ABSTRACT
Globalisation can justly be viewed as a primary cause of Adivasi marginalisation. Virginius Xaxa, in his chapter, dwells at length on the ‘terms of trade’ between the state and Adivasis, while explaining the affirmative action and socio-economic conditions of Adivasis in globalised India. The large-scale development projects and policy of denial of access to forest resources, as observed by Xaxa, were interventions of negative consequences that contradict affirmative action programmes for the welfare of the Adivasi people. Corporate and state actors have largely benefited from this ‘trade’, at the expense of Adivasis. The chapter further argues that ‘Adivasi’ is a concept rooted in features of exploitation, domination and discrimination, and this is the framework that captures better the state of tribal development in India. The chapter, while highlighting the primary data on landholdings, cultivation, education, health, Adivasi displacement and lack of allocation of resources in five-year plans, especially the first two decades, also sheds light on the various processes that the state followed for the present flux of the Adivasi society in India.
