Nexus Between Poverty and Superstitious Beliefs among Tribal Communities of Assam: A Case Study of Rabha Tribe

Abstract

Superstitious beliefs are found to be widely prevalent among all cultures and communities across the globe. Despite the progress of science and technology, superstitious beliefs still exist in our society. As such, superstitions are often perpetuated due to illiteracy and ignorance. With this backdrop, the present study tries to analyse the status of poverty and its impact on superstitious beliefs among tribal communities with special focus on the Rabha community, one of the scheduled tribes in the plain districts of Assam, India. A total of 24 statements expressing superstitious beliefs have been collected with the help of review of relevant literature, consulting with social scientists, and a few local people in the study area. These 24 statements have been factor analysed by using principal component analysis and finally 18 statements have been selected for constructing a superstitious index at household level. Poverty status has been measured by applying the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). The findings show the presence of poverty among the Rabha Community of Goalpara district. Regression results show that poverty has a positive impact on superstitious beliefs and there exist a high correlation between the two variables.