IMPACT OF THE NGO-PROGRAMS ON THE INCOMES OF TRIBAL POPULATION- A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED NGOs IN GUJARAT

Abstract

The Scheduled Tribes (ST) population is amongst the poorest of poor communities in India. It suffers from a variety of deprivations like malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment, low income etc. The western belt of the state of Gujarat has a considerable tribal population. The tribals of Gujarat also suffer from abject poverty as is the case in the rest of the country. Various government programs and huge budgetary allocations over the years have not been able to make any significant improvement in the levels of livings of the tribals. Under such circumstances, it would be interesting to study the role of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the economic development of these socially backward communities. The NGOs are believed to be more focused, flexible and innovative in their approach. Their better understanding of the local people, local needs, local resources and local limitations allow them to function more efficiently than the government machinery. In this context, the current research strives to study the impact of three selected NGOs on the annual incomes of the beneficiary tribal people. In order to determine the effectiveness of the programs of the NGOs, the annual incomes of 100 beneficiaries of each NGO were compared with the annual incomes of 100 non-beneficiary tribal households from the same region. The χ2 test of independence showed that there was a significant relationship between the tribals’ association with the programs of the NGO and their annual income. The annual income of the beneficiary tribals was found to be significantly higher than that of the non-beneficiary group.