Upliftment of tribal fisher folks through harvest and post-harvest technologies: ICAR-CIFT interventions

Abstract

India has around 104 million tribal which constitute 8.6 percent of the population of the country (Census, 2011 ). Tribal population have varying presence across the country, with some states in eastern and northern parts of the country having dominant presence. Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Orissa, Gujrat, Rajsthan, Jharkhand, Chhatishgarh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka are the State having maximum number of Scheduled Tribes. These states account for 83.2% of the total Scheduled Tribe population of the country. There are 75 districts with scheduled tribes constituting more than 50 percent of the population. More than 80 per cent of the population of the states like Mizoram (94.4%), Nagaland (86.5%) and Meghalaya (84.6%) are tribals. It was reported that tribal population of India lag behind other sections of the society in many socio economic parameters (Rao, 2013; Kispotta, 2014; Ballabh and Batra, 2015) This lag in the socio economic development of the tribals in the country hinders the development of the nation as a whole and requires special focus to transform the development process inclusive in nature. The Government is pursuing an integrated approach to ameliorate the livelihood standard of ST population across the country. Special administrative focus was given to streamline the required resources to stimulate the socio-economic development of vulnerable Scheduled Tribe communities across the country. Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides financial support for undertaking skill development and employment-cum-income generation activities with an aim to enhance the livelihood options of tribals. The National Policy on Tribals recognises the importance of participatory approach to development.