NGO and tribal women: A case study of odisha

Abstract

Tribals are at the bottom of the social and political ladder in India. Development projects have not only bypassed them, but have often harmed them by taking away their lands and other resources on which their livelihood was based. Unless the processes which result in their proletarianization are identified and corrective action taken to prevent it, chances are that new programmes will continue to ignore their interests as in the past. Articulation of such processes will not only lead to appropriate solutions but it also helps in sensitizing field officers who in the past often held a negative stereotype about tribals. But there are NGOs and Civil Society Organizations have been working for Tribals upliftment and betterment since years. As we know the problems can not be resolved by the Govt. alone and therefore other alternatives emerged to support the process of development. The process of inclusion started from Gandhian ideology to a democratic process of development and empowerment.