ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the development of the tribals' intense poverty, and considers government's role in the creation of their increasing impoverishment. When, in the late 1960s, the tribals of Srikakulam District-called girijans, or "hill people"-became part of a violent Naxalite movement, government officials at state and national levels accused the Naxalites of exploiting the poverty and despair of the Scheduled Tribes. The most striking fact about governmental activity with regard to the girijans in Srikakulam was government's total ineffectualness; indeed, in many respects, government was virtually absent. Mr. Lakshminarayana, who during the Naxalite uprising was assigned to Srikakulam to expedite the implementation of land legislation, had this to say about the failure of government prior to the revolt: Tribals are poor, uneducated, lethargic compared to plainsmen. The steady loss of tribal access to forest land, and accompanying opportunities for harassment and exploitation by private contractors, moneylenders, and government officials, was another crucial influence in the early radicalization of Srikakulam girijans.
