Including the excluded: Collective action and decentralisation - An account of two tribes in Goa

Abstract

During the hey days of independence in India, the concerns of the first government and the framers of the Constitution were to create an atmosphere of equal opportunity for all Indian citizens to enjoy the fruits of modernity and development. However, India’s diversity and inequality were proverbial. Many sections of the Indian society were so much backward due to centuries of exclusion and segregation that programmes of action for social development were like race among unequally positioned citizens. The tribes or the original inhabitants of the land constitute one such category of unequally positioned citizens due to historical, political and economic reasons. This paper is mainly concerned with including the excluded tribal communities in Goa, their collective mobilisations and the benefits of democratic decentralisation. After clarifying the concept tribe the paper describes independent India’s programmes of development of the tribes, the paper examines the concerns of the tribes of Goa and their collective action for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes and their welfare programmes. The paper concludes with comparing the tribe which is a Scheduled Tribe and a tribe which has not succeeded in inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes.