Impacts of Government Policies on Sustenance of Tribal ... - Samata

government are <strong>of</strong>ten politicallymotivated for vote gains. They <strong>of</strong>tenalso run into roadblocks. Launchedas a flagship programme <strong>of</strong> the stategovernment, the Indiramma housingscheme is facing several issues—rising cement, steel and sand pricesthat place an additional burden onthe beneficiaries, corruption among<strong>of</strong>ficials, incomplete constructionand banks not giving loans easily. MGNREGA can be an importantsource <strong>of</strong> income for the families.Creating more jobs underMNGREGA can help reducedependency on migration and wagelabour and improve the incomes.Access to water for drinking andhousehold purposes is a hugeproblem in the adivasi villages. Soiland water conservation works andprotection <strong>of</strong> the natural springs,ponds and streams can help addressthe problem; these regenerationworks should be taken up underMGNREGA. At present the number<strong>of</strong> days <strong>of</strong> employment accessed bythe villagers in both the study sites isquite low and there is also adisparity in wage rates. The primaryreason for this is the lack <strong>of</strong>awareness among the villagers abouttheir rights to demand work and aminimum pay. Where the NGOs areactive they are able to provide for100 days work per family, but this isnot <strong>of</strong>ten the case. Implementationand monitoring is severely lacking.In a site like Beespuram, where onlyone crop is grown during the rainyseason, there is considerable scopefor taking up developmental worksunder the MGNREGA as thefamilies have additional free time ontheir hands. The cash expenditure <strong>of</strong> the tribalfamilies on items <strong>of</strong> food (exceptrice) in the study areas on the DRDepots is observed to be low. This isprimarily because food crops aregrown by them on their lands andretained for domestic consumption.Vegetables, tubers and fruits are alsoaccessed from the forest. Otherproblems also discourage the tribalpeople from depending on the DRDepots. These include difficulty inaccess, non-availability <strong>of</strong> stocks,limited manpower to run the shop,irregular working, erratic timings,diversion <strong>of</strong> stock and charginghigher price for commodities. Whereessential commodities like rice orsalt need to be purchased by theadivasis this causes severe problems. Another interesting factor that thedata collected throws up is that whilethe purchase <strong>of</strong> sugar from DRDepots is common among thefamilies in Beespuram, there areonly two interviewees inNimmalpadu who mentioned thatthey had bought sugar from the DRDepots. This indicates a change inconsumption pattern. Beespurambeing a roadside village, and moreexposed to outside influences havetaken to consumption <strong>of</strong> tea. Also inthe case <strong>of</strong> Nimmalpadu, tamarind isexchanged for jaggery. Beespuramhas fewer tamarind trees and theirdependence on DR Depots for sugaris higher. Migration from Nimmalpadu villageis lower than that <strong>of</strong> Beespuram, asseen from the data collected, whiledaily wage labour was preferredamong the residents <strong>of</strong> Nimmalpadu.This was because there was greaterdaily wage work available inNimmalpadu where agriculture wasa yearlong activity owing to betterrainfall and soil fertility. In the case<strong>of</strong> Beespuram, daily wage labour56