transformation of Tribes in India: Terms of Discourse.” Economic and Political Weekly, 34(24): 1519–1524. Xaxa, Virginius 2008. State, Society, and Tribes: Issues in Post-Colonial India. New Delhi: Pearson Longman.

7

Empowerment via handicraft An empirical study on tribal women of Odisha Bikash Ranjan Mishra, Prasanta Patri, Bharat Kumar Dash and Lopamudra D. Satpathy

With the advent of the 21st century, concerns relating to women empowerment have been receiving added attention both in national as well as global platforms. It has become a focal point in wide forums of intellectual discussion and one of the central issues in the planning process for development of countries like India and others. Yet, no matter the multitude of intellectual forums discussing and debating on women empowerment, it can only emerge when there is gender equality, which even in this 21st century has a long way to go. Rather than gender equality, it is gender inequality that has taken centerstage. Gender inequality in India refers to the health, education, economic and political inequalities existing between men and women. To empower women, we must rescind these inequalities. The crux of the idea behind the concept of women empowerment is to gain a greater share of control over resources, be it material, human or intellectual. Custodian of knowledge, accessibility to information, proprietorship of ideas and ownership of financial resources ultimately result in power accumulation and controller of decision making for women in the home, community, society and nation. However, women empowerment can only be facilitated if women are able to exercise their rights in the socio-economic spheres of decision making (Kapoor, 2001). There are four ingredients in the literature of women empowerment. First, it is important to empower women. Second, third parties may be creating favorable conditions for empowerment, but they cannot make it happen. Thirdly, women’s struggles are purely collective attempts, but the focus of development is on the individual. Finally, women empowerment is not a product but rather an ongoing process (Bansal and Kumar, 2011). Women are often weighed in terms of their education, health and fertility, economic relevance, employment, as well as the roles they play within their families and in the community and society that they belong to (Valsamma, 2006). Yet, they have been struggling to countervail the dominance of their male counterparts in almost all respects since time immemorial. Unlike the general caste women, the tribal women experience greater equality within DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-7

124  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al. the home and the community in a relative sense. A tribal woman occupies a prominent place in the socio-economic structure of her society and enjoys freedom to a large scale. She guards her freedom passionately and chooses considerable physical hardship outside the home boundaries rather than being confined only to her home. But what we see today is an erosion of her status (Roy and Phukan, 2000). The status of tribal women has deteriorated from bad to worse because of the impact of social change that has affected the social structure of the tribal society. Today tribal women are virtually bonded labourers in their marital homes. They slave for the family, while the menfolk enjoy leisure; they struggle to manage the home and arrange finances, while the men can be totally irresponsible with no social sanctions (Parthasarathy, 2007; Preeti and Varma, 2008). Hence, it is even more relevant to study the changes in the lives and livelihoods of tribal women. This chapter investigates the level and degree of empowerment of women artisans involved in the production of handicrafts. Handicrafts as a means for livelihood are undertaken with intent because, next to agricultural practices, millions of people possessing traditional skills and knowledge of traditional techniques still make a living by producing hand-crafted goods. Moreover, the Indian handicrafts industry is globally acknowledged for its rich cultural heritage and unique appeal (Jena, 2010; Subramanian, 2006). Odisha the land of enchanting beauty is well known for its exquisite handicrafts. Also, tribal Odisha has an incredible art heritage. The vitality of Odishan craft is seen in the stone and wood carvings of Puri, the silver filigree and golden-grass work of Cuttack, the horn-work of Paralakhemundi, dhokra work of Mayurbhanj, brassware of Kantilo, lacquerware of Navarangpur, clay toys of Barapally and tie and dye textile of Sambalpur, in addition to terracotta and cane and bamboo work of Sundargarh. Within the given context, the present study gives an in-depth analysis of the empowerment of tribal women.

Focus on women empowerment Socio-economic factors contribute significantly to the status of women in both rural and urban areas. One of the important contributing factors is the Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Some key studies have identified that there is a significant difference between the income earned and the amount saved in the bank accounts of the self-help group members. Today SHGs are essential to the creation of a socio-economic revolution in the country. For a number of women, the increase in the social recognition of self and the status of family in the society and involvement of family in the decision making is directly related to the percentage of women participating in SHGs. SHGs help them in learning to take wise decisions. It is evident that health conditions of SHG members are considerably better because women discuss their health problems among themselves thereby identifying the different government provisions available for them (Abdulai & Delgado, 1999; Preeti and Varma, 2008; Chandrasekhar and Lokesh, 2009; Dhavamani, 2010; Rao, 2005).

