Lesson 26: Indian Society: Tribal, Rural and Urban

Core Concept and Sociological Definition

Indian society has been broadly divided into tribal, rural, and urban societies on the basis of their geographical surroundings and socio-cultural characteristics. However, there has been a continuous interaction between these three kinds of societies, and sociologists cannot put them into watertight compartments.

Eleven Core Characteristics of Tribal Society

• 1. Demarcated Territory: They possess a well-demarcated geographical territory.
• 2. Natural Habitat: Generally, they inhabit forests or hilly terrains.
• 3. Relative Isolation: Their territory is relatively isolated or semi-isolated compared to other social groups.
• 4. Autonomous Culture: They maintain their own culture, folklore, cosmology, and belief system.
• 5. Subsistence Barter Economy: Economically they are self-sufficient at a subsistence level where there is no concept of surplus. They cling to primitive technology, lack a monetary economy, and depend upon barter exchange.
• 6. Present-Oriented Outlook: They are more interested in satisfying today's immediate needs and do not bother about future requirements.
• 7. Distinct Language: They speak their own language, which generally lacks a written script.
• 8. Political System: Possess their own political organization, encompassing both stateless and state systems. Earlier, they had a stateless system without chiefs, managing order via family and kinship ties. Later, the state system emerged with elected or hereditary chiefs. Today, this traditional autonomy is lost as they have become part of local civil administration.
• 9. Simple Social Structure: Known as simple societies because social relations are based primarily on family and kinship ties without rigid social stratification.
• 10. Distinct Religious Beliefs: Possess their own religion, deities, and sacred practices consisting of:
  • Animism: Worshipping the soul or ancestors.
  • Animatism: Worshipping non-living objects like stone or wood.
  • Totemism: Worshipping a tree or animal regarded as the founding ancestor.
  • Naturism: Worshipping objects of nature like rivers, streams, sun, moon, and forests.
• 11. Sons of the Soil: Strong ethnic identity and profound sense of belongingness as indigenous original inhabitants.

Tribal Social Structure and Stratification

Most Indian tribes are patrilineal and patriarchal in nature, such as the Kondhs of Orissa, Santhals of West Bengal and Bihar, and Bhils of Madhya Pradesh. In these communities, inheritance of property, authority, residence, and line of descent pass from father to son, accompanied by male dominance.

However, extreme patriliny is not found today. Compared with non-tribal communities in India, tribal societies exhibit greater equality among the sexes. In the absence of an industrial economy and formal bureaucratic structures, tribal organization rests on kinship groupings like clans, lineages, and families.

Conversely, some tribal communities are matriarchal, such as the Garo and Khasi of Meghalaya. Initially, social stratification was absent, comprising only two broad divisions: the ruling clans and others. Economically, tribal society is characterized as an egalitarian society. Only following sustained contact with non-tribal outsiders have observable inequalities emerged.

Why the Concept Matters

Studying tribal society reveals the foundational principles of kinship-based, non-monetized human co-existence and illustrates how autonomous communities maintain social order without formal state legal machinery or rigid class hierarchies.

Demographic Scope and Five Geographic Regions

According to the Census 2001 of India, there are about 461 tribes distributed throughout the country, with a total population of approximately 8.1 crores (constituting 8.1% of the total Indian population). Geographically, tribal communities are distributed across five broad zones:

• 1. North East, Sikkim and Himalayas: Naga, Mizo, Adi, Lepcha, Gaddi, Khasi, Garo, Jaintia, Raji, Bhotia, Tharu.
• 2. Western Region: Seheria, Bhil, Girisia, Rebari, Dang, Mina, Worli.
• 3. Central Region: Munda, Oraon, Santhal, Gond, Ho, Chenchu, Bhumij, Birhor, Kondh, Saora, Poroja.
• 4. Southern Region: Irula, Toda, Badaga, Paliyan, Cholanaicken.
• 5. Island Communities: Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese (Sentinnclose), Shompen, Nicobarese.

