NGOS AND TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA: ISSUES AND CONCERNS
| Author | Siuli Mukherjee |
| DOI | 10.1177/0973598412110004 |
| Date | 01 June 2012 |
| Published date | 01 June 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
NGOs
AND
TRIBAL
DEVELOPMENT
IN
INDIA:
IssuEs
AND
CoNCERNS
Sruu
Mu~HERJEE
Asst.
Professor,
Departmen
t of
Political
Science
South
Calcutta
Girl's
Coll
ege
e.mail:
siuli_mukherjee@yahoo.in
I.
0
From time immemorial,
India
has
a
natural
propensity
to-
wards
voluntary works. In epics
and
Hindu
mytholog'
y,
the
kings
and
the individuals practised dana for the sake of attain-
ing moksha. Such charities in the social
and
public
domain
were
highly revered as they
opened
the door to heaven. Thereafter in
ancient
and
medieval India, the form of voluntarism changed.
Voluntarism thereafter was conceived as the delivery of service
to the people for meeting their immediate needs, e.g. serving the
people
who
were
in
distress
and
got affected by
natural
calam-
ity like earthquake, flood, famine, disaster of any kind, short-
age of food
and
other
basic necessities. This continued till
the
nineteenth century
when
the conventional
mode
and
attire of
voluntarism changed again. In the
past
the voluntary activity
was an informal affair which stressed
more
and
more on charity,
relief
and
social reforms. But
in
recent times, the voluntary ac-
tivities have become
much
more professional and a rights-based
approach is
adopted
where the betterment of the beneficiary
and
more importantly, the
empowerment
of the target
groups
has
become the main focus of their activities.
At the
other
end of the spectrum, is the issue of tribal develop-
ment. The development of the tribal population in India has be n
· one of the major concerns of the government of
our
country since
!·he
attainment
of independence. The tribes constitute the weak-
est section of the Indian
population
from all angles.
Al
th.ough
.the tribes are the
'sons
of the same soil', they have been denied
· all civic facilities and amenities for centuries. The Government
of India
has
conceived
and
implemented various plans as well
·as
programmes
but
in most cases they have failed
to
yield
tl1
e
expected results. Consequently the tribal life has worsened. The
42
}AOAVPUR
jOURNAL
OF
INTERNA
T
IONAL
R ELAT
IONS
question
that
can
be
asked
at
this
point
of
time
is:
What
went
wrong?
Where
did
it
go
wrong?
Against
this
backdrop,
this
article
aims
to
establish
a
linkage
between
these
two
diverse
areas
which
are
apparently
isolated
from
each
other
but
are
in
fact closely
related.
For
the
sake
of
convenience
of
study
the
article
will
be
broadly
classified
under
two
major
heads,
viz.
Issues
and
Concerns. Firstly,
the
two
issues
of
NCO
and
Tribal
development
would
be
discussed
in
the
In-
dian
context
and
secondly,
the
area
of
concern
regarding
the
role
of
NGOs
for
the
development
of
the
tribals
would
follow
suit.
Non
Governmental
Organization
(NGO)
Before
initiating
the
study,
we
need
to
have
a
clear
conceptual
un-
derstanding
about
the
NCO
sector.
The
term
"Voluntary"
finds
its
ori
.
gin
in
the
Latin
word
"voluntas"
which
denotes
will
or
freedom.
The
term
"voluntary"
means
performing
or
a
specified
function
of
one's
ov..rn
accord
and
without
compulsion
or
promise
of
remuneration,
arising
out
of
natural
impulse,
or
done
without
any
legal
compulsion.
(Thirunavukkarasu
2009:1)
However,
the
word
'NCO',
has
passed
into
popular
usage,
particularly
from
the
early
1970s
onwards
and
is
often
referred
to as Civil Society
(CSO),
Private
Voluntary
Organizations
(PVs),
Third
Sector
Or-
ganization,
Non
State
Actors, Volags
(Voluntary
Agencies)
and
Action
Groups
(AG).
The
name
"nongovernmental
organiza-
tion"
is
perhaps
unfortunate.
It
conveys
a
negative
meaning.
Vve
do
not
call
governments
"non-private
organizations"
or
"non-
governmental
organjzations"
......
We
refer
to
voluntary,
private
organizations
that
mobilize
the
commitment
and
enthusiasm
of
volunteers
to
the
objectives
of
relieving
suffering
and
of
develop-
ment.
(Streeten 1997:194)
However,
in
the
present
day,
we
see a
mushrooming
of
Non
Gov-
ernmental
Organizations
not
only
at
the
global
level
but
also
at
the
national
level.
Certain
reasons
can
be
attributed
for
the
sud-
den
upsurge.
With
the
end
of
cold
war
and
the
slackening
of
state
sovereignty,
the
NGOs
have
come
out
of
ali shackles
of
re-
strictions
and
imposition
and
can
operate
more
spontaneously.
During
the
fiscal crisis
when
there
was
an
abrupt
budget
cut
and
the
economy
became
victimized
with
slow
growth
and
recession,
the
voluntary
organizations
stood
beside
the
poor
a
nd
the
down
-
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