Empowerment via handicraft  125 Women have always played a vital role in the growth and development of the society. Mathew (2013) observes that when working women are empowered, it results in economic improvement of the whole family. It provides an aid to their living, consequently bestowing a better standardised sustenance for their families and themselves. Thus, it makes them self-dependent without relying on their husbands. Indra and Behera (2001) suggest that women must be considered as the wings of development. Every woman has the choice to define her needs and strategies. It is very much important for women to participate in the developmental process to empower themselves. Misra (2006) has focused on redefining women empowerment in India as an open-ended process aiming at (i) abolition of gender-based discrimination in all institutions and structures of the Indian society and (ii) participation of women in policy and decision making processes in all related activities at private and public spaces. Khan and Bibi (2011) have assessed the effects of a Government-run participatory development project on the social and economic empowerment of women and its implications for poverty alleviation in Nasirabad area of Baluchistan (a province of Pakistan). Using primary data based on sample survey, triangulation method has been used to crosscheck the validity of data. Questionnaire, observation, interviews, and discussions with key informants and officials have been the important instruments of data collection whereas secondary data were collected from project documents, related literature and other government reports. The study concludes that women empowerment is possible if government projects improve the social and economic capacity of women in groups; reducing women’s workload, providing economic empowerment through government projects, involving them in economic activities, and helping them to assess and utilise micro credits and access to market. Sahay (2002) and Preeti and Varma (2008) indicate in their studies that there is equality in the role between tribal women and men. Tribal women equally participate in domestic and outdoor activities with men. There are also similar findings on tribal women empowerment and the stratification of women’s role in comparison to tribal men (Annual Report (2004-05), SC, ST Women Welfare). Beath et al. (2013) suggest that development programmes with gender quotas are a way to improve women’s economic, political and social lives. Using a randomised field experiment method by taking into consideration 500 Afghan villages, they found that development programmes and initiatives pave the way for the improvement of women participation in all spheres by increasing their mobility and income generation. Narzary (2013) observes that the handicraft sector provides huge employment opportunities to women, but it also requires fulfilling the needs of the women workers for their development. Women face occupational hazards and problems relating to gender discrimination at the workplace. Due to illiteracy and lack of awareness the women are even unable to demand their entitlement

126  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al. of a minimum wage. In the post-liberalisation period, the problems of the unorganised sectors become even more significant (Acharya 2004a, 2004b).

Central schemes crucial to women empowerment As per Census 2011 the Scheduled Tribes (STs) with a population of 104 million constitute 8.6 per cent of the country’s total population. STs have traditionally been concentrated in about 15 per cent of the country’s geographical area, mainly in forests, hills and other inaccessible terrains. Since the time of India’s independence several constitutional provisions have been made for “safeguarding and protecting the interests and rights” of these marginalised communities to enable them to lead a life of honour and dignity. Today women empowerment is a key issue for the Government, for which multiple beneficial schemes exist to give shape to women’s desires and aspirations. Women empowerment through some or all of these schemes is a critical facet that enriches not only the tribal women, but the community itself. Many safety and promotional measures have been provided to the women workers to promote handicraft sectors in tribal areas by government and non-government organisations. Bank loans have been provided to the women workers to start and establish their businesses. In addition, there are several insurance policies to support them in their endeavours (Planning Commission, 2012). Market Development of Tribal Products is a central scheme under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India, which provides financial assistance to the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) for four retailing and marketing of tribe generated handloom and handicraft products, including minor forest produce (MFP). It also provides vocational training, skill upgradation and capacity building of ST artisans (Twelfth Five-Year Plan, Planning Commission, Govt. of India, 2012–2017). National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) was launched on March 8, 2010. The genesis of NMEW is the Ministry of Women and Child Development, under which it continues, primarily targeting the women community. The objectives of NMEW are (i) to create an environment through positive economic and social policies for the development of women to enable them to realise their full potential, equal freedom in the social, political and economic lives of the nation, (ii) to provide equal access to women in health care, quality education, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety and (iii) to strengthen the legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. Achieving a high level of women employment, and women’s participation in the economy is the main objective of this scheme. This is seen as a signal of declining discrimination and rising empowerment in women. The efforts of NMEW have resulted in better educational attainment of women, with the

Empowerment via handicraft  127 male–female gap in literacy reducing from 26.6 per cent in 1981 to 16.7 per cent in 2011. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015–16), 40.5 per cent of women are free to move in any place like market, health facility or outside of the community without any fear. NMEW also seeks to provide opportunities for women to have control over their lives, bodies and environment. But the scheme was not successful in ensuring women’s participation in household decisions. According to NFHS-4 report, 28.6 per cent of women who had experienced physical and sexual violence reported that they were injured by their husbands, and a large number did not have sufficient autonomy regarding the choices of their own lives. Indira Gandhi Matritvya Sahyog Yojana is another beneficial scheme introduced in 2010 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, with the objective of providing financial assistance to eligible women during their pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Proper maternal health being a key to women wellbeing, this scheme is considered crucial to women empowerment. Till date numerous women have benefitted from the scheme as per reports available with the Ministry of Women and Child Development. In 2001, the Ministry launched Swayamsidha with the prime objectives of establishing SHGs, creating awareness regarding legal rights of women, strengthening the saving habits of the rural women and improving access of women to micro credits. Under the scheme SHGs were established which built self-reliance and self-confidence among women and provided them greater access to and control over resources (Singh, 2007). Additionally, institutional capacity of support agencies has been satisfactorily strengthened and sensitised, resulting in increasing the income of poor women through income-generating activities (Barrett et al., 2001). Links have been created between SHGs and leading institutions to ensure women’s access to credit financing (Reported by World Bank in March 2007). It is expected for all programmes under this scheme to develop a common set of indicators for measuring progress on women empowerment to access the contribution of each strategy towards women empowerment. National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) is an important organisation for the economic development of the scheduled tribes of India. It plays a vital role in economic upliftment by focusing on economic development of scheduled tribes on a sustainable basis. The objectives of the NSTFDC are to identify the economic activities that can generate self-employment among the tribal, thus raising their income level, upgrading their skills by providing training, and engaging the developmental agencies for the economic development of the scheduled tribes. NSTFDC targets raising the awareness levels among STs about various schemes. There are some schemes under the NSTFDC which are income generating in nature. These schemes are Term Loan Scheme (TLS), Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana (AMSY), Micro Credit Scheme (MCS), Adivasi Shiksha Rina Yojana (ASRY) and Tribal Forest Dweller

128  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al. Empowerment Scheme (TFDES) (Annual Report, 2018–19, Ministry of Tribal Affairs). The National Commission for Schedule Tribes (NCST) was established in 1950 for execution of various provisions for STs in the Constitution. In 2004, a separate National Commission for scheduled tribes was established with the amendment of Article 338 and amending a new Article 338(A) in the Constitution. The main objectives of the commission are granting ownership rights to the STs for the minor forest produce in forest areas, maintaining gap between the working place and living space of the people of the forest areas, and reducing practice of shifting cultivation for the betterment of land and environment. Another objective of the commission is enquiring into all matters relating to STs and safeguarding their interest without violating the Constitution (Annual Report, 2018–19, Ministry of Tribal Affairs).

Objectives of the study Status of women is never uniform across communities, regions and periods. Several factors may contribute to such differences, including their level of socio-economic development and adoption and adaptability techniques for livelihood. The purpose of the present chapter is to understand the state of affairs of tribal women artisans and to enquire about their current status by carrying out an in-depth analysis of the socio-economic determinants based on their autonomy, mobility and participation in decision making. The study also aims to contribute to the existing literature and put forth a series of recommendations to policymakers by identifying their needs and problems. The study focuses on the following objectives. •• •• ••

To explore the socio-economic and demographic profiles of tribal women artisans of Odisha. To understand the level of empowerment of tribal women artisans based on their autonomy, mobility and participation in decision making. To identify the needs and problems of women artisans in tribal areas.

Methodology In view of the specificity of the topic, the present study focused on first-hand information collection with the help of the questionnaire-cum-schedule method. An attempt has been made to analyze the determinants of tribal women empowerment. Disaggregated-level primary data have been collected from 168 households from Tangarpali block of Sundargarh district of Odisha.

Profile of the study area The study has been carried out in Sundargarh district located in the northwestern part of the state of Odisha. The district is divided into 3 subdivisions

Empowerment via handicraft  129 (Sundargarh, Panposh and Bonaigarh), 9 Tahsils, 17 blocks, 4 municipalities and 262 gram panchayats (Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India). Out of the 17 blocks, 1 major block has been taken into consideration, namely Tangarpali as the area of study (topographically, this district is located at latitude 22 degree 09’ N and longitude 83 degree 93’ E).

Rationale behind selecting the study area Odisha is an eastern state of India, having a total population of 42 million spread across 30 districts (Census, 2011), occupying a unique place in the tribal map of the country having the largest number of tribal communities (62 tribes including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups) with a population of 9.5 million constituting 22.8 per cent of the state’s population, as per Census 2011. The universe of the study consists of all (18) tribal districts located in the state of Odisha, which is predominantly inhabited by the tribal women artisans. As per the overall statistics available about the districts which are known for the handicrafts in the state of Odisha, it is understood that Sundargarh, Malkanagiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Gajapati and Paralakhemundi are some of the districts predominantly inhabited by tribal women artisans. The female population in Odisha is 20.7 million as per 2011 census, out of which 27 per cent are engaged in handicraft sector for their livelihood. Per the 2001 census, 18 per cent of the artisans were women in Odisha. So, it is clear from the available data that the rate of women artisans is gradually increasing. The growth rate of the tribal population has also increased during the past two decades, and accordingly the number of tribal women engaged in the handicraft sector has also increased. In the present study, Tangarpali block is selected because out of the 17 blocks of the proposed district; 2,394 artisans are engaged in handicraft production in different fields like pottery, wood carving, terracotta, cane and bamboo art. A major proportion of the artisans belong to this block where tribal artisans are the highest (Directorate of Handicrafts and Cottage Industries, Odisha and Brief Industrial Profile of Sundargarh District, Ministry of MSME, Government of India).

Sampling strategy The study is based on purposive or subjective or judgement sampling. With this method a desired number of sample units are selected deliberately or purposively depending on the objective of the inquiry. The unit of the study is the woman respondent of the household. Though the study is very specific based on the availability of tribal women who are working in the handicraft sector, 167 households have been taken as samples. Figure 7.1 shows that Sundargarh district consists of 17 blocks out of which 3 blocks have been taken into consideration based on availability of data related to tribal women working in the handicraft sector. In the

130  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al.

SUNDARGARH (17 BLOCKS)

RAJGANGPUR

TANGARPALI

BARGAON

14 OTHER BLOCKS

GP:TASHLADIH

TURIPADA

KHUNTGAON

SIANBAHAL

Figure 7.1 Sampling strategy. Source: Compiled by the authors.

first phase of data collection Tangarpali block has been taken into consideration and 167 samples have been collected from Khuntgaon, Sian Bahal and Turipada of the same block. The survey design is explained in Figure 7.1. Sample size Around 167 tribal women artisans (purposive sample) from the selected block have been taken for our study. In the first phase of pilot study and data collection, data has been collected from 30 households and the rest of the data was accessed in the second phase of data collection.