Demographic Extremes

In terms of population size, the largest tribal group in India is the Gonds (about 8 lakhs), followed by Bhils (about 7.5 lakhs), Santhals (about 5 lakhs), Mina (about 2.2 lakhs), and Oraon (about 2 lakhs).

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the smallest endangered tribal communities inhabit isolated island habitats: Jarawa (about 50), Onges (about 100), Great Andamanese (about 150), and Arandan (about 250).

Linguistic Classification of Indian Tribes

Most tribal communities in India speak non-Aryan languages divided into four major linguistic families:

• 1. Austro-Asiatic Family: Spoken by Khasi, Nicobari, Santhali, Ho, and Mundari.
• 2. Tibeto-Chinese Family: Spoken by Bhotia, Lepcha, Abor, Miri, Dafla, Garo, Naga, and Lushai.
• 3. Dravidian Family: Spoken by Korwa, Badaga, Toda, Kota, Kui (spoken by the Kondh), Gondi, Maler, and Oraon.
• 4. Indo-European Family: Spoken by Hajong and Bhili.

Why the Concept Matters

Mapping the regional and linguistic diversity of tribes dispels the misconception of Indian tribes as a homogeneous group, highlighting the wide spectrum of tongues, population sizes, and ecological niches they encompass.

Historical Origins of Tribal Problems

Before Muslim rule, tribes lived in relative isolation. During Muslim rule, revenue collection commenced, but rulers did not interfere with tribal customs and traditions. Exploitative contact started during British rule due to three primary motives:

1. The British desire to rule over and administratively control tribal territories.
2. The drive to syphon off valuable timber and mineral resources abundant in tribal forest belts.
3. Efforts to preach Christianity under the pretext of spreading rationality.

Cultural contact expanded further due to the entry of administrators, missionaries, traders, moneylenders, and medical vendors; the development of road and transport networks into remote tracts; and large-scale displacement of tribes caused by construction of heavy industries, hydro-electric projects, and irrigation dams.

Six Major Tribal Problems Examined

• 1. Land Alienation: Caused by the abrupt introduction of a monetary economy. Tribals needed cash for daily consumption needs but lacked regular earnings. Consequently, they mortgaged or sold their agricultural lands. Exploitative outsiders grabbed tribal lands, while industrial expansion led to compulsory state land acquisitions. State governments have enacted statutory acts prohibiting the transfer or sale of tribal lands to non-tribals.
• 2. Indebtedness: Severe poverty and irregular income forced tribes into the clutches of private moneylenders (mahajans or sahukars) who charged exorbitant rates of interest. Expenses on social customs—such as regular liquor consumption, payment of bride price during marriage, and fines imposed by councils for deviant behaviour—drove tribes into heavy debt. State governments have initiated measures to curb sahukars and provide institutional bank and co-operative credit at nominal interest rates.
• 3. Bonded Labour: Arising directly from poverty and indebtedness, bonded labour represents a severe structural crisis. Inability to repay compound interest on mortgaged land forces tribal families to render lifelong unpaid servitude to creditors. Land alienation, debt, bonded labour, and poverty form a single vicious, inter-related cycle.
• 4. Shifting Cultivation: Involves large-scale deforestation and soil erosion. Known regionally as Swidden (slash and burn), Jhum (North-East tribes), Khallu (among the Maler of Bihar), and Podu (among the Kondhs and Parajas of Orissa). It involves clearing vegetation on hill terraces, burning shrubs, and broadcasting (sprinkling) seeds (such as arhar, maize, bajra, and barbati beans) without ploughing. Plots are cultivated for one or two years and left fallow for five to seven years for natural vegetation to regenerate before repeating the cycle.
• 5. Illiteracy: Inaccessible terrain and poverty have hindered formal education. Standard school timings frequently clash with essential agricultural and foraging operations. Government initiatives now establish primary schools within a one-kilometer radius of tribal settlements.
• 6. Health and Nutrition: Deprivation of traditional forest foods, combined with poor sanitation and modern disease exposure, has created severe health crises. Indigenous herbal and magical therapies are declining, while diseases range from diarrhea, jaundice, smallpox, malaria, and filaria to AIDS, heart ailments, and hypertension. Primary Health Centres are being established across rural-tribal belts to provide modern medical care.

