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Paper short abstract:

The paper examines and analyses the subjective experiences and perspectives of children of Kattunayakan and Cholanaickan (forest dwelling PVTGs of Kerala, South India), towards formal education, during Pandemic and post Pandemic periods by employing in-depth fieldwork with mixed methodology.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the educational experiences of the children of Cholanaickan and Kattunayakan, the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of Nilambur Forests of Kerala, South India during Pandemic and post Pandemic situations. When the Government had launched online classes for the students across the State in order to tide over Covid-19 crisis, tribal children, who came back to their hamlets from residential school during lockdown, experienced digital divide owing to various reasons. Later, when the schools were re-opened, though the children went back to school, the issues related to learning persisted with them. It is observed that the support systems extended by the State during the Pandemic and post Pandemic periods could not address the issues of the children as expected. By employing in-depth fieldwork with mixed methodology, this paper tries to explore the educational experiences of the children of Kattunayakan and Cholanaickan; and their encounter with the unwell world from an emic perspective.

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Paper short abstract:

Paper primarily focusing on tribal women of Gond and Santal vis-a-vis their empowerment during the Pandemic in tribal hinterlands.

Paper long abstract:

The recent pandemic has been - by both nature and definition - a world-wide phenomenon, and has had a proportional effect on the tribal communities of India. Due to their state of persistent impoverishment, such communities are economically vulnerable, and as such have further destabilized in the aftermath of the pandemic. This has led to abolishment of their primary sources of income. Tribal women affected the most from this phenomenon as they have to take care of their family, children, elderly people and also their agriculture. This has direct bearing on their empowerment and which has resulted during pandemic.

Our paper is focusing on these related aspects among the two tribes, Gond of Madhya Pradesh and Santal of West Bengal, India. A dearth of import-export facilities as well as suspension of local markets resulted the Gond suffer from unemployment in the study area. Santhal communities, on the other hand, are typically reliant on handicraft and tourism both of which suffered a similar fate during the cessation of market and tourist activities during the pandemic. Our paper primarily depends on both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data is gathered from the hamlets of Lalpur area of Anuppur district, Madhya Pradesh and Bolpur area of Birbhum district of West Bengal by ethnographic method. The secondary sources of data is gathered from published and unpublished sources of government and non-government agencies.

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Paper short abstract:

During the pandemic in India, COVID has directly affected economically higher sections of society. On the other hand, the marginalised sections belonging to the economically deprived groups and socially backward communities have been indirectly affected due to the additional burden due to COVID.

Paper long abstract:

COVID 19 was an not only challenge for the economically higher sections of society, but also, had affected the livelihood chances of majority of the marginalised population in India. While, the economically higher sections of Indian society were affected mainly due to comorbidities and other forms of concern like loss of jobs, inadequate medical facilities, livelihood challenges, complete change in structure of social life. The lives of marginalised population were affected indirectly with the challenges that were led by the pandemic. The loss of employment opportunities in the urban regions, sudden announcement of lockdown, forced migration as a result of complete lockdown, repressive measures of the local and regional governments to curb the spread of the disease and so on and so forth. Many such problems have been identified by various scholars in different forms of research works. However, the impact of pandemic on the women belonging to the marginalised section is even more difficult and harsh given the challenges that they had to face with their daily lives.

In the present paper, I am keen to look at the impact of the pandemic on the socio-economic challenges that women of the tribal communities have faced during the pandemic. Not only the women had to cope up with the fact that the male population have lost their jobs, but also, the pandemic increased instances of sexual harrassment, rapes and increase of various other forms of domestic violence in the tribal households. The scenario was not different in many other households, however, when such households like those of the tribal people are already under economic deprivation, the pandemic has further increased the chances of exploitation. The paper aims at analyisng and understanding with the help of various reports and anecdotes through secondary data records of the impact of the pandemic on the living condition of the tribal women in India.

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Paper short abstract:

The study aims to understand to what extent Community Radio JIMS helps in raising awareness and consciousness about post-corona safety measures through the "Swath Sankalpa" program in Vasant Kunj, India. Further, the study also includes the perception of the community relating to the program.

Paper long abstract:

The pandemic generated a lot of information causing terror among people. Not only the State and Central Governments but also the non-profit sectors joined hands together to spread safety awareness through audio and video programmes during the pandemic. Post-corona safety measures are the priority of the state and non-state actors. Radio is the cheapest medium to connect people across the country with the highest reach to the grass root level. Literature shows that the importance of community radio (CR) is to mobilise people at the community level, especially in their own dialect. It helps to connect the entire community to bind in one thread. By providing a voice to slum dwellers of the Vasant Kunj vicinity, Community Radio JIMS addressed the challenges of post covid and safety measures to deal with day-to-day issues. Therefore, it is imperative to understand how the Community Radio JIMS spread awareness through the CRA-UNICEF funded special programme "Swath Sankalpa" in the post corona period. The study aims to understand to what extent the CR helps in raising awareness and consciousness among the people of Vasant Kunj about post-corona-related problems and the kind of solutions it offers to the people. Further, the study also studied the perception of the community on the "Swath Sankalpa" programme which tries to enhance post-corona safety measures. Thematic analysis of the CR (programmes) will be done and a structured questionnaire will be administered to understand the community perception from the study area of Delhi, India.

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Paper short abstract:

The post-colonial state takes the role of the initiator of development schemes and programmes and these initiatives are designed to bring people on par with the mainstream groups. In India, such initiatives focusing on affirmative action are collectively known as “reservation system”.

Paper long abstract:

The role of state in the post-colonial nations has been recognised to invest in the development of the marginal and vulnerable communities. The post-colonial state takes the role of the initiator of development schemes and programmes and these initiatives are designed to bring people on par with the mainstream groups. In India, such initiatives focusing on affirmative action are collectively known as “reservation system”. Despite regular efforts, the lives of the marginalized sections have not changed much. There are still cases of death by hunger, deprivation, rampant poverty, unemployment, low levels of nutrition, trafficking of women, bonded labour etc. The policy planners and researchers of the area continue to contemplate and search for the root of the problems which is unfortunately a rhizome of issues that has its origins in the colonial period of India and has branched out into problems such as inefficiency, improper understanding of marginality, poor policy structures etc.

The paper addresses the issues of various marginalised sections of India- such as, the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, De-Notified Tribal (DNT) Communities, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), etc. The discussions will also be situated within the context of the post-colonial nature of the affirmative action policy. The paper emphasises on the ways in which these initiatives target the social and economic standing of marginal communities and how they affect the communities and provide them with agencies of change.