Data collection method In the first phase of primary data collection a pilot survey was undertaken in Khuntgaon and Sianbahal villages of Tashladihi Grama Panchayat of Tangarpali block and Thopaberna village of Rajgangpur block. After the field visit, there was a need to modify the questionnaire to follow the suit for the main field survey. A total of 167 samples have been collected. The primary source of data was the sample unit (women artisan respondents) from tribal groups. Primary data was collected through face-to-face interviews with the respondents and by self-observation on the basis of the objectives of the study. Quantitative data has been tabulated and statistically analysed using suitable statistical software like SPSS and STATA. Along with the cross table and summary statistics examination, correlation and regression analysis have been carried out to ascertain the degree

Empowerment via handicraft  131 Table 7.1 Number of Surveyed Households and their Craft business Categories of Handicraft → Religion ↓

Golden Grass

Bamboo Craft

Total

Hindu Christian Total

50 17 67

66 34 100

116 51 167

Source: Authors’ compilation from Primary data.

of relationship of the selected variables in the proposed study. Qualitative data has been interpreted based on the information collected from the field. An attempt was made to select around 200 households from each category (Hindus and Christians) with equal representation of families engaged in handicraft work. Hindus and Christians are the major religious groups found in the study area. However, due to non-availability of adequate families from both religions, adjustments have been made with the final number which is described in Table 7.1.

Variables of the study and tools for the analysis The study has attempted to analyse women respondents on the basis of the following variables given in Table 7.2. After computing descriptive statistics and frequency distribution, chi-square test has been used to examine the independence of samples.

Variables of the model After scrutinising a good number of possible regressors by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA)1 like Monthly Per Capita Income of the household (MPCI), Educational Status of the Respondent (ESR), religion, age, female ratio and Institutional Quality Index (INSQI), the study shortlisted a few right-hand side variables to measure women empowerment on the basis of backward regression and general insight. The variables are detailed in Table 7.2. Religion and women empowerment In the socio-economic context of Odisha, religion is considered as one of the best possible indicators of social status. In the present study data is taken from respondents belonging to two religions such as Hinduism and Christianity. From Figure 7.2 it is evident that out of 167 respondents 69 per cent of respondents are Hindus and 31 per cent are Christians. They are all engaged in handicraft work like bamboo craft and golden grass.

132  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al. Table 7.2 Socio-Economic Variables of the Study Domain

Variables

Religion

Hindu (0) Official definition of Christian (1) different religious category. In the model, religion is categorised into Hindu and Christian MPCI Monthly Per Capita Income This can be defined as the total income divided by the number of persons of the family ESR Educational Status of the Respondent or years of schooling which is further categorised into Literate (1) and Illiterate (0) INSQI Institutional Quality Index. This can be defined as the standardised value of Govt. Schemes, Govt. Assistance, Govt. Training, Artisans Identity Card (AIC), Craft Mela, SFNGOs EMPI Empowerment Index which is defined as the standardised value of freedom for taking decision for family, autonomy for selling the product, Permission to go outside, Participation in political forum, Choice of spending

Economic

Education

Institution

Empowerment

Definition

Expected impact/ outcome Caste hierarchy plays a role since backwardness in caste may lead to some sort of deprivation Income is expected to have a positive impact

Expected to have a positive impact on empowerment

Institution is expected to have a positive impact on women empowerment

Dependent Variable Formula for standardised value = X − Xmin/Xmax − Xmin

Source: Authors’ compilation from Primary data.

In the present context religion is categorised into binary variables such as: REL = 0, if the respondent is Hindu. REL= 1, if the respondent is Christian. It may be noted here that (Meher, 2002) and (Mahanta and Nayak, 2013) have taken caste and social status as determinants. However, the present study observes that religion is one of the regressors for the analysis.

Empowerment via handicraft  133 180 160 Total Sample Size

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Literacy

Ethnic Group

Black - No. of Illiterates and Hindus respecvely Grey - No. of Literates and Chrisans respecvely

Figure 7.2 Distribution of households: literacy and ethnicity wise. Source: Compiled by the authors from primary data.

Monthly per capita expenditure and women empowerment Expenditure of the respondents is considered as one of the most important determinants of women empowerment. Respondents are usually divided into Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) categories. The Rangarajan Committee (2012) estimates the rural poverty line based on per day expenditure of an individual which is Rs. 32. However the present analysis has observed that approximately 88 per cent of the respondents are below this benchmark. To find out the BPL and APL respondents we have considered the benchmark of 32 rupees of per day expenditure of the respondents by dividing the MPCE by 30 days to find out the per day expenditure of the respondents. Here the respondents are categorised into two relative groups as follows: MPCE= 0, If the respondent is BPL. MPCE= 1, if the respondent is APL. Education and women empowerment Education is an important indicator of women empowerment. A person who has a good educational background means he or she enjoys a better standard of living as compared to an uneducated or illiterate person. It also enhances the self-confidence and self-esteem of the individual. Figure 7.2 depicts that out of 167 respondents only 73 respondents are literate and the rest who are the majority are illiterate tribal women. Here the respondents are categorised into two categories:

134  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al. ESR= 1, if the respondents are literate. ESR= 0, if the respondents are illiterate. Institutional Quality Index and women empowerment Institutional Quality Index can be defined as the standardised value of government schemes, government assistance and government training, Artisans Identity Card (AIC), Craft mela and support from Non-Government Organisations (NGO). Respondents who are associated with these institutions are in a better position than those who are not. If the tribal artisans are associated with the government schemes, government assistance, training and possess an artisan’s identity card then they are more empowered than artisans who do not avail these benefits. Empowerment Index and women empowerment Empowerment Index which is the dependent variable of the model is defined as the standardised value of freedom for taking family decisions, autonomy for selling the product, permission to go outside, participation in political forums and choice of spending; thus, we have used the standardised formula to find out this index. The formula for standardised value is X − Xmin/Xmax − Xmin.

