Employment and Livelihoods among Tribal in India

The present article attempts to explore one of the most pertinent issues of livelihood among tribals in India. In this context, the following two key issues have been examined: (a) whether tribal people are still engaged primarily in agriculture or forestry related activities for their livelihood or they have moved to non-farm and industrial activities over the years and (b) whether the government affirmative action like reservation policy has helped the tribal people in joining more government/public/formal sector jobs. This article is based on analysis of last two decades secondary data from National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Census of India. On the basis of the analysis of the data it has been observed that the participation of tribals in public sector or formal sector jobs has increased over the years, which may be due to various affirmative actions by the governments’ reservation policy. However, the human capital base of tribals is still much below the other social groups. Another important fact has been revealed through probit regression analysis that the government reservation policy is exclusionary in effect. Maximum benefits have been derived by those who are highly educated and those who belong to high income group. These issues need urgent policy interventions for creating better livelihood conditions for the tribal population particularly for those who are relatively less benefitted.

Household Levels of Double Burden of Malnutrition in Low–Middle-income Countries: A Review

Malnutrition is characterised by both over-nutrition and under-nutrition. Over-nutrition is defined as excessive intake of energy and/or macronutrients. Both over-nutrition and under-nutrition are associated with a wide range of detrimental health conditions. Under-nutrition can contribute to high mortality, morbidity and poor infant health conditions; lead to delayed physical and mental development among children; and cause poor physical productivity and reproductive outcomes among adults. Over-nutrition remains the main risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers. The world has witnessed a global obesity epidemic with levels rising at alarming rates in the low-middle-income countries. The higher prevalence of obesity is often accompanied by under-nutrition, and these two health issues coexist at household levels. This is termed as ‘Double Burden of Malnutrition’. The objectives of the present article are to account for the evidences, causes and risk factors of household level of double burden of malnutrition in the low-middle-income countries.

Hard and Invisible Bricks in the Wall: An Empirical Investigation on Gender, Caste, and Health Among Migrant Brick Workers in South India

The current cross-sectional study is on the pathetic and excruciating conditions of employees in the brick industry conducted using a mixed-method approach in selected kilns from the four Districts of Karnataka State, South India. India is the country producing the highest number of bricks after China. Economic coercion is pushing the massive poor, especially the women labourers to engage in hard physical labour to survive. This study has explored that labourers in the brick industry are being exploited and excluded in voluminous ways. Caste plays a predominant role while hiring, wage fixation, and assigning the job at kilns. Women labour is being devalued in the name of the traditional and irrational social construction of gender. Sexual exploitations, low payment, restless work, harassment, absence of labour laws, are common here. It is found that rigid intergenerational occupational mobility into unorganised sectors among lower-caste people, as well as intra/intra-community social networks, among brick workers, are being called into question. We conclude that this is the time to think about the ‘National Register of Interstate Migrants’ and ‘National Mission to the Brick Industry’ in the context of the post-economic situation of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Popular Discourses in Jharkhand: A Qualitative Study

COVID-19 has made its imprint in human history once again providing us the opportunity to reflect and interpret the pandemic from several dimensions. It has disturbed lives of people leading to cognitive reactions apart from its physical impacts. Given the historical backdrop of pandemics, this article attempts to explore the diverse perspectives of people regarding the COVID-19 pandemic through in-depth interviews of people belonging to different strata of the society. The narratives were interpreted into themes which fall into the areas that cover popular perceptions regarding the pandemic. The responses were found to be surprisingly very complex and syncretic, from theological–spiritual rationalisations to natural or political explanations and scientific and clinical causes. Despite all scientific and technological advancements till date, the belief system has not drastically changed from what has been gleaned from the ancient theological literature.

Trend of Migration Studies in Sociocultural Anthropology: A Critical Analysis

Migration studies have always found their unique place in anthropology since the birth of anthropology in India under colonial rule. From the formative phase, anthropology of migration has grown multifold. In the present time when the Indian diaspora is the largest in the whole world, the process of migration has affected the lives of all individuals and has become an important area of research. The present article examines the growth of this field in sociocultural anthropology in India and is based on secondary data. Work of renowned Indian anthropologists like M. N. Srinivas, Moni Nag, L. P. Vidyarthi, Amitav Ghosh and others like R. K. Jain, Ashish Bose, etc. on migration has been discussed in the present article. Migration studies in India have found and sustained a key place in the anthropology curriculum report since the first time of its release by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi. Migration studies have grown from studying mobility among the tribals to the movement of people from rural to urban areas and then to international migration. New areas like displacement and refugee movements, literature and art, diaspora studies, urbanism, labour migration and many more are emerging as important topics in the landscape of migration studies.

The Detrimental Dialogue Between Indian Women, Beauty Discourse, Patriarchy and Indian Feminism

This framework article analyses the established connection of body image and skin tone to the ideology of power and status and the need for Indian women to achieve those beauty standards to be celebrated in their field. Even though women have gained more power, they are still defined by and in the context of men in India. Men have subtly and constructively translated this power discourse over women that has been stretching across centuries through the channels of art, literature and the portrayal of the goddesses. This pressure to continually conform to beauty’s cultural ideals and sculpt oneself to those unattainable standards leads to body dissatisfaction. It affects the image the woman has of herself. The patriarchal structure that dominates the Indian women habitus has translated the ideology of this Western concept of beauty into a ‘common sense’ that has compelled women to impose a ‘self-hegemonic’ stance and the role of Indian feminism in fighting this emerging oppressive structure.

Hierarchy of Associations Between BMI-for-Agez-Scores, Growth and Family Social Status Among Urban Bengali Girls of Siliguri Town, West Bengal: A St. Nicolas House Analysis

The present study assesses the association of different socio-economic variables with children’s BMI-for-age z-scores (BAZ) and influence of children’s height on BAZ, a proxy index of nutritional status. The study was undertaken among 322 girls belonging to the Bengali Hindu Caste Population (BHCP) aged 5–13 years. These girls were the students of two schools located in Siliguri town of West Bengal, India. The prevalence of short stature, underweight and overweight was assessed using the World Health Organization’s ( WHO, 2007 , Growth Reference Data for 5–19 years) references. The statistical analyses used were St. Nicolas House Analysis (SNHA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear and logistic regression. The prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity was 19.3%, 17.8% and 5.9%, respectively. The prevalence of short stature (−2.0 HAZ) was 8.7%. The range of BAZ was from −5.69 to 4.15. The variation of BAZ explained by height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) was 11.4%. The BAZ was observed to be associated with mothers’ occupation as revealed by 2% variation through SNHA analysis. The present study observed the usefulness of SNHA for non-parametric data with unequal sub-sample or categories. However, SNHA was not devised to assess the direction and magnitude of variables of interest. The finding of the present study supports the use of BAZ as a proxy adiposity measure among the overweight/obese populations and populations with normal growth in height. The study further supports the recommendations that mother empowerment can help improve nutritional status of a girl child.

Cultural Construction of Childhood: A Study Among the Tani and Monpa Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh

The present article attempts to analyse the cultural construction of childhood in the context of a few selected tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh. The study of children is not only important as a subject for chalking out policies and programmes but as a whole, they are a different set of population that could make the society understand the crux of children issues and child development better.