Introduction

Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Kerala numbering around 4.85 lakh in 2011 account for only 1.45% of the population of the state. Although every district now reports the presence of ST, over 75% of them reside in just six districts, namely Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kottayam and Idukki. There are about 35 scheduled tribes in the state, their numbers ranging from a few hundreds, or less – Arandan (283), Kochuvelan (38), and Maha Malasar (154) to name a few – to more than 20,000 each – Kanikaran (21,251), Malai Arayan (33,216), and Paniyan (88,450) are some of the examples. In a highly urbanized state with the level of urbanization close to 50%, the ST are a largely rural group with close to 90% of the population confined to rural areas in 2011.

Traditional settlements and means of livelihoods of the ST too are highly differentiated. Kadars and Muthuvans lived deep in the forests collecting roots, honey, and catching birds and animals for subsistence. Paniya and Adiya became bonded labourers as outsiders began occupying vast tracts for settled cultivation in Wayanad and neighbouring districts around two centuries ago. Koragas were basket weavers living in the midlands in close proximity to other inhabitants, carrying out scavenging, removing dead cattle and buffaloes. The highly varying groups of population has been subjected to an almost uniform instruments of development, some of which are assigning land for cultivation and housing, provide housing and sanitation, education, affirmative action in formal employment and so on.

A clue that things have been changing for the tribes becomes evident when we look at the movement of tribes across the districts. In the year 1981, 68% of the tribes lived in four districts of the state – Wayanad (36.5%), Idukki (14.8%), Palakkad (11.0%) and Kottayam (5.8%). The same four districts show the share of tribes falling to 57% by 2011. An 11 percentage point fall over thirty years is significant and suggests that tribes have been shifting from their traditional land and forest based occupations to non-land based occupations. What is the pattern of such movement of tribes? Which tribes have been able to move? What channels have helped them move out of land? Have the development initiatives of the state played a part in it? These are the issues taken up for investigation in this paper.

The pattern of spatial movement of tribes

As regards the pattern of spatial movement of tribes, it may be presented in a tabular form as shown in Table 1.

One of the striking dimensions of the transition that could be read from the Table is that the tribes in the upper panel (small change in spatial concentration) mostly belong to the northern (north of Thrissur) districts and the tribes in the lower panel to the southern districts. Urban living is also higher for the tribes in the lower panel. The two together suggest that tribes in the southern districts have been moving out to urban areas of other districts, or in districts where they were traditionally rural dwellers.

Table 1. Spatial and rural-urban movement of tribes in Kerala over 1991-2011
District Level Concentration	Urbanisation Rising	No Change in Urbanisation
Small Change in Spatial Concentration	Arandan(2.8%), Kadar(6.3%), Koraga(40%), Kudiya(2%), Kurichiya(5%), Kuruma (3.5%), Malai Pandaram (11%), Uraly(2.4%)	Adiyan(1.2%),Eravallan(0.4%), Hill Pulaya(1.7%), Irular(1.8%), Kattunayakan(4%), Paniyan(3.5%)
Large Reduction in Spatial Concentration	Kanikaran (8.7%), Malai Arayan (9.6%), Malai Vedan (10.5%), Malayan (3%)	Malayarayar(10.5%), Mannan(3.4%), Muthuvan (1.5%)
Source: https://censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/Tables.aspx, 1991 and 2011. Note: Small change – less than two percentage points. Figures in brackets are level of urbanization in 2011.

Any analysis of de-concentration of scheduled tribes is incomplete without a look at the growth of tribal population in relation to that of the non-tribal population in the districts of Kerala. The population of Kerala grew by 4.9% between 2001 and 2011. While the tribal population grew by a phenomenal 33%[1]  overall, population growth is negative or close to zero in most of the districts which are largely rural, such as Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam, but relatively higher (more than 5%) in rapidly urbanizing districts such as Thrissur, Ernakulam and Kozhikode. The scheduled tribe population too shows a similar pattern but with more intensity. In the rapidly urbanizing districts such as Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode the tribal population has risen by between 65 to 150 percent over the ten years. In the largely rural districts (urbanization level less than 5%) of Idukki and Wayanad, the growth of tribal population is around 10%. It is obvious that rapid urbanization of the districts is fueled by movements of population into these districts of both non-tribal and tribal. The growth of tribal population in these districts is relatively higher because their base is lower.

