Intra-Tribal Differences in Social Progress of the Tribes in Kerala: Realities and the Need for Inclusive Actions

Abstract

The tribes in Kerala are continuously encountering threats of development due to lack of ownership and control of the means of production, illiteracy, occupational immobility etc. They form the most deprived and vulnerable group, engendering indelible dark spots in the glorified development experience of the state, widely known as ‘the Kerala model’. Situate this community from the outliers level to the central tendency stage is of outmost necessity both in terms of equity and inclusive standpoints. This is because the notion of development has changed dramatically from just material attainment to human development which is about enlarging people’s choices and enables them to live long qualitatively and creatively in every walks of social life in the society. The article is linked to the theoretical framework of social exclusion and poverty as there has a culture of poverty among the tribes that influences all aspects of their life including social, economic, cultural, educational and developmental. The article is based on primary data using stratified random sampling method encompassing 300 samples collected from 5 clusters from Wayanad and 3 clusters from Palakkad. The article tries to explore development of the community based on the methodological framework proposed by Social Progress Imperative groups in a dichotomous framework of tribal and intra-tribal levels using Social Progress Index (SPI) embedding three basic areas of  ‘Basic Human Needs’, ‘wellbeing’ and  ‘Opportunity’. The empirical results obtained from the study shows that there is marked differences in the social progress levels of different tribal sub-groups of Kerala.

Keywords: Tribes, Social Progress Index, poverty, social exclusion, SLI