Tribal Development Administration in India

The present volume is a collection of some highly informative and thought-provoking papers contributed by nineteen experts on the theme of Tribal Development in India.’ The term ‘Tribal’ used by the authors in their papers, represents those communities or groups which have been included in the list of Scheduled Tribes in the Indian Constitution. Tribal areas of the Indian present an extremely complex socio-economic situation. During the pre-Independence days, the tribal areas were grossly neglected and chronically backward but after Independence, a special treatment was given to these areas. They were reorganised and the governors of states were given regulation-making powers for tribal development administration. The main thrust during the first three Five Year Plans was on economic development while in the Fourth Plan a specific target group development approach was adopted. For Tribal development attention should be focused on equitable distribution of wealth, full utilisation of manpower and better use of natural resources. The book gives a masterly exposition of the subject and contains very useful information about how tribal development took the present shape through various Five Year Plans. Useful suggestions have been advanced by the specialists whose papers have been included in this volume. Some comprehensive suggestions have been made by them for poverty alleviation and economic uplift of the tribals. This volume, it is hoped, will be found highly useful not only by the administrators associated with tribal areas and their development but also by all those who are interested in the research projects related to other social sciences like Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, etc.

Dr. Ashok Ranjan Basu, IAS (b. 1945) had a brilliant academic career. A gold medalist, he did his M.A. (Public administration) from the Panjab University, Securing first position in first class. He did his M.A. (Metropolital Planning) at the University of Liverpool (U.K.) and M.Sc. (Physics) from Patna University. He obtained a Ph.D. from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and D.Litt. from Magadh University Bodh Gaya. He also obtained diplomas in Export Management and Labour Laws before joining the Administrative Service. He is an International Associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute (London), a Fellow of the International Institute of management Sciences (Calcutta) and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London. He has served as a guest faculty at a number of leading national institutes and attended many national and international seminars. He has published six books including Tribal Development Programmes and Administration in India. Dr. Basu is a life member of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi and also an Academic Counsellor in the faculty of Business Management in the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Formerly, the Director of Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration, Shimla, he is currently Special Secretary (Finance) Govt. of Himachal Pradesh Shimla. Dr. Satish Chandra Nijhawan (b. 1953), after having done his M.A. (Hindi) from Kurukshetra University was awarded with M.Phil (First Class) in 1977 by the M.D. University, Rohtak and Ph.D. in 1984 by the H.P. University, Shimla. A seasoned teacher having over a decade’s professional experience, currently he is an Associate Professor at the H.P. Institute of Public Administration Shimla. He has published a large number of research articles in various journals