Autonomy to Perpetual Dependence: Changing Occupational Patterns of Adivasis in India

Abstract

The study delves into the occupational precariousness among adivasis and scrutinises the issues of adivasi migrant labour which have been reflected in the Disha Foundation’s report on Tribal Livelihood Migration in India (2021). The study disseminates that while land alienation has engendered livelihood insecurity among adivasis, the politics of identity and dominant pedagogical paradigm have intensified their occupational vulnerability which eventually turned a large section of them into precarious labour. These three factors together explain the increasing migrant labour among them in different states. Unless these three major issues are addressed, the problem of the employment crisis among them may not be mitigated as these are the factors that not only affect their economic life but also the socio-cultural life which plays a major role in their preference for occupation.