Status of Adivasi Livelihoods 2022: Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

Status of Adivasi Livelihoods is the second instalment in the series of reports on the lives of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG), prepared by the non-governmental organisation, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN). Published in August 2023, the report focuses on the livelihoods of Adivasis in the Central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The first instalment of this series focused on Jharkhand and Odisha and was published in the year 2021.The data for this report was sourced from a survey of 6,019 households from 55 blocks across 22 districts of the two states covered. Of these, 4,745 households were Adivasi, 393 were PVTG, and the rest 881 were non-Adivasi households. The survey spanned two time periods: May to July 2022 for Madhya Pradesh, and May to August 2022 for Chhattisgarh. Focus group discussions were conducted with Adivasi communities in 50 villages, alongside interviews of 28 Adivasi and non-Adivasi experts in the field.Despite the abundance of resources in the geographical terrain inhabited by Adivasis, they have not been able to access development, the report notes. The report associates such deprivation with multiple factors, the most important being “continuous dispossession and displacement”. The report notes the lack of consideration of the specific socio-economic context of Adivasis while implementing developmental policies.This 336-document is divided into 8 main sections: Methodology of the study (Section 1); Social and cultural ethos in which livelihoods are practised (Section 2); The resource base within which livelihoods are practised (Section 3); Infrastructure and resource development (Section 4); Household attributes (Section 5); Adivasi livelihood practices (Section 6); Livelihood outcomes (Section 7); and Women and livelihoods in adivasi society (Section 8).