Regression model The study has taken six determinants of women empowerment into consideration. These include Monthly Per Capita Income (MPCI), Educational Status of the Respondent (ESR), religion of the women respondents (RELIGION), age (AGE), female ratio (FEMALE) and Institutional Quality Index (INSQI). Empowerment Index (EMPI) is the dependent variable. The variables are selected based on stepwise regression and a priori reasoning. The descriptive statistics of all the variables are presented in Table 7.3.

Table 7.3 Summary Statistics of the Variables Variables

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Standard Deviation

EMPI MPCI ESR Religion Age Female INSQI

0 414 0 0 20 0 0

1 4000 1 1 85 1 1

0.79 1036.08 0.44 0.31 41.22 0.48 0.15

0.32 460.92 0.49 0.46 12.92 0.15 0.15

Source: Authors’ calculation from primary data

Empowerment via handicraft  135 The equation of the regression model can be expressed as follows: EMPI = b0 + b1 + MPCI + b2 ESR + b3 RELIGION



+ b4 AGE + b5 FEMALE + b6INSQI + ò



where, MPCI = Monthly Per Capita Income of the Women Respondent ESR = Educational Status of the Respondent RELIGION = Religion of the Respondent AGE = Age of the Respondent FEMALE = Female ratio of the household INSQI = Institutional Quality Index In Table 7.4, it is observed that all the variables in the model have their expected signs. Religion and female ratio are found to be positive but out of the six explanatory variables four variables are found to be significant in the model. These variables are MPCI, ESR, AGE and INSQI. This implies that income, education, age and institutional quality are responsible for women empowerment in the study area. The regression is found to be positive and significant. Thus, the aforementioned explanatory variables play a vital role for the socio-economic development of the tribal women.

Table 7.4 Regression Estimation Variables

Standardised coefficients (t-value)

MPCI

-0.37*** (-5.01) 0.16*** (2.20) 0.04 (0.53) 0.19*** (2.35) 0.02 (0.31) 0.14* (1.84)

ESR Religion Age Female INSQI

Source: Authors’ calculation from primary data Note: *,** and *** represent 10%, 5% and 1% levels of significance, respectively

136  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al.

Probit model estimation Probit model is the estimation model that emerges from the normal CDF i.e., Cumulative Distribution Function which is also known as the Normit model. The Probit model assumes that the respondent’s participation in all the decision making activities of the household and political forums showcases empowerment which in turn depends upon an unobservable utility index, also known as Latent variables. It is also determined by a group of explanatory variables such as MPCI, ESR, INSQI, AGE, FEMALE and RELIGION. Assuming a positive relationship in a multivariate regression analysis, we estimate the hypothesis that the higher the value of each regression, the larger will be the value of the probability of women empowerment. We can express the index in the format of Probit model as:



I = b0 + b1 + MPCI + b1 ESR + b2 RELIGION + b3 AGE + b4 FEMALE + b5INSQI + u



The dependent variable is EMPI that is empowerment index (Ii), which is 1 if the woman is empowered and 0, if not empowered. In Table 7.5, it is observed that out of six explanatory variables, MPCI is the significant determinant of tribal women empowerment. Women respondents who earn more are more empowered compared to women who earn less. Age is also a determinant of empowerment i.e. when a woman ages and hence subsequently becomes more mature, she is empowered by taking household decisions and participates in political forums to caste vote at the age of 18.   Finally, the Chi-square statistics for the Probit model is statistically significant. It is clear from the empirical analysis that all determinants taken into consideration have their usual signs towards women empowerment.

Table 7.5 Probit Model Estimation Variables

Estimate

Z-value

MPCI ESR RELIGION AGE FEMALE INSQI INTERCEPT

.00 (0.00) 0.002 (0.02) 0.008 (0.03) –0.002 (0.001) 0.01 (0.09) –0.005 (0.08) –3.17 (0.08)

2.15 (0.03) 0.09 (0.92) 0.25 (0.79) –1.75 (0.07) 0.10 (0.91) –0.06 (0.95) –39.15 (0.00)

Source: Authors’ calculation from primary data

Empowerment via handicraft  137 Table 7.6 Correlations of Parameter Estimates Variables

MPCI

ESR

Religion

Age

Female

INSQI

MPCI ESR Religion Age Female INSQI

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

−0.24 0.001 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.06 0.09 0.001 0.00 0.00 0.00

−0.31 0.33 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.16 0.02 −0.13 0.03 0.009 0.00

0.01 −0.01 0.07 0.33 −0.04 0.006

Source: Authors’ calculation from primary data Note: *,**and *** represent 10%, 5% and 1% levels of significance, respectively.

Table 7.7 Chi-Square Tests

Pearson Goodness of Fit Test

Chi-square

Df

247.83***

160

Source: Authors’ own calculation Note: *,** and *** represent 10%, 5% and 1% levels of significance, respectively.