Table 2. Distribution of districts by level of urbanisation and tribal population growth
Urbanisation % -2011	Tribal Population Growth % -2001 to 2011
	Above 100	51-100	26- 50	25 or below
Above 60	Kannur (65,110) Kozhikode (67,156)	Thrissur (67,95) Ernakulam (68,65)
36 – 60	Alappuzha (54,110) Kollam (45,107)	Kasaragod (39,61) Malappuram (44,87)	Thiruvanant-hapuram (54,29)
11-35				Palakkad (24,11) Kottayam (29,20) Pathanamthitta ( 11,24)
10 or Less				Wayanad (4,11) Idukki (5,10)
Source: https://censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/Tables.aspx, 2001 and 2011.

Overall, Kerala has urbanized rapidly during 2001 - 2011. This decade has also seen negative growth of non-tribal population in the rural areas suggesting that intense rural urban migration has been taking place. Not only non- tribal population has been moving to non-farm employment (a key characteristic defining urbanization) but also tribal population. The tribal population has been migrating from their homelands to urban areas in other districts. Not all tribes in Kerala have been able to migrate to urban areas. It is largely the tribes of the southern districts who are leaving their rural home lands in search of non-farm employment in urban areas.

 

Educational attainment of tribes in a comparative perspective

One of the main channels of migration into non-farm employment is education. A look at the educational attainment of scheduled tribes in comparison with scheduled castes and all population would tell us whether it could play any role in migration. There are many educational indicators that could be used for this purpose. We use only one indicator, namely the proportion of graduates in the population by age class. The distribution by age class is important as it will throw some light on the progress in this indicator in time.

Table 3. Proportion of graduates in population by age class in a few districts of Kerala, 2011
Age Class (Years)	%Graduates - Kannur			%Graduates - Wayanad			%Graduates - Palakkad
	ST	SC	All	ST	SC	All	ST	SC	All
Total	1.97	7.21	9.25	1.28	4.14	6.29	1.44	3.13	6.96
20-24	4.64	20.10	20.73	3.70	11.13	13.32	3.73	9.57	15.79
25-29	4.47	16.35	19.72	3.18	8.96	12.44	3.46	7.21	13.20
30-34	2.79	9.34	13.52	1.55	4.67	9.23	1.57	3.63	9.19
35-59	1.07	4.57	7.68	0.44	3.02	5.19	0.64	1.52	5.68
60+	0.54	1.65	2.69	0.05	0.72	1.18	0.31	0.36	2.64
Age not stated	2.27	4.09	5.45	0	0	4.01	0	2.83	4.69
Source: https://censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/Tables.aspx, 2011.

The sample of northern districts shows that educational attainment (%Graduates) of scheduled tribes in 2011 is lower than that of scheduled castes which in turn is lower than that of all population in the three districts (Table 3). Compared to the tribes, the percentage of graduates is 3.7 times for scheduled caste and 4.7 times for the overall population in Kannur. This is a huge difference. The difference between scheduled caste and tribe has not shown any sign of decline over the last forty years. This is not the case with the difference with all population; the difference has been coming down although at a slow pace. Part of the reason for the rising difference with the scheduled caste group is that they have been gaining at a higher pace compared to all population. In Kannur, the proportion for all population in the 60+ year’s age group which was one percent point higher than that for scheduled caste has virtually disappeared when we come to the 20-24 years age group. The differentials between scheduled tribe and caste are slightly lower in Wayanad and Palakkad but the trend of the difference not coming down is persistent in both the districts. Same is the pattern with regard to the differential between scheduled tribe and all population. The picture is no different in the northern districts not shown here in Table 3. Overall, the proportion of population attaining graduation among the scheduled tribes is lower compared to scheduled caste and all population and there is hardly any sign of the difference coming down over the years.

It is an altogether different story in the southern districts. While the proportion of graduates in the population 15+ years for all population is higher than that for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe in the southern districts of the state, there is hardly any difference between the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes (Table 4). In fact, in two of the districts the scheduled tribes are performing better than the scheduled castes. Turning to the time trend, it may be seen that while in Idukki the scheduled tribes have lost the advantage over the scheduled caste during the last ten years, in Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram the scheduled tribes continue to maintain their higher educational attainments. Overall, the proportions of graduates in the southern districts are two to three times those in the northern districts for all population groups and the scheduled tribes too.

 

Reference

V V Joseph. Tribal Development in Kerala: A Critique (A Case Study of the Malai Arayans in Kottayam District), Ph. D thesis submitted to the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, 2004.

P K Suresh. Social Structural Determinants of Education among Tribes in Kerala, Ph. D thesis submitted to the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, 2015.

Table 4. Proportion of graduates in population by age class in a few districts of Kerala, 2011
Age Class (Years)	%Graduates - Idukki			%Graduates - Kottayam			%Graduates - Thiruvananthapuram
	ST	SC	All	ST