1. Also called the Schedule V tribes.

2. And indeed, such confusion was widespread during the early years of British rule when all of India’s bewildering variety of communities were labelled as tribes, even when early ethnographers did note that some were identifiably ‘wild’, ‘primitive’ and ‘aboriginal’. It was not until the twentieth century that a census administrator named Herbert Risley set the tone for much of the subsequent discussion by distinguishing between ‘caste’ and ‘tribe’. For an account of the historical context in which this understanding evolved, see Anand (1995) who argues that colonial and contemporary definitions of tribal identity are closely tied to the political project of colonial (and post-colonial) discourse.

3. This is roughly what Savyasaachi (1998:27) describes as the tribals’ ‘forest universe’. Savyasaachi goes on stress the importance of the unique tribal work culture as opposed to the industrial work ethic as a source of identity for tribal communities.

4. For a detailed transcription of and commentary on the Constituent Assembly debates on the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, see Savyasaachi (1998).

5. As Shah et al imply above, these 'refuge zones' often represented lands otherwise less suited to settled agriculture, the mainstay of non-tribal society. However, as Anand (1993:5) concludes, before the advent of colonialism 'the tribals still lived in relative isolation and with a fair degree of control over their habitat' 'although often within the context of a subordinate political relationship with a dominant non-tribal power' following from 'tension and conflict and an unequal fight'.

6. The evolution of this policy is described in Savyasaachi (1998) and Anand (1995).

7. Savyasaachi (1998) goes a step further to argue that the special administrative measures established putatively for protective purposes in fact facilitated commercial forest management. One particularly striking example of this is provided by the restriction on shifting cultivation, which was often the lifeblood of tribal economy and culture. (The interested reader is referred to Elwin (1939) for an account of how this ban on bewar affected the life of the Baiga tribe).

8. An interesting, if unconventional reading of the relationship between the missionaries and the tribes they ministered is provided by Anand (1995, 1996).

9. In terms of occupation, there remain today only few tribal communities like the Birhors of Madhya Pradesh, Chenchu, Yenadi and Yeribula of Madhya Pradesh and the Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are entirely dependent on forestry and food-gathering, but even they barter these products for other goods in village markets. Most forest-dwelling tribals continue to depend on the collection of NTFPs as a major supplementary source of livelihood. An estimated million tribal cultivators engage in slash and burn shifting cultivation, covering 26.7 million acres of land. This system is known variously as ‘jhum’ in the North-eastern states, ‘poor’ in Andhra Pradesh, ‘dahiya’ or ‘bewar’ in Madhya Pradesh and ‘komar’ ‘bringu’ or ‘gudia’ in Orissa. Today settled but usually low productivity dryland subsistence agriculture is the predominant source of livelihood for the large majority of tribal people. Cottage industries are the mainstay of small scattered tribes, such as a bamboo and cane artisans.

10. For a detailed exposition of the adverse impact of forest policy on forest dwellers, see Saxena (1996).

11. To an extent, this phenomenon of tribal land alienation is universal in tribal regions world-wide because of the powerful and predatory assault by the wider ‘civilisation’ on their traditional social organisation.

12. For an in-depth analysis of the impact of big dams of vulnerable tribal populations, see Mander (1999) (mimeo).

13. Anand (1993) is a comprehensive discussion of these processes of vertical integration along class lines and emergence of a tribal elite.

14. The word Naxalite derives from Naxalbari, a nondescript small town in West Bengal, which gained fame for being the first outpost of an extreme left movement aiming at armed insurrection to overthrow the State. An elected Marxist government, bitterly opposed to the Naxalite movement, has been in power in West Bengal for around two decades, and the Naxalite movement is now almost moribund in the state of its origins. However, it remains a powerful challenge to State authority in many tribal pockets of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Orissa.

15. In the state of Andhra Pradesh where this cycle of State and Naxalite violence is possibly most entrenched today, a group of respected ‘concerned citizens’ have attempted to engage both the State and the Naxalities in a dialogue to end this violence. The success of the group has been to engage the Naxalites in the democratic debate, but violence from both sides continues unabated., See the report of the Committee of Concerned Citizens (1998).

16. Moneylending may be defined as credit transactions undertaken with or without interest, with or without mortgage of moveable or immovable property, by an individual or institution not registered by the RBI. Such an individual or institution is the moneylender.

17. For details on the protective measures instituted and implemented by the Government, refer to Mander (Mimeo).

18. Denotified Tribes are tribal groups that were designated as criminal tribes during British rule. They suffered extensively from repression, and continue to remain vulnerable in Independent India, because they have not been freed from the stigma of their past.

19. For a more detailed description of various schemes for tribal assistance as also the TSP, see Planning Commission (2000).

20. The Gandhian Thakkar Bapa, often on the opposite side of the fence from Verrier Elwin with his 'integrationist' approach to the tribal policy dilemma, was one of the first to advocate modern education for tribals 'to develop a leadership for the tribals in order that they may participate in the political life of the country' (Anand 1993:12). See Anand (1993) for a wide-ranging study of the role of education in creating such a tribal elite and promoting intra-community stratification in tribal groups.

21. For a more detailed discussion of the Bhuria Committee report as well as a critical reading of PESA, see Savyasaachi (1998), who argues that the PESA does not go far enough in advancing genuine self-rule for tribal communities.

22. One piece of anecdotal evidence, recounted by Verrier Elwin, is particularly revealing. When queried about his idea of paradise, a tribal described it as miles and miles of forest, but without a forest guard!

23. The remainder of this sub-section is derived substantially from Mander and Naik (1999).