Impact of Urbanization on Tribal Development: A Case Study from India

Amit Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru University

This paper attempts to study the growing disparity (measured in socio-economic terms) between tribes living in Ranchi city of India and its hinterland. The rapid pace of urbanisation which started after independence caused enormous uprooting of tribal population from their habitats and they lost their agricultural and forest based occupations. Among those who migrated in the city, most of them absolved into the low wage jobs. Their standard of living, hence, is much lower than the other population in cities. But those who are still there in the rural areas are far from the modern development processes and their standard of living is even lower than their fellow tribes who migrated in the city. This paper will use the primary data to analyze these differences and will try to present few practical suggestions for reducing the socio-economic gap among them and their overall development.