Summary and conclusion It may be concluded that tribal women empowerment (EMPI) depends on some independent or explanatory variables. On the basis of primary data analysis and regression model analysis, it is found that Monthly Per Capita Income (MPCI), Educational Status of the Respondent (ESR), Institutional Quality Index (INQI) and age (AGE) are the determinants of women empowerment as they are significant and positive. Literate tribal artisan women are earning more as compared to the women who are illiterate. Institutional quality index plays a vital role for the empowerment of tribal women. Women who have artisan’s identity card, getting financial support during pregnancy under the state-supported Mamata Yojana, and getting training programme from government are more empowered. As far as the objectives are concerned, the study has taken the help of Probit model. At the very outset, the variables have been scrutinised. Out of six variables only Monthly Per Capita Income (MPCI) is found to be positive and significant in the model. Age is found to be positive but statistically significant. The study also reveals that women who are engaged in bamboo craft are earning more and getting training from government, but women who are engaged in golden grass do not get any training programme from government and their standard of living is lower than those engaged in bamboo craft. The study has also attempted to understand the socio-economic conditions of tribal artisans based on their autonomy, mobility and participation in decision making.

138  Bikash Ranjan Mishra et al. The qualitative data analysis results reveal that women who are engaged in bamboo craft are earning relatively more and getting sufficient government support in comparison to those tribal women who are engaged in golden grass craft. The study also finds that elderly and widowed tribal women take all the household decisions. The newly married artisans are deprived of such privileges and they have to wait for their husband’s approval even for marketing of their own handicraft products. Primary data analysis also confirms that there is interference of middlemen for marketing of the handicraft products and poor women artisans are not getting their due market price. They are forced to sell the products at the mercy of the middlemen as the former lack the means of communication. Majority of the welfare schemes by the government have only reached their ears and not their hands. The regression analysis results reveal that higher income through handicraft business and more aged and educational experience of the households along with accessibility to better institutional quality, pave the path for higher socio-economic development of tribal women resulting in their empowerment.

Policy recommendations Based on the major findings, the study recommends the following policy prescriptions. Firstly, the government should prioritise for the upliftment of tribal women artisans by providing them free training and financial assistance and appropriate market price for their products. Secondly, the government should ensure that the welfare schemes and measures benefit the entire tribal community instead of reaching the pockets of a few individuals. Thirdly, the regulators should keep a keen vigil on the middlemen who are purchasing the handicrafts from the poor tribal women at throwaway prices and selling them in the market with huge profit margins. Both the central and state governments should provide subsidies to tribal artisans and should ensure that the subsidy amount is used for craft making. Artisans should be provided with identity cards and local craft mela should be organised by the government at regular intervals which in turn will boost them to sell their products at the market price. There are several studies available which focus on women empowerment and their challenges and issues. But very few studies have explored empirically the socio-economic determinants of tribal women empowerment through handicrafts. This study would add some important dimensions to the existing literature on social science research in general and tribal women empowerment in particular. However, there certainly is a scope for future research and exploration. The present study is quite restricted given the limitations in data availability at the micro level. More relevant variables could be incorporated, and further studies could be undertaken focusing on other existing issues of tribal women.

Empowerment via handicraft  139

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8

Forest Right Act and the problems and prospects of non-timber forest product management A study on particularly vulnerable tribal groups of Odisha Niharranjan Mishra and M. Sanatan Rao

Forest has always been a prominent source of sustenance and livelihood for human civilisation. There is a natural dependence of the human society on forest and its various products. Forests are reservoirs of multiple products, both biological and non-biological. For tribal communities, natural resources like forests serve as safety-nets in coping with agricultural shortfalls, consistently providing income and food security. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) consist of all the forest products with the exception of timber (wood). However, until now there have been many debates regarding the definition and scope of NTFP. NTFPs cover large varieties of medicinal plants, honey, leaves, broom grasses, fruits, seeds, nuts, roots, fuel woods, tree barks, tubers, fodders and spices collected by forest dwellers. Women are the primary gatherers of these forest products, though men and children also participate in the task. Non-Timber Forest Management covers all activities such as collection, processing, storage, value addition and marketing. It is an important source of livelihood for millions of people throughout the world. In India, forest provides diverse products for subsistence and cash income to tribal and rural communities. Around 100 million people who live in and around the forests of India depend heavily on the collection and marketing of NTFPs. Nearly half of the country’s forest revenue and 70 per cent of the export forest revenue come from NTFPs. Despite the substantial role of NTFPs in rural economy of India, their prospective and potentialities are not properly utilised and their contribution to women empowerment and poverty alleviation has been minimal. For nutritional and health requirements nearly 80 per cent of the developing world depends on NTFPs (FAO, 1997). The significance of forest has increased since products like medicine, food, fodder, timber, and fuel wood, provide various benefits and act as a source of income through procurement and trade of such items. It is being promoted by many international development agencies as a tool for sustainable development. It is viewed as a means to enhance livelihood strategies of rural communities, while DOI: 10.4324/9781003000983-8

