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ACADEMIA Letters Life of Tribals during COVID-19 times Sonal Mobar Roy, NIRDPR As per Census (2011), the number of Scheduled Tribes in India is 10.45 crore which mainly inhabit the rural areas in about ten states. These people are poverty-ridden and lack access to the basic needs required for a better quality of life. They suffer from issues related to lack of skills, literacy, proper infrastructure, banking services, malnutrition, etc. Be it any development indicator, education, health, or any societal indicators, the tribals are ranked lowest in such domains. The COVID-19 virus that did not spare any one had a drastic effect on the marginalized people of the society. The various phases of lockdowns disturbed the life of tribals in an irreparable manner. As per ILO 2020a, the COVID-19 has emerged as a global crisis after the World War II. It is pertinent to mention here that the challenge posed by the novel corona virus were much more serious for the masses living on the margins, i.e., the tribals when compared to the mainstream population. Just like other fruits of development and technological innovation, it might take some years before the other interventions along with vaccination reaches the tribals living in hinterlands. The tribals are mostly confined to a particular geographic area and follow their social norms and rituals which are indigenous in nature. They are also comfortable in close knit communities, depending on limited resources of livelihood and earnings. With the various lockdowns in place and curfews in order that were intermittently lifted, there were long drawn disruptions of supply chains, shutting down of small scale warehouses and industries. The situation grew volatile day by day with COVID-19 affected dying due to shortage of health facilities, inadequate oxygen supply, etc. There was reverse migration wherein the nation saw how the vulnerable masses took to the highways on foot in want of better livelihoods. The media was ruptured with incidences highlighting the plight of laborers taking to roads to reach their native places. The reverse migration affected the economy so hard that it may take years to recuperate for this section of the social strata to find a grip back on the situation. Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Sonal Mobar Roy, smobar2@gmail.com Citation: Mobar Roy, S. (2021). Life of Tribals during COVID-19 times. Academia Letters, Article 1843. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1843. 1 It was the tribals who suffered most especially in states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. The tribals mostly depend on forest produce. They were hit hard during the COVID19 times as they lost their access to the collection of minor forest produce (MFP) apart from their contractual jobs elsewhere. The collection, use and sale of minor forest produce by forest dwellers, that may include nuts, foliage, lac, honey, tendu leaves, cane, bamboo, gum, fodder, flowers especially the Mahua flower, also got severely affected due to the pandemic. Despite all odds, the tribals and forest dwellers have showed strong resilience, exemplifying their ownership to the forests. They have constituted their unwavering fight with survival. The Ministry of Tribal affairs (MOTA) has come up with revised guidelines aiming to relax the provisions of lockdown for collection, harvesting and processing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP).The process of mapping sectoral gaps down to the level of Gram Panchayat (GP) has been initiated for better implementation of government initiatives for the marginalized sections affected during COVID 19 times. However, there were incidences where during the COVID-19 times, the Self Help Group women got together and stitched face masks, produced sanitizers and disinfectants and help earn some money through small scale ventures. The tribal women of Bihar started making face masks with Madhubani paintings and selling it online to a wider customer domain. Similarly, the tribal women from West Bengal made pata chitra paintings on face masks and carved a market for themselves. As per the World Bank 2020, during the first phase of the lockdown, around 50000-60000 migrant labors moved from their urban settlements to their native places. There was increased load on family for sustenance. There were no jobs and no livelihoods. Loss of income and sudden displacement has affected the tribals and pushed them further to the margins. There were some concerns that were highlighted through various media. One of them was need of targeted health intervention focusing on ways to raise awareness among the tribals regarding protective measures. There were villages where people ran away when the testing team approached them. As the tribals reside in remote areas, the Public Distribution System (PDS) also required attention. The job insecurity was doubled with food insecurity wherein the tribals could not access the benefits under PDS. The governments need to provide better market linkages, value addition and adequate transportation facilities for goods, cold storage facilities for perishable goods and other insurance related security nets. There is need to fast-track the vaccination drives along with spreading awareness and mitigating the misconceptions regarding vaccination among the gullible lot. It is high time that the governments take heed of the problems faced by the tribals, be it in relation to health, education, livelihoods, etc. Instead of making an attempt to “flatten the curve” the government needs to see that the lives and livelihoods of the marginalized are not negatively affected. Wherever possible, bank Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Sonal Mobar Roy, smobar2@gmail.com Citation: Mobar Roy, S. (2021). Life of Tribals during COVID-19 times. Academia Letters, Article 1843. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1843. 2 linkages should be facilitated. Compensation and subsidiaries should be offered to the worst affected. The times ahead are even tougher in nature and better preparedness in the above mentioned domains can make the people resilient and ready to face the hard times ahead. Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Sonal Mobar Roy, smobar2@gmail.com Citation: Mobar Roy, S. (2021). Life of Tribals during COVID-19 times. Academia Letters, Article 1843. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1843. 3 References Census of India (2011). Census of India, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, New Delhi. ILO 2020 available at https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_740893/ lang–en/index.htm World Bank (2020) available at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/ lockdown-in-india-has-impacted-40-million-internal-migrants-world-bank/articleshow/75311966. cms?from=mdr Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Sonal Mobar Roy, smobar2@gmail.com Citation: Mobar Roy, S. (2021). Life of Tribals during COVID-19 times. Academia Letters, Article 1843. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1843. 4