COVID -19: INCESSANT LOCKDOWNS IMPACT ON TRIBAL COMMUNITY IN INDIA

Abstract

It is a well-documented fact that COVID -19 pandemic is having a ravaging effect across the world, lives, livelihoods, lifestyles, life forms and more have been heavily impacted. To control the spread of pandemic Indian government adopted different approaches like - three weeks lockdown imposing social distancing, closure of non essential and businesses and very high restrictions on the mobility of people. All these measure had repercussions on the economy and severe impact among the tribal communities because of limited resources of livelihood, lack of access to Covid-19 testing and healthcare facilities, disruption of supply chains etc. According to government sources more than 10 crore forest dwellers depend on minor forest produce (MFPs) for earning income to meet their basic expenses. Due to the extensive lock down measures government failed to provide employment to tribal people under schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY). This has triggered an increase in the dependence of the tribal population on the sale of forest produce. Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) should plan more supportive policy measures to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the living conditions of the tribal community.The paper focusses on the first wave of the pandemic and its impact on tribal community. KEY WORDS: COVID -19,lock down, tribal community, impact, minor forest produce(MFPS), ministry of tribal affairs (MoTA), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).