Chapter- 4 An enquirv of Tribal Develo·pment in the District of Jalpaiguri CHAPTER- IV An Enquiry of Tribal Development ~n the district of Jalpaiguri The district of J alpaiguri as an administrative unit which came into being on January 1869 by the amalgamation of the Western Duars district with the Ja1paiguri sub-division of Rangpur district '(Notification of December R, 1801~). The .Jalpaiguri sub-division has been formed in 1854 with: headquarters ar Sookanec and was called the Sookanee sub-division. The .· three Police Station Fakirganj (New J alpaiguri), Bacia and Sanyasikata (now Rajganj) comprising the sub-division were transferred to newly formed district of Jalpaiguri. At the commencement of 1869 the T~ana of Patgram was also separated from Rangpur and to Jalpaiguri on April 1870. Jalpaiguri is one of the richest district of West Bengal in respect of natural resources. It enjoys special features in geographical locations, demographic struct·ur-c, wit:h natural abundance of flora and fauna. Jalpaiguri has the boundary with Bangladesh in South, Bhutan in North, Assam in East and Bangladesh and Darjeeling in West. It is the second largest district of West Bengal in respect of Schedule Tribes population. The demographic feature in this clisr-rict has a very distinctive position. Out of the total population of 28,00,543 about SWYc~ belong to SC/ST communities. 10,35,971 persons belong tci SC communities and 5,89,225 persons belong ·to ST communities (.According to 1991 Census). However, 2001 Census report poiq.ted out that out of the total population of 34,011;73 about 52% belong to SC/ST communities. 12,48,577 persons belong to SC communities and 6,41,688 person belong to ST communities. The tribal people are, in fact, the original inhabitants of the soil. .But due to ignorance and poverty, they do 79 . not know· their right and privileges. After independence, the Constitution of India provided safeguards for the tribal people to translate these Constitutional provisions into practice special schemes were provided from the First Five Years Plan, which are still continuing. There arc· various departments under the state government to implement different sectors development programmes for the benefit of people in general. 1\ separate department of the state government named as Tribal Welfare came into existence in West Bengal in 1952, which mainly looked after the schemes of Scheduled Tribes. The Tribal Welfare Department was furthn renamed as. Scheclulcd Castes and Tribes Department in 1967 in order to cover both SC & ST's in the state. Since, 1997 the department's name has been changed as Backward Classes Welfare l)epartment. This Department work for the benefit of <til the.Backward Chlsses of the state. There arc 40 Schedule Tribes in Jalpaiguri with total tribal population of 5,89,225 to implement various schemes for the welfare to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes headed by the 'Project 0 fficer-cum-District Welfare 0 fficer'. Th~ major activities of the Development are (a) To look after the educational schemes for upliftment of SC & ST and O.B.C.; (b) To supervise issue to Castes Certificates and enforce Reservation Rules in Services and educational institution; (c) To implements schemes for their social and cultural development; and (d), To implement schemes for their economic upliftment. The Constitution eovisaged a fast enough peace of development for the tribal areas so that they could be brought to the level of development in the surrounding regions in the concerned ,district within a period of 10 years _after the commencement of the Constitution. Special programmes for these districts, therefore, were taken up in the early 60's in the form of Special Multipurpose Tribal Block and subsequently, Tribal Development 80 . Blocks. The achievements of these special programmes were also uneven. Some progress was made in sop1e areas but in many cases the difference in the level of development of the tribal areas and the remaining regions in the district and accentuated. In 1992, a new approach was adopted for Tribal Development where all area~ with more than 50 percent tribal concentration were clearly identified and special plans were prepared. The new programme has covered about 70 percent of tota:I population. Thus, while. the developmental efforts in these areas have been intensified, the programmes for the remaining '35 per cent dispersed tribal have remained unchanged and no special attention could be given to their problems. In view of the fact that the Constitution had envisaged a satisfactory solution to the problems of the tribal development in a much small time-frame and now that a very high priority has been accorded to the problems of weaker sections of the community. The socio-economic situation of tribal communities vanes considerably from one area