INDEBTEDNESS AMONG THE SCHEDULED TRIBES OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

According to the 1971 census, the tribal population of Andhra Pradesh is 16.68 lakhs which constitutes 3.81 per cent of the total population of the State. among the 33 tribes with varying tradition, culture, and economic levels are living in Andhra Pradesh. The traditional economic organization of the tribes can be classified broadly into five categories. Agriculture, settled or shifting, is the main occupation of most of the major tribes. Irrespective of the occupations pursued by various tribes and their social structure, the problem of indebtedness is found to be common to all of them. The reason for this is their poor economic condition, which again is due to their aloofness from the mainstream of national development and the geo-economic nature of the area they lived in. the problem of indebtedness among the tribals still remains unsolved. With a view to assessing the magnitude of this problem and its dimensions a survey among 20 major scheduled Tribes inhabiting the Scheduled and Non-Scheduled areas of Andhra Pradesh was taken up during the year 1971-72. The basic objective of this survey is to estimate the extent of indebtedness among the major tribes of Andhra Pradesh. The study presents and discusses the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the sample households taken up for this study. The study noticed that out of 1,196 households surveyed in both the scheduled and the plains areas, 749 were indebted accounting for 62.62 percent of the total households surveyed. The extent of indebtedness varies from region to region, depending upon factors such as availability of credit, creditworthiness etc. The study reveals that the tribal economy is characterized by small holdings, vagaries of monsoon, lack of irrigation facilities and primitive methods of cultivation. Chronic poverty and destitution have become the pattern of tribal life. Today most of the tribal families are leading a life far below the poverty line which in turn, resulted in heavy indebtedness among them. Sociological factors such as peculiar customs, beliefs and habits prevailing among the tribals are equally responsible for their heavy indebtedness. Unproductive expenditure on performance of social and religious ceremonies, heavy consumption of liquor, purchase of ornaments and cosmetics which has been on the increase with their increasing contacts with the plains people coupled with low investment on productive activities like agriculture resulted in the perpetual indebtedness of the tribals.