Paper short abstract:

In the paper modest attempt has been made to bring out the different livelihood mechanism of the PVTGs on the one hand and the initiatives of the state on the other.

Paper long abstract:

India is considered as a hereditary home for innumerable number of tribal communities. They are living in the midst of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, malnutrition, low levels of literacy, backwardness, and lack of participation in governance, decision making process and administration. Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) are one among such communities of tribes. Post-independent nation state has initiated number of development programmes, livelihood initiatives and schemes as part of its affirmative action strategy and to benefit and upliftment them from the clutches of poverty, unemployment and backwardness of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). Further, the state has initiated number of livelihood initiatives in order to address their livelihood strategies. In the paper modest attempt has been made to bring out the different livelihood mechanism of the PVTGs on the one hand and the initiatives of the state on the other by using an ethnographic appraisal among the Birhor tribe of Chhattisgarh, central Indian state of India.

Birhor tribe is traditionally considered as a wandering, simple, shy and god-fearing an little known forest dwelling tribal community. They live in bands. They are a semi-nomadic and hunter-gatherer group of people. Crafting ropes from siali bark, a raw material collected from the forest, is the lifeline of Birhors. Thus the livelihood of the Birhor mainly depends on the forest as well as the local market. They cannot live without forest and cannot manage without going to the market. The paper draws its inferences from the primary data gathered from the field among Birhor.