SOLUTIONS TO TRIBAL PROBLEMS
Various solutions have been presented for dealing effectively with tribal problems. The tribal problems have been approached from three viewpoints. They are as follows:
Assimilation:
Assimilation is one of the ways of dealing with tribal problems. Tribal problems cannot be dealt with based on tribal culture and life but by changing them into the frame of a new community. The social reformers and voluntary organizations assisted and encouraged the tribals to assimilate with the mainstream of national life. The Christian missionaries, on the one hand, and the Hindus, on the other, have been trying to assimilate them into Christian and Hindu communities, respectively.
Isolation:
Elwin has suggested that the tribals must be kept at a distance from the rest of society. Keeping them in isolation in some “National Parks” or “reserved areas” would solve two problems:
The tribals would be in a position to maintain their independent identity.
They would be free from the exploitation of outsiders.
Integration:
The third view, which has been actively followed in recent years, is that of integration. The policy of isolation is neither possible nor desirable, and that of assimilation would mean an imposition. Hence integration alone can make available to the tribes the benefits of modern society and yet retain their separate identity.
Thus, the solutions to the tribal problems mentioned above have their own merits and demerits. The modern culture must not be imposed on them. Only those elements of a new culture which may vitalize them for material advancement must be infused in them so that every tribesman may have an equal opportunity with the rest of the fellow citizens who work in the fields, factories, and workshops in the open country and the plains.
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