Assessing the Perpetuity of Tribe Indebtedness: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

‘Indebtedness’ of the tribes increases their woe. They live in inaccessible terrain with inadequate infrastructure. Living on subsistence, majority of them depend on borrowings to finance their budget deficit. Being in debt tends to become perpetual with several drastic consequences like being subject to exploitation through bonded labour, losing of assets or transfer of ownership of land and other assets under several pre-text to non-tribal or private lenders, etc. This indebtedness itself has other adverse social impacts on the tribes like the low level of education, ill-health, employment status etc. which has a spiral relationship with indebtedness. This study seeks to identify the various facets of their indebtedness from close quarters, find the extent of absorption of institutional credit by these tribes and identify the gap in their likely absorption perpetuating their indebtedness. It is based on the analysis of primary data collected through structured schedules directly from the respondents. It has been analysed using relevant statistical and econometric tools. It finds the perpetual aspect of tribes' indebtedness due to various ingrained social, cultural and economic factors. It suggests ways to end this perpetuity and amalgamate them on the path of development.