ABSTRACT:

Even today, in a state like Kerala, which is highly appreciated for its social development (especially in terms of education and growth of employment in tertiary sector), is inhabited with a group of communities identified as indigenous people subjected to abject poverty due to dependency on low-paid and degrading jobs which is of course a cause and result of educational deprivation. Even after several welfare and development programmes, this community still lies in the lowest rung of development. The benefits of welfare programmes are only reaching to some communities who are almost in the path of development. This research paper aims to analyse the inter tribe variation among three tribal communities of Wayanad (Paniya, Kuruma and Kattunaicka), with respect to their educational status and structural transformation in employment.

 

INTRODUCTION:

Peripheral communities in the ‘Kerala Model of Development’ had always gone unnoticed behind the attractive figures of human development. The factors that were kingpins in the chariot of Kerala’s development experience have played only a limited role in the human development of these outlier communities (CSSEIP 2009). Among the outlier communities, tribal communities are perhaps the most disadvantaged ones and lies at the lowest rung of the process of development.

 

The word tribal or adivadi brings to our mind a picture of half-naked men and women, with arrows and spears in their hands, feathers in their heads, and speaking on unintelligible language, their lives often combined with myths of savagery and cannibalism. Even when majority of the communities in the world kept changing their life-styles, competed with each other and developed materialistic instincts to keep pace with the “progress” of the world, there were communities still living in line with their traditional values, customs and beliefs (Nithya 2014). Stephen corry has defined tribal people as “those which have followed way of life for many generations that are largely self-sufficient and are clearly different from the mainstream and dominant society”. They live in cloistered, exclusive remote and inhospitable areas such as hills and forests having their own distinctive culture, language and religion and have a marginal degree of contact with other cultures and people.

For the past few decades, the greatest challenge before Government is the upliftment of this marginalised group. Recognizing the urgency of the problem, both the state and central government has initiated several projects, underlying basic objective behind all these have been the emancipation of the tribal communities. Nevertheless, by any standard these people remain the most backward section of the society (Kunhaman 1985). Here lies the research question that apart of all these efforts initiated by the policy makers why do the tribal communities still remain as the marginalised to whom the fruits of development have not been reached? The inter community variations among tribal communities might have a greater role in answering this question.

 

The tribal communities show much difference not only from non tribes but also from one another. These differences relate to language, social organization, means of subsistence, educational and employment status, health conditions and standard of living (Kattakayam 1993). Some communities are better off than others in all dimensions of human life (John 2015).There are tribes who live in forests and are exclusively dependent on forests for their livelihood by practicing hunting and food gathering. With their primitive technology, limited skills and traditional and ritual practices their lifestyle revolves around the forests. On the other hand there are a few tribal communities, which have been totally assimilated in the national mainstream. However, a large segment of tribal population has been leading the life between these two stages of socio economic development.

 

This paper hence focuses on the inter community disparities among scheduled tribes with respect to educational status and structural transformation. To conduct the study, three communities of Wayanad district were selected. These communities are Kattunaickas, Paniyas and Kurumas.

 

Tribal Population in Kerala and Wayanad :

An Overview:

According to the 2011 Census, there are 36 communities notified in the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Kerala. The total Scheduled Tribe population is 4,84,839. Out of this 4,33,092 are in rural areas and 51,747 in urban areas.

 

In terms of proportion, the Scheduled Tribe population constitute 1.45% of the total population. The proportion during the last census was 1.14% .Thus there has been an increase of 0.36% in the proportion during the last decade. The highest proportion of Scheduled Tribe has been recorded in Wayanad (18.53%) and lowest in Thrissur (0.30%).

 

The Scheduled Tribe population in absolute numbers has increased by 1,20,650. The highest number of Scheduled Tribe has been recorded in Wayanad (1,51,443) and the lowest in Alappuzha (6,574). In terms of gender composition there are 2,38,203 male Scheduled Tribe population (Rural-2,13,208 and Urban-24,995) and 2,46,636 female Scheduled Tribe population ( Rural-2,19,884 and Urban-26,752). Sex ratio of ST population in Kerala is 1035. It is worthwhile mentioning that the list of Scheduled Tribes in Kerala had undergone changes during the decade 2001-2011 resulting in change in proportion of Scheduled Tribe.

