Enrich tribal life, don’t disrupt

The scene was the entrance to the Hotel Metropolitan in Mysuru. A young medical student stood at the entrance, holding a cardboard box with the words “I am a medical student. I need money to buy tetanus injections for tribal children living in the nearby forests. Please give whatever you can afford.” The people coming out of the hotel willingly dropped money ranging from coins to rupee notes. By evening, Balu would have collected all that he needed to buy injections, syringes, and antiseptic lotions for the next three days. He repeated this silent drama thrice a week, even while attending classes at the nearby medical college. The young student did not realise that he was laying the foundation for a massive tribal rehabilitation programme on the same lines as that of his mentor, Dr Hanumappa Sudarshan, who had worked miracles in the Biligiriranga hills towards the upliftment of the Soliga tribes there.

These two miracle men laid the foundation for the rehabilitation of tribal communities in this country. Now, it is the state government that must share the responsibility of looking after their welfare by providing the necessary health and education inputs. These are not like the primitive tribes who live in the Andamans that are totally cut off from civilization, like the Jarawa and Onge tribes. The tribal population of Heggadevanakote and Biligiriranga forests needed just a helping hand to rise from their poverty and improve their lives. They also needed more health and education props to help their children lead better lives. They need more schools and hospitals that will provide at least basic health care and education.

According to the 2011 census, the total Scheduled Tribe population in Karnataka was 42,46,123. What are the medical and living facilities provided by the government to rescue them from their present environment to a more civilised lifestyle? To be something more than mere tourist attractions? It is not an easy task to change the way of life of an entire population that has lived a lifestyle of its own for long, unhampered by the rules and regulations of an organised society. Education seems to be the only answer to transforming their tribal life without destroying its unique character. Once they are made aware that there are benefits to modernising thier way of life even in a forest that will help them and their children, they might accept the change. Dr Balu’s tetanus injection project is a good example. The neglected population of Heggadadevana Kote realised that a simple injection could save their children from a painful death. That acceptance changed their lives forever.

India is home to thousands of tribes that are spread across the country in forests or hill slopes. They are cut off from the rest of the country and live off the wealth of forests. This means depleting the precious resources that support them. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched several projects in partnership with non-government organisations (NGOs) to improve their lives, but with little success. That can happen only with the strategies adopted by the two pioneers of Heggadadevanakote and Bilagiriranga hills. Do not disturb their lives by relocating, but improve them through rehabilitation.

Take the tools of social change (customised to their needs) right into their homes, which they will welcome since that will not disturb them. Teach them to use these tools that will transform their lives without seeming to intrude.

Education in using the forest’s wealth intelligently should be the first step in this gradual transformation. Since education is an important tool to achieve this, its acceptance will be far easier if it is customized to their specific needs. Both the pioneers of tribal rehabilitation understood this simple truth. Today, they have rehabilitated and settled two generations of tribes without intruding into their lives.

India, apart from being home to nearly 2,500 tribes and regional groupings, has the added responsibility of educating the tribal children who need an education that is customized to their specific needs. That will be possible only with some basic teaching in skills allied to their livelihood. Such education would be more meaningful to people who have dwelt in forests for generations and connected closely with nature. If tribal families can be educated on how to use forest produce like timber and other forest wealth in an economical way, they will learn to respect the natural surroundings that sustain them. This kind of meaningful education would be more valuable than trying to impose formal learning that would be alien to their lives.

Tribal people have a close affinity with their natural surroundings. If they have depended on forest produce for generations, why disturb it? Empowering them on how to harness those skills to generate more forest wealth would be a more meaningful education.