Revisiting Major Approaches to Tribal Development in India: A Brief Review of Isolationist, Integrationist and Assimilative Approaches

Abstract

Three approaches, namely, isolationists, integrationists and Assimilative approaches are at the centre stage of philosophical and theoretical foundations that shape the discourses pertaining to the progress of tribal communities in India. Different schemes of tribal development implemented in India find their expression in at least one of these approaches. While the isolationist approach seeks to attain tribal development by treating tribal communities as specimens in a National Park, the integrationist approach calls for integrating the tribal communities with the mainstream. Undoubtedly, the isolationist approach has turned out to be an utter failure as it emphasizes confining the tribal communities within the forest, pushing them further to darkness and miseries. Integration is the ‘respectful merger’ of the tribal communities with the mainstream, staking a claim to an equal share of power and resources. Nevertheless, thrown into the ‘net’ of modernists from the ‘lap’ of nature in the name of integration, tribal communities have become the victims of modern industrialization. This calls for the ‘selective and slow integration’ of tribal communities with the mainstream population. However, this selective and gradual integration should be accompanied by suitable ‘protectionist’ instruments to devise an enhanced strategy aiming at the progress of the tribal communities.