 

The population of Scheduled Tribes in the Wayanad District in 2011 is 151443 consisting of 74476 males and 76967 females. This accounted for 31.24 per cent of Scheduled Tribe population in the State. In 2001 Census the population of Scheduled Tribes in the District was 136062 which was 37.36 per cent of the Scheduled Tribe population of the State.  The decadal growth of Scheduled Tribe population in the District was 11.30 per cent as against 33.13 per cent in the State during 2001-2011. The Major Tribes in the District are Paniyan, Kurichachan/Kurichian, Kurumans/ Mullu Kuruman/ Mulla Kuruman/Mala Kuruman, Kattunayakan and Adiyan. In 2011 Census there are 66068 Paniyans consisting of 32034 males and 34034 females. Majority of them live in rural areas of the District. 96.76 per cent of the Paniyan population live in rural areas of the District. The population of Kurichachan/Kurichian is 25093 consisting of 12746 males and 12347 females.  Of this 99.30 per cent are living in rural areas. The population of Kurumans/ Mullu Kuruman/ Mulla Kuruman/Mala Kuruman is 23591 with 11693 males and 11898 females and 98.07 per cent of them are living in rural areas. Kattunayakan and Adiyan are 14557 and 10996 respectively. 99.18 per cent of Kattunayakan and 99.89 per cent of Adiyan live in rural areas.

 

Educational Status of Scheduled Tribes:

Education is the basic requirement for human development. With education, employment opportunities are broadened and income levels are increased. The development of an individual and the progress of a nation depend on education. Realising these facts, the Government of India and the state Governments have been implementing various education schemes and programmes for the development of the tribesfolk.

 

The importance and antiquity of education in Kerala is underscored by the state's ranking as among the most literate in the country. But the development strategies to promote education were least affected to the marginalized sections of the society, particularly among the tribes. A chunk of tribal population in Kerala is still out of reach even in basic literacy.

 

The literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes in Kerala in 2011 is 75.81 per cent, 80.76 per cent and 71.08 per cent for persons, males and females respectively. Among the Districts highest literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes in the State is in Kottayam (94.34 per cent) and the lowest in Palakkad District (61.48 per cent). Literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes in Wayanad District is 70.52 per cent, 76.97 per cent and 64.33 per cent for persons, males and females respectively.  In the case of Scheduled Tribes in the rural areas of the District, the literacy rate is 70.46 per cent, 76.95 per cent and 64.23 per cent for persons, males and females respectively. The urban literacy rate among the Scheduled Tribes is 72.90 per cent, 77.94 per cent and 68.81 per cent for persons, males and females respectively. Table 1 shows the Literacy Rate of General Population, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of State and Wayanad District during 2011 Census.

 

Table 1: Literacy Rates of SC/STs and General Population

State / District	Literacy Rate(Persons)
	General Population	Scheduled Castes	Scheduled Tribes
Kerala	94.0	88.7	75.8
Wayanad District	89.0	86.4	70.5

Census Report 2011

 

The educational status of Scheduled Tribes of Kerala is much better compared to the national average but the educational distance between tribal population and rest of the population of Kerala is significant.

 

Exploring Inter – Tribe Variation in Educational Attainments:

To explore the inter tribe disparities, three major communities (Paniyas, Kattunaickas and Kurumas) of Wayanad district were selected. A survey conducted among 90 households (30 household from each community) of Pulpally Panchayat clearly depicts the variations among different communities in educational attainment.

 

Table 2: Educational status of different communities

Educational Status	Community
	Kattunaicka	Paniya	Kuruma
Children below the age of 5	13%	11%	8%
Illiterates	7%	6%	0.6%
Primary	22%	23%	18%
Secondary	55%	53%	41%
SSLC	2%	6%	16%
Higher Secondary	0	0	11%
Graduate	0	0.7%	5%
Total	149	141	148

Source: Calculated from Primary survey

 

As figured out in the table there is differences in the educational status of three different communities of Wayanad district. Kurumas possess better educational status compared to Kattunaickas and Paniyas. This inter community disparity among Scheduled Tribes impedes all development efforts put forward to improve the educational status of these people. Reservations and other welfare programmes will be again enjoyed by those communites which have already got into the path of development.

 

From the primary survey conducted it was observed that majority of the Tribal people did not attend the schools due to lack of interest and one major reason for lack of interest in studies is the financial problem they face and lack of parental support. The children are required for earning and hence the family does not provide much support to the children to spend their time in schools.

 

Structural Transformation in Employment:

Structural transformation in employment is one important feature of Kerala’s Economy. The shift in employment from primary to the tertiary sector is an important change that took place and grabbed the attention of all other developing economies. The policies that had led to such a transformation have excluded the Tribal Communities from it ( Shyjan & Sunitha 2009).

 

While comparing the work participation rate among STs and general population, it is high among Scheduled Tribes.But 59.49% of STs are agricultural labourers wheras as in the case of general population is 14.18. A huge population of STs are still stucked in primary sector. The percentage of population working in service sector is very low.