142  Niharranjan Mishra and M. Sanatan Rao sustaining the local biodiversity. Added to that, forest has been the basic source of medicines, construction items for shelter, rituals and cultural practices, along with the availability of food. It is a basic source of livelihood for various local communities and groups that have a direct link with the forest areas. Therefore, it is pertinent to know more about NTFPs chiefly because they can be considered as a medium for forest resource conservation and economic growth. One-fourth of the world’s poor rely on forests for their livelihood, and this reliance may be direct or indirect (World Bank, 2001). NTFPs play a significant role in sustaining rural livelihoods and household incomes throughout the developing countries (Mukul et al., 2016). In developing countries, millions of people mostly from village areas incorporate these items daily and sell them in local markets or to available traders as a means of livelihood (Van Andel, 2006). Citing the consequences of negligence of agriculture and forestry, Neumann and Hirsch (2000) claimed that this has increased deforestation, unemployment, pollution, soil erosion and low productivity in agricultural production. While discussing the various factors influencing the collection of NTFPs in the Amazon region of Brazil, Pattanayak and Sills (2001) found that crop diseases, unpredictable soil quality, seasonal flooding, transportation price, pests, land tenures and existing public policies were the major factors. NTFPs, besides meeting the subsistence needs play a good source of alternative income and employment during lean seasons. It also protects against risk and household tragedies (FAO, 1992). But, because of their remote location, sparse and scattered population, poor human capital development and inaccessibility from the mainstream economy, forest-based villages have not received much help from government departments and other development agencies. Despite government’s repeated assertion for the betterment of the tribal population, faulty design and poor implementation strategies have stood as major constraints in the development of the tribals (Menon, 2003). A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal on forest and tribal economy in Odisha informs that for most of the tribal households, half of their income comes from forests. Dwivedi claimed that 20–25 per cent of total annual food requirement of 80 per cent of forest dwellers in the state of Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh come from forests (1993). Bhattacharya and Hayat’s 2003 study on NTFPs stressed on the activities essential for sustainable management of NTFPs. They claimed that awareness generation among communities, application of science and technology in NTFP processing, value addition and building capacities of locals are the key approaches for enhancing rural livelihood and income generation. Bhattacharya et al. (2003) highlighted the need for method of sustainable NTFP management and the development of NTFPs based on micro enterprises by providing all kinds of support in terms of finance, infrastructure and institutions which could entail desirable results. The governance issues associated with NTFPs-based micro-enterprises are also major concerns according to the author. Chakravarti (1990) emphasised on

Non-timber forest product management  143 Roy Burman Committee’s recommendations on conservation and storage mechanism to yield a sustainable income for the tribal people. Yet, even though NTFPs contribute to employment opportunities and sustainable livelihood, their potential is grossly neglected. Despite generous availability of forest products in tribal regions of India, most of the tribal communities suffer from poverty and food crises. The Forest Rights Act (FRA), which came into force in 2006 has not succeeded in giving justice to the tribal communities. Gross negligence and adoption of faulty mechanisms in its implementation have failed to bring positive outcomes to the tribal communities specifically in the case of NTFPs. Mere transfer of individual and community rights over forest resources has not resolved the long-pending livelihood issues of tribal communities. Rather it has kept them at the crossroads.

Methodology Within the given context the present chapter explores the problems and potentials of forest-based micro-entrepreneurship in tribal regions of Odisha. It seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the vulnerable tribal communities in the NTFP sector, which is integral to their livelihood and survival. It is based on a study conducted on particularly vulnerable tribal communities living in Fifth Schedule areas of Odisha using stratified sampling method. The study was conducted in the forest fringe areas of Odisha in the tribal belt of the state where the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) reside. Samples were collected from four PVTGs such as Paudi Bhuiyan tribe of Sundargarh district, Juanga tribe of Keonjhar district, Lanjia Soura tribe of Rayagada and Kutia Kondh tribe of Kandhamal district. The study covered four districts of Odisha, two from the northern part and rest from the southern part of the state. A total of 300 households were considered covering 75 households from each district. Apart from the households, all other stakeholders of NTFP management such as officials from forest department, traders, tribal departments and agencies working for tribal development such as Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Micro Project Agencies of the respective PVTGs and Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation of Odisha Limited (TDCCOL), which is the nodal agency for management of NTFPs in the state, were equally interacted with. In addition to the logistic regression model, different statistical instruments and analytical tools were used for the interpretation of primary and secondary data.

Analytical framework and econometric specification: binary logistic regression The analysis of the characteristics of NTFP user households wase done utilising standard deviation, frequencies and means and standard error through

144  Niharranjan Mishra and M. Sanatan Rao descriptive statistics. Binary logistic regression was used to regulate factors that influenced reliance of households on non-timber forest products. There are several methods to analyse data involving binary outcomes. However, in the present study logit model has been used over other methods. In the logistic regression model, regardless of the values of the independent variable which have advantages over linear probability model, the predicted probabilities for the dependent variable are never less than (or equal to) zero, or greater than (or equal to) one. Here, we have taken household dependency upon NTFP as a dependent variable. The dependent variable is dichotomous here. If a household earning is equal to or more than 25 per cent of the total income from NTFPs then it will take the value 1 or 0. Otherwise the analysis is made with respect to other socio-economic and institutional factors which determine the household’s dependency on NTFPs. The specification of the logit model is as follows:

Pi = E (Y = 1 | X ) = a + b1x1 + b2 x2 +  + bk xk

where X is vector of independent variables and Y=1 means the studied household dependency upon NTFPs, given the household socio-economic and institutional characteristics. Now the household’s dependency upon NTFPs can be represented as follows;

Pi = E (Y = 1 | X ) =

1 - a + b x + b x ++ bk xk ) 1+ e ( 1 1 2 2

We can re-write as

Pi =

1 ez = z - z 1+ e ( i) 1+ e

where

Zi = a + b1x1 + b2 x2 +  + bk xk

ïìPi = probability of householdsdependency upon NTFPs; then If í îï (1 - Pi ) = the probability of non-dependency upon NTFPs Then

