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Abstract
Constituting about 8.6 percent of the total population as per 2011 census, the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat aggregate more than half of the total tribal population of India. Predominantly, as traditional means of obtaining livelihoods for them have been endangered the livelihood issues related to tribes of India has assumed paramount significance. It has been perceived that, the development strategies as followed in tribal areas over the decades have not impacted their livelihood considerably.
In this back -drop, an attempt has been made in this paper to examine, with the help of secondary sources of data, the role of NABARD in developing the tribal farmers through its Farm Sector Development (FSD) Program with particular reference to wadi Project.
Keywords: Farm Sector Development, Wadi Project, Agro-horticulture Development, Tribal Livelihoods.
1.Introduction
The tribal population constitutes 8.6 percent of the total population in India as per 2011 census. The States of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand and Gujarat have more than half of the total tribal population of our country. Predominantly, as traditional means of obtaining livelihoods for tribes have been endangered, hence, the issues related to tribes of India exclusively livelihood problem has assumed paramount significance. It has been perceived that, the development strategies as followed in tribal areas over the decades have not impacted their livelihood considerably.
The straightforwardness of tribes and their general ignorance of modern supervisory backgrounds excluded them from proclaiming their genuine claims to resources in areas where they belonged and depended upon. Insecurity of tenure and fear of eviction from the lands where they had lived and thrived for generations were perhaps the predominant reasons why tribal communities felt delicately as well as physically alienated from forests and forest lands. This historical injustice inflicted on tribes' necessities correction and, therefore, the Government enacted the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, which is universally known as Forest Rights Act (FRA). The Act drives beyond the "recognition' of forests rights to empower the forest rights owners, Gram Sabhas and local level bodies with the right to protect, stimulate, conserve and manage any community forest resource (Tripathy, 2018 (a)).
Tribal households practiced a combination of shifting agriculture and settled...