 

 

 

 

Analysing Inter – Tribe Variation in Structural Transformation:

The difference in type of work engaged can not only be seen among the Scheduled Tribe and General population, but also with the Tribal Communities. Compared to some communites others are showing some kind of occupational mobility. According to results from primary survey, among the communities like Paniya and Kattunaicka there is zero percentage representation in service sector. Eventhough small, among Kurumans there are people working in Government services.

 

Table 3 Activity Status

Activity Status	Communities
	Kattunaickas	Paniyas	Kurumas
Unpaid Family Worker	28%	37%	27%
Wage Labourer	66%	58%	45%
Agriculturist	0	0	15%
Livestock Rearing	6%	2%	2%
Employed in Government Service	0	0	8%
Employed in Private	0	2%	2%
Total Working Age Population	93	91	91

Source: Collected from Primary Survey

 

The Structural Transformation in Employment that Kerala has witnessed isn’t applicable in the case of most marginalised section of Kerala’s economy, Scheduled Tribes. Even after providing a number of employment generating programmes and reservations the communities like Kattunaickas and Paniyas are no were in the scenario. The reason behind this may be the inter community disparity persisting among within these communities. The benefits of policies are enjoyed by the forward community like Kurumas. When Government introduces more and more policies to uplift Tribal Community as a whole, the inter community gap widens. The backward community remains as they were.

 

Causality between Educational Status and Structural Transformation in Employment:

Education and Structural Transformation are two interlinked concepts. In this research paper, by Structural Transformation we mean occupational mobility. From the literatures itself there is evidences that generally Scheduled Tribes are occupationally immobile. Even though Their Work Participation are high, They are still stuck within the primary sector. If there is a certain level of mobility that can only be seen among certain communities. Among the three communities selected in this study, Kurumas belong to that category.

 

Evidences from primary survey clearly depict causality between educational status and occupational mobility. The Communities which have better educational status shows structural transformation in their employment. A reverse relation was also seen while conducting primary survey. The parents who are well employed or who have been transformed from primary sector to forward had taken care in sending their children to school and promoting their education. Hence we can establish causality between Educational Attainments and Structural Transformation in Employment.

 

 Education is the key factor in a person’s development. Educational Status has got its impact on the standard of living of an individual thereby overall development of the economy. But the programmes and policies to promote Education will only gain success if the family is financially secure and they have a regular source of income. From the primary survey conducted, one of the major findings regarding Educational attainment and Structural Transformation was that Land has a major role to play in this scenario. The causality is not only between Education and Structural Transformation but these two factors have causality with the size of land holdings. The Kuruma community possess land i.e. the size of land holding among Kuruma community is much higher compared to Paniyas and Kattunaickas. The entitlements among Kurumas have resulted in the development of their Educational status and Structural Transformation.

 

CONCLUSION:

In spite of the efforts of the last four decades under Tribal Sub Plan to bring this most disadvantaged section of the population on par with the rest of the society, they continue to be outliers, with the added danger of being pushed away from the development scenario.

 

Though the Government is spending crores of amounts on Tribal Sub Plan, it is not reaching the destination. Government has introduced a wide number of policies to promote Education and generate Employment among Tribal Communities. Still their backwardness in Education and occupational immobility is a major concern of the Policy makers. The failure of these programmes is due to the lack of proper implementation of inclusive growth policies. The policies and programmes are to be designed as per the situational needs and their varied and disaggregated status of living conditions.

 

REFERENCES:

CSSEIP (2009), Human Development Report of Tribal Communities in Kerala, Kerala State Planning Board, Thiruvananthapuram.

Kattakayam, Jacob John (1983), Tribal Situation in Kerala, D.K publishers distributers, New Delhi.

Kunhaman, M (1985), The Tribal Economy of Kerala an intra – regional analysis, Economic and Political Weekly, pp 466, Vol XX, No.11, March 16.

Shyjan, D and Sunitha, AS (2009), Changing Phases of Kerala’s Development Experience and the Exclusion of Scheduled Tribes: Towards an Explanation, Artha Vijnana, pp 340, Vol L1, No.4, December.

Government of Kerala (2015), Economic Review, Kerala State Planning Board, Thiruvananthapuram.

John, O.J (2015), Development Paradigm of Tribal Communities in Kerala, a paper presented at International Congress on Kerala Studies, March 2015

Nithya, N.R (2014), Globalization and the Plight of Tribals: The Case of Kerala, India, The Dawn Journal, accessed at http://thedawnjournal.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/5-Nithya-N.R..pdf.]