Construction and Reconstruction of Indian Tribal Youth

Construction and Reconstruction of Indian Tribal Youth: An
Anthropological Approach
Alok Chantia,
For centuries, the youth have played major roles in the society. In fact they have been the
agents of most of the significant social changes. More recently they toppled governments,
revived cultures and provided leadership in the political, economic, social and cultural
spheres of life. In developing nations, youth are generally segregated from the rest of
their peer groups. The alienation from its peer groups and the mainstream of the
traditional society makes them unsure of their roots. India is one of the few nations noted
for its tribal concentration. According to the 1991 census, the tribal groups of India
account for 8.08% of the total population. About 80% of them live in remote forest areas
and hill tracts, without any access to modern socio-economic inputs. It is assumed that
the current trend of assigned prominence to the “tribalness” as is explicit among the tribal
youth, will take a constructive turn in the future days. In constructing the Bharat of the
21st century, the capability of the tribal youth, their diligence, agility, intelligence,
patriotism – will prove quite effective. With their dynamic mental makeup and
continuous efforts to make a dent on the national level in all walks of life social-politicaleconomic,
the tribal youth have the potency to rejuvenate their own group, as also the
whole notion of ideas of development have yielded good results in sporadic tribal
pockets. These discrete examples of self-reliance and progressive outlook shown and
accelerate radical changes for the betterment of people. This helps them to shed off some
elements in their culture, which are determined to progress. The tribal youth of tomorrow
will be more vibrant with vitality and will sincerely help to build up greater solidarity of
Bharat (India) of the 21st century and will take us into the electronic age. They would
accept the desired socio-politico-economic change for their target development. Such
target development would definitely help the tribal youth for their future, which will play
an important role in constructing India.