Introduction
Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) are a distinct category within Scheduled Tribes (STs) in India recognized for their extreme socio-economic vulnerability. Originating from the recommendations of the Dhebar Commission (1960–61), the government created 'Primitive Tribal Groups' (PTGs) in 1973, which were redesignated as PVTGs in 2006. Currently, 75 communities across 18 States and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are classified as PVTGs, with Odisha having the highest number (13). Identification relies on four official criteria: pre-agricultural level of technology, stagnant or declining population, extremely low literacy, and a subsistence economy.
Critical Examination of Problems Faced by PVTGs
Despite targeted constitutional and policy mechanisms, PVTGs continue to experience severe and intersecting vulnerabilities:
- Demographic Fragility and Health Crises: PVTGs face acute survival threats from low genetic diversity, isolated gene pools, malnutrition, and endemic illnesses such as sickle-cell anemia, malaria, and tuberculosis. Groups like the Bonda in Odisha struggle with elevated Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR), while indigenous populations in the Andaman Islands face near-extinction risks from vulnerability to external pathogens.
- Land Alienation and Habitat Degradation: Influx of infrastructure projects, industrial mining, and stringent biodiversity conservation boundaries have steadily eroded their customary spaces. Although Section 3(1)(e) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA), 2006 provides for collective 'Habitat Rights' to PVTGs, bureaucratic inertia and boundary ambiguities have limited its implementation, dispossessing communities such as the Chenchus and Kamars.
- Cultural and Linguistic Erosion: Accelerated modernization and unmediated contact with non-tribal society have caused the attrition of indigenous oral traditions, folk knowledge systems, and endangered unwritten languages. This unchecked deculturation contravenes the foundational ethics of Jawaharlal Nehru's Tribal Panchsheel, which advocated for non-imposition and organic self-development.
- Policy Homogenization and Administrative Invisibility: As underscored by the High-Level Virginius Xaxa Committee (2014), tribal development strategies routinely commit the error of treating tribal communities as homogeneous. The absence of disaggregated socio-economic baseline surveys leads to poor fund deployment, bureaucratic oversight, and exclusion from mainstream social safety nets.
Strategies and Interventions for Resolution
Addressing the multi-layered distress of PVTGs necessitates a paradigm shift from top-down paternalistic welfare to self-determined, rights-based empowerment:
- Saturated Mission-Mode Infrastructure Delivery: Implementing the PM-JANMAN (Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan) scheme with its dedicated ₹24,104 crore outlay serves as a foundational step. By converging 11 critical interventions across 9 line ministries—such as pucca housing, piped drinking water, solar lighting, all-weather road linkages, and mobile medical vans—it addresses baseline deprivation in remote habitations.
- Operationalizing Habitat Rights under FRA: State administrations must fast-track the mapping, demarcation, and conferring of community habitat rights under Section 3(1)(e) of the FRA 2006. Replicating the model adopted by Chhattisgarh in recognizing the habitat rights of the Kamar tribe can restore customary tenure and ecological stewardship to other groups.
- Tailored Micro-Project Agencies: Development interventions must operate through localized micro-projects rather than generic block-level administration. State agencies must prioritize contextual adaptations, including motorcycle-ambulances for hilly terrains, trained local health workers, and Mother-Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) to retain indigenous pedagogical continuity.
- Decentralized Democratic Governance: Ensuring effective enforcement of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996 vests Gram Sabhas with statutory control over minor forest produce and natural assets, enabling PVTGs to exercise sovereign agency over their resources and socio-economic priorities.
Conclusion
The long-term survival and dignity of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups depend on striking a balanced path between modern socio-economic entitlements and the preservation of cultural autonomy. Upholding statutory habitat entitlements alongside targeted welfare delivery under PM-JANMAN ensures genuine integration without forced cultural assimilation.