The Adivasis form nearly 8 per cent of the Indian population and live in most states. Despite being one of the oldest constituents of the Indian population, barring a few states in the North-east, they are in a minority in the rest. Persistent problems faced by them-like land alienation, indebtedness, vanishing minor forest products from government forests and displacement from their ancestral lands-have led to their impoverishment. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) and the Forest Rights Act (FRA), enacted by the previous governments, were decisive steps towards the empowerment of the Adivasis.
However, at present, the implementation of these provisions has taken a back seat. The seventh volume of the Rethinking India series, in collaboration with the Samruddha Bharat Foundation, presents the views of the Adivasis and the Denotified communities on the process of development and its clash with their rights.
This volume brings together the discussion of several issues from the Adivasi perspective, which is quite different from what is done in anthropology and ethnography.