Why the Concept Matters

Analyzing tribal crises demonstrates how the uncritical imposition of commercialized monetary systems, industrial projects, and outside middlemen destabilizes sustainable subsistence economies, necessitating targeted protective legislation and welfare planning.

Meaning and Sociological Concept of Rural Society

Rural society refers to society that resides in villages and remains dependent on the natural environment. Its economy rests predominantly on agriculture and allied pursuits. Rural communities are characterized by low population density, intimate face-to-face primary relations, rich oral folk traditions, and an agrarian social structure.

Sixteen Key Characteristics of Indian Village Communities

The textbook outlines sixteen specific traits defining rural Indian social life:

• 1. Agriculture as a Way of Life: Agriculture is not merely an occupation or source of livelihood; it constitutes the total way of life for villagers.
• 2. Small Community Size: Compact geographical size with low population density compared to towns.
• 3. Primary Group Relations: Intimate, face-to-face, personal interactions among village residents.
• 4. Lineage-Based Structure: Social structure is anchored in kinship, family ties, and the paramount role of lineage (Vansh).
• 5. Joint Family Dominance: Prevalence of joint families living under one roof, sharing a common hearth, pooling property, worshiping together, and maintaining multi-generational bonds.
• 6. Traditional-Ritual Conservatism: Conservative outlook toward rituals, life-cycle ceremonies, and traditional deities.
• 7. Strong Group Solidarity: Pervasive brotherhood sentiment, mutual cooperation, and collective mobilization during crises.
• 8. Homogeneous Folk Culture: Unwritten customs and norms transmitted orally across generations; shared socio-economic backgrounds minimize ideological divergence.
• 9. Low Productivity & Poverty: Traditional mono-cropping, primitive techniques, lack of marketing infrastructure, and decay of cottage crafts generate rural poverty and outward migration.
• 10. Caste-Based Hierarchy: Pervasive caste system ranked strictly along principles of ritual purity and pollution (Brahmins at the top performing religious rituals; Shudras at the bottom performing scavenging).
• 11. Ascriptive Model of Life: Status is ascribed at birth rather than achieved through individual merit, restricting social mobility.
• 12. Strict Social Control: Deviant behaviour is dealt with strictly through community sanctions and caste panchayats.
• 13. Labour-Intensive Operations: Reliance on manual, age-old methods of cultivation requiring arduous daily physical exertion.
• 14. Relative Economic Self-Sufficiency: Balance between local production and immediate consumption needs.
• 15. Static Economic Structure: Lack of modern technology, capital investment avenues, and organized market mechanisms.
• 16. Attachment to the "Little Tradition": Strong attachment to local folklore, rituals, and historical heritage.

The Indian Village Community: Disproving the "Little Republic" Myth

British colonial administrators long asserted that Indian village communities were self-sufficient "little republics"—completely autonomous units possessing everything they needed within themselves and totally independent of outside contact. Indian sociologists, through rigorous field studies, have proved this to be an absolute myth:

Planned Rural Change and the Rural-Urban Continuum

Following Independence, the Government launched the Community Development Programme in 1952 to foster comprehensive rural development with popular participation. In 1959, Panchayati Raj (democratic local self-government) was formally inaugurated. In 1979, the Community Development Programme was replaced by the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP).

Rather than isolated enclaves, rural and urban areas exist in continuous, dynamic interaction termed the rural-urban continuum. Villages supply essential foodstuffs and industrial raw materials to towns, while absorbing urban consumer goods and modern ideas. Improved road networks, transport, and communication have accelerated this exchange: the barter economy has transitioned to a cash market, and rigid caste hierarchies are progressively weakening.

