S.C. Dube has tried to put the tribal problems in a substantive way. He says that free India has offered a measure of special protection to tribes, but in the rapidly changing context of national life they have been catapulted from relative isolation into the vortex of competitive politics.
Articulate and effective political elite has emerged in several tribal areas. It has not only acquired a taste for politics, but is also vigorously contributing to the emergence of a new political idiom.
This elite “rejects the solicitude of those in power and has no use for their condescending benevolence. It is conscious of tribal rights, and is capable of making shrewd and calculated moves to gain their acceptance. Where such an elite does not exist, political parties-national, regional and local-are moving into fill the vacuum. Tribal problems are being politicized increasingly.”
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Dube argues that the tribals have several problems and seek the roots of these problems in politics. He writes:
Today, the entire gamut of tribal problems has to be seen in the political perspective. Politics has emerged as the principal avenue through which they look forward to finding solutions to their many problems that have persisted in one form or the other through centuries.
In the last two decades some of these problems have acquired a sharper edge. There have been many new editions to the long inventory of tribal needs, for the tribes also have undergone a limited revolution of rising aspiration.
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Though Dube puts an emphasis on the politicization of tribal problems, we can hardly neglect the economic problems of these people. Their sustenance economy has taken to the market economy and this has made their life quite competitive. We propose to discuss some of the general problems of the tribals which need immediate solution.
Admittedly, there are some development programmes which provide some solutions, but much has yet to be done. Some of the major tribal problems are discussed below. It must also be remembered that no catalogue of problems would be complete, for the problems are multiple.