1 - Pi =

1 1 + e Zi

Therefore,

Pi 1 + e Zi = = e Zi 1 - Pi 1 + e - Zi

Non-timber forest product management  145 Pi is the odds ratio in favor of household dependency upon 1 - Pi NTFPs—it is the ratio of the probability of a household dependent upon NTFPs to the probability of non-dependency upon NTFPs. Now it is transformed by taking natural logarithm on both sides Now



æ P ln ( HDNTFPs ) = ln ç i è 1 - Pi

ö ÷ = Zi ø



Zi = a + b1x1 + b2 x2 +  + b15x15

Specifically, the following logit model is estimated

HDNTFPs = a + b1x1 + b2 x2 +  + b15x15 + ei

where Pi probability of dependence on the NTFPs, 1–Pi; probability of nondependence on the NTFPs α; intercept, βi coefficients, εi error term where HDNTFPs is a dummy variable that takes the value equal to 1 if the households dependent upon NTFPs otherwise zero, while the independent variables are which determine the households’ dependency upon NTFPs. In the case of independent variable some dummy and some continuous variables are taken for the analysis. Table 8.1 depicts the details about the variables used in the analysis. Table 8.1 Description of Independent Variables Used in the Logit Model Variables Description X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 X11 X12 X13 X14 X15

Unit of measurement

Sex of the NTFPs collectors Family ftructure

Dummy: Male=1; Female=0 Dummy: Nuclear family=1. Joint family/single headed=0 Religion of the HH Dummy: Hindu=1; Christian=0 Age of the head of the HH Number of years Land holding of the households Total own land size in acres Educational qualification Years of schooling Income from agriculture Rupees Income from daily wage labour Rupees No of family members involved in Number of people engaged in the collection collection process (in number) Distance covered to collect NTFP In numbers of kilometers Aware about MSP of NTFP declared Dummy; 1=Yes, 0=No by the Government of Odisha Households collect nationalised NTFP Dummy; 1=Yes, 0=No Knowledge about value addition Dummy; 1=Yes, 0=No HH have IFR Patta under FRA 2006 Dummy:1=If the HH have IFR Patta and 0=otherwise HH aware about FRA or PESA in Dummy; Aware=1, Otherwise=0 the areas

Source: Authors’ own classification from various sources.

146  Niharranjan Mishra and M. Sanatan Rao The household’s dependence on NTFPs was analysed using binary logistic regression. The dependency of NTFPs was noted as 1 and the non-dependency was recorded as 0. If the ratio of NTFP income to total income is equal to or more than 25 percent then households were regarded as dependent on the NTFPs. The households were considered as non-dependent if this ratio was less than 25 percent. All the above-mentioned items were taken into consideration to study the household’s dependency upon NTFPs. All the above-mentioned items were taken into consideration to study the household’s dependency upon NTFPs.

Results and discussion The logit model has been employed to determine factors that influence households’ dependence on NTFPs. The dependent variable that we have taken here is dichotomous in nature. If the household is dependent upon NTFP, it takes the values 1 and 0, otherwise the household dependency on NTFP is measured if he/she obtains more than or equal to 25 per cent of the total income from NTFPs annually. Several other independent variables that affect the households to depend upon NTFPs as a source of income are elaborately discussed and how they affect the dependent variable has been depicted in Table 8.2. As the logit model is linear, the usual OLS Method cannot estimate it. So, to estimate the logit model, the method of Maximum likelihood is used for the estimation. Before estimation of the model, the test of multicollinearity was made to assess whether the variables were correlated among themselves or not. The results showed that there was absence of multicollinearity among the explanatory variables used in the logistic regression. Table 8.2 depicts the results. The result from the above table shows that variables like family structure, religion, educational qualification of the HH, income from agriculture, income from daily-wage labour, households’ collection of Nationalised NTFPs from the forest, HH awareness about their rights under FRA and Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) are statistically significant while the remaining variables are not statistically significant and do not have any impact on the household’s dependency upon NTFPs. The family structure is significant at 5 per cent level of significance. Ceteris paribus, the more the number of nuclear family, the more will be the probability of the dependency upon NTFPs. The reason for this is due to breakdown of joint family; the nuclear families are facing problems in getting labourers to cultivate, which leads to division of lands. Religion of the households is significant at 1% level and has the negative sign. As the sign is negative, it shows a negative relationship. As the families belong to Hindu religion, the probability of dependence upon NTFPs will be less. In the studied region, the Lanjia Soura tribe which are converted into Christianity are able to market the products at remunerative

1.693143 3.696524*** 0.1300347*** 1.014191 1.280272 0.9298272* 0.9999656* 0.9999145* 0.8485698 1.214164 0.4168078* 1.06405* 0.7377265 0.825934 0.0527102*** 4.018772

Sex of the NTFPs collectors Family structure Religion of the HH Age of the head of the HH Land holding of the households Educational qualification Income from agriculture Income from daily wage labour No of family members involved in collection Distance covered to collect NTFP Aware about MSP of NTFP declared by the GoO Households collect nationalised NTFP Knowledge about value addition HH having IFR Patta under FRA 2006 HH aware about FRA or PESA in the areas

Constant

*** p