Why the Concept Matters

Deconstructing the "little republic" myth reveals the historic vitality of regional networks and provides an objective baseline to track how planned state interventions and urban integration modernize village life.

Meaning and Sociological Concept of Urban Society

Urban society encompasses towns, cities, and metropolitan areas characterized by high population density, an economy founded on non-agricultural pursuits, a man-made physical environment, and a distinct cosmopolitan way of life.

Eleven Core Characteristics of Urban Society

• 1. High Population Density: High concentration of residents within limited spatial boundaries.
• 2. Cultural Heterogeneity: Immense demographic diversity as migrants from varied regions, castes, and tongues converge for work, education, and healthcare.
• 3. Man-Made Ecology: An artificial, built physical environment replacing the natural rural habitat.
• 4. Non-Agricultural Economy: Occupations center on manufacturing, commerce, finance, administration, and modern service sectors.
• 5. High Social Mobility: Class-based social structure (upper, middle, and lower classes based on economic criteria) permitting occupational mobility.
• 6. Formal Social Control: Order is enforced through formal state institutions—courts, codified laws, and police—rather than customary family pressure.
• 7. Secondary Social Contacts: Impersonal, segmental, and contractual relationships replace intimate face-to-face primary bonds.
• 8. Urban Way of Life: Leisure spent in specialized commercial spaces: restaurants, cinema halls, clubs, parks, and shopping markets.
• 9. Monetized Market Economy: Complete dominance of monetary exchange and formal market mechanisms.
• 10. Complex Civic Amenities: Infrastructure including piped water, electricity grids, transport networks, communication lines, and hospitals.
• 11. Social Anonymity: Individuals live in mutual anonymity; neighbours often do not know one another.

Census Criteria for Defining an Urban Area in India

In official Indian demographic usage, an area is designated as urban if it fulfills five criteria:

1. Presence of an urban administrative unit (such as a Municipality, Metropolitan Council, Notified Area Council, or Cantonment Board).
2. A minimum total population of 10,000 persons.
3. At least 75% of the working population engaged in non-agricultural occupations.
4. A minimum population density of 1,000 persons per square mile.
5. Availability of specialized urban amenities (industrial zones, large housing settlements, or tourist and entertainment infrastructure).

Classification of Indian Cities by Population

Indian urban centers are officially categorized into five hierarchical tiers:

• Metro: Population of 10,00,000 and above (10 lakhs+).
• Class I City: Population of 1,00,000 and above (1 lakh to 9.99 lakhs).
• Class II Town: Population of 50,000 to 99,999.
• Class III Town: Population of 20,000 to 49,999.
• Class IV Town: Population of 10,000 to 19,999.

Urban Social Problems and the Push-Pull Migration Dynamic

Urban growth in India generates acute structural crises driven by rapid rural-to-urban migration:

• Push and Pull Factors of Migration:
  • Push Factor: Chronic unemployment, landlessness, and grinding poverty in villages push villagers to towns in search of livelihood.
  • Pull Factor: Job invitations from relatives already settled in towns, higher wage prospects, and the allure of urban entertainment and amenities pull migrants toward cities.
• Proliferation of Slums: Impoverished migrants cannot afford formal housing, settling in unauthorized peripheral clusters that deteriorate into congested, unhygienic slums lacking water, drainage, and electricity.
• Psychological Stress and Anonymity: The collapse of traditional primary groups and family support networks causes isolation, acute mental tension, and a rise in psychological disorders.
• Unemployment, Resource Scarcity, and Crime: Massive population influx leads to severe shortages of water and power, widespread youth unemployment, frustration, and escalating rates of urban crime.

Why the Concept Matters

Analyzing urban structures and migration mechanisms explains the root causes of urban squalor, unemployment, and alienation, providing the empirical foundation needed to design balanced regional development policies.