to al)othcr. The problems of the tribal communities will be attempted to be solved within a time frame of not more than 12 years from .. now, i.e., by beginning of the year 1989. Thereafter, these areas and communities can be expected to share the benefits of general programmes as equal partners with the rest of the communities and areas in the respective disrrict. The broad approach to tribal development will have to depend on the pattern of distribution of tribals in an area and the level of their economy. In predominantly tribal areas, area approach with focus on the developrnent of the tribal community or communities will be suitable; for dispersed .tribals, community oriented ·programmes will have to be evolved; and in the case of primitive groups, which are facing special problem~ and are ~mall in size, a very cautious individualised approach will have to be adopted last their precarious balance is irretrievably lost. 81 . In vtew of the fact that substantial stepping up of the investment has created certain constraints even in the Fifth Plan, it will be necessary to give the highest priority in the Sixth Plan to building up inner strength of tribal community or communities so that they can stand the pressure of the new situation and are able to take benefits from the New programmes. Highest _priority, therefore, will have to be _given to the education, health and a full employment program.me,. in these areas. Moreover, the concept of educational and health service will have to be suitably modified to the specific tasks of strengthening the tribal communities. The specific economic programmes will naturally flow from the full employment plan, which will- have- a different significance in the tribal areas compared to other advance regions. Thus, ratstng of economtc conditions of tribals in the immediate future and enabling them to come up to the general level in a period of 12 years will require : ' i) Consolidation of Protective measures initiated 1n the Fifth Plan; ii) Major thrust in Educational and Health Services; and 'J. iii) Full Employment E-conomy 111 tribal areas by the end of the Sixth Plan. , The targets will have to be defined with reference to the bas_e level in each of the specific areas and limits to the absorption capacity of the community in the short-run. In each case, a longer-term perspective will also have to be keep in view so that the constraints in the immediate context do not inhibit preparatory perspective programmes. i) Education : l:'.ducation must be accorded the highest priority in the coming years in the tribal areas, since the tribal comny':wities mus~ be enabled to satisfactory 82 negotiate the transitional phase ··in their socio-economic change and take advantage of the new investment under economic programmes . .The role of - education in pre-developmental phase of a community has not been properly appreciated so far. The tribal communities have remained isolated . and have an entirely differeilt world-view of the soc10-econom1c phenomena. The long-term p~bgramme should be prepared under the general educational frame of the state. ii) Health Services : Tribal areas lagging _far behind in respect of health serv1ces. It is an irony that it is some of these areas mainly hill side, which have a record of sterilisation operations covering.'·almost all the eligible couples. Some of the mass-killers and epidemics h~ve not been tackled in these areas. Some of the special health hazards IN Jalpaiguri like TB, Leprosy, VD, Skin Diesis, Malaria etc. continue to badly effect these communities. A different strategy for health coverage in these areas is to be evolved. iii) Full Employment Economy : 1n the district of Jalpaiguri the tr~bal areas, the problem of unemployment 'is qualitatively different and vari~\ from one area to another. In the more backward areas where land is still plentiful and pressure of population is low, the problem in its new accepted from many not even appear to exist. l t is these areas, ho.wcvcr, where we come across 'Low income traps' . c because the community docs nGt posses the skills for more intensive utilisation of resources. The basiC, issue in these areas is to raise the level • of incomes in a short-term period by taking up comprehensive economic programmes. While programmes in the ITDPs and Sub-Plan will be comprehensive, it will be necessary to identify. some major thrust areas for the entire Sub-I1 lan in a state or f&r different regions thereof. Some of the major thrust, which have emerged for different areas in the district are shifting cultivation Qhoom), horticulture, marketing, minor irrigation, 83 forestry-oriented programme. , Programmes for landless, development:, animal husbandry a~d education. The situation of tribal in the district was gone into in-depth beforeI the !· first Tribal Sub-Plan was conceived in 1975-76.