India recognises 104 million of its over 1.2 billion population as Scheduled Tribes. As with the rest of the world, a majority of India’s Scheduled Tribes, who comprise the second largest indigenous peoples of the world, are among the poorest of the poor, live in social exclusion, and are often the last touched by the state’s welfare tools.

The visitation of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic since December 31, 2019, further exacerbated the historical exclusion that Adivasis and other forest dwelling communities faced at the hands of governments and the state. As with Indigenous peoples elsewhere, India’s counterparts, the Scheduled Tribes, have remained on the margins through the pandemic.

Related articles from The Hindu Centre1. Shankar, G and Kumari, R. 2020. The Migrant Economy During the Pandemic: An Exploratory Study in Baisi Block, Bihar, December 31. more... A novel virus, one that had not affected humankind until then, meant developing information and awareness about COVID-19 and studies ascertain that there is a negative direct correlation with spread of awareness and epidemic outbreaks. This Policy Watch by Sushmita, an award-winning journalist and researcher, and Suraj Harsha, an independent researcher and teacher, highlights the lack of communication by the state and unchallenged misinformation regarding the virus with respect to Adivasis and other forest dwelling communities. What makes it worse is that the areas where a substantial population of forest dwelling people live are also geographically remote. This Policy Watch looks into the structural issues such as the withering away of land rights, lack of literacy, failure of government schemes, and other deeper malaises that aggravate the crisis created by the pandemic.

Against this backdrop, this Policy Watch brings out the manner in which the Indian state managed the pandemic like a ‘disaster’ and elaborates on the response of Forest Dwelling population in 19 districts across 10 States to the pandemic. It is based on interviews conducted with primary sources that worked with the tribal populations and members of the communities affected by the pandemic, as well as secondary sources such as civil society and media reports, Lok Sabha responses, media articles, and government notifications. It reveals how chronic structural, legal, technological, and socio-economic inadequacies came in the way of the delivery of COVID-19 related healthcare services to these communities.

Related articles from The Hindu GroupThe Hindu1. Pai, M. and Menon, P. 2021. Learning from the best in India’s COVID-19 fight, The Hindu, November 15.2. Yadav, S. 2020. Coronavirus lockdown | Pandemic adds to the penury of tribal migrants in Madhya Pradesh, The Hindu, May 11.Frontline3. Bhakto, A. 2022. Tribals at the receiving end in Madhya Pradesh, Frontline, July 24.4. Thomas, J., et al. 2021. Vulnerable groups caught between two worlds amid lockdowns, Frontline, August 18.The Hindu BusinessLine5. Gokhale, N. 2020. A virus in the woods, The Hindu BusinessLine, May 8. In this context, this Policy Watch also provides a status of the continuing marginalisation of India’s most vulnerable population, who are behind the curve in human development indicators and the manner in which they fended for themselves when they were hard-hit during the second wave of the pandemic.

Remedying long-standing issues such as upholding their rights that exist only in the statute book, bridging shortfalls in healthcare provisioning, recognising traditional knowledge systems, and above all, taking political and policy cognisance of the unique conditions that surround India’s Scheduled Tribes, are required to redirect India’s Scheduled Tribe populations towards the long road to “development”.

Keywords: Scheduled Tribes and COVID-19, Adivasis, Forest Dwelling Communities, Scheduled Areas, Forest Rights Act, Nomadic communities, Indigenous peoples, Health, land rights, traditional knowledge, ASHA workers, vaccines, pandemic, disease.

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