Rethinking Tribal Development: Water Management Strategies for Revitalizing Tribal Agriculture in Central India (original) (raw)

About 8 percent of the Indian population belongs to a category listed as "Scheduled Tribes" enumerated in the Schedule to Article 342 of the Constitution of India. Tribal people have been seen to be strongly associated with the forests, hills and remote areas, practising a unique life style, having a unique set of cultural and religious beliefs. Central Indian tribal homelands, comprising roughly 100 districts and running across the belly of the country [Fig. 1], are home to roughly 55 million tribal people, more than 70 percent of India's tribal population. Notwithstanding the rich vegetation and good rainfall, this belt is home to one of the largest concentrations of rural poverty in the world. For millennia, tribal communities have lived in forests and survived on hunting and gathering. However, with growing population and resource pressure, the region is now witnessing a rise in livelihoods based on settled farming. It offers a unique opportunity for enhancing tribal livelihoods through investments in land and water management.

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