Empowering Tribal Women through Vegetable Cultivation: A Case of Institutional Pluralism and Convergence
Empowering Tribal Women through Vegetable Cultivation: A Case of Institutional Pluralism and Convergence
Authors : Sujit Sarkar, R.N.Padaria, R.R.Burman, J.P.Sharma, Saheb Bhatyacharya and N.A.Kittur
Empowerment of women is a major social issue which requires attention from all sections of society. The family structure and religion are among the important factors which can play a role in this context. Though the tribal population is an integral part of India’s social fabric, it is still far from the mainstream of development. Historically, women in the tribal community played the dominant role in agriculture and all household activities, but never received any recognition. Moreover, they were deprived of education, besides being the victims of child marriage and domestic violence.
It is in this context that we conducted our study, choosing a block in the tribal-dominated district of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. The district is home to tribal communities such as the Gonds, Baigas, Korkus and Bhils, the majority of whom live in difficult geographies like forests, hills and undulating, inaccessible terrain, far from the cities. Preliminary investigations about their socio-economic profile revealed that they lived as isolated entities for centuries, largely untouched by the society around them. This seclusion was responsible for slowing down their economic growth. From time to time, several developmental agencies took initiatives to change the fate of the destitute tribal women, but with little success.
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