The pandemic has not only brought out the inequalities in health and the fragility of our public health system, but it has also shown us how vulnerable a large section of our society is in terms of necessities like livelihood and food. And the indigenous communities lie at the intersection of both livelihood and food insecurity since a large part of the indigenous population has migrated to the cities to seek livelihood opportunities and even at their traditional regions of residence they are faced with several insecurities like lack of income opportunities, dispossession from traditional natural resources, lack of access to public and private food supply system etc. leading to improper nutritional outcomes.
This report attempts to give voice to the problems and needs of the indigenous communities located in differentiated administrative, economic and socio-ecological contexts. It also tries to highlight the ways in which community based activities and traditional practices has been used for dealing with the vulnerabilities presented by market disruptions; and the possible change in perceptions of the younger generations to traditional subsistence food system and livelihood practices, who in earlier studies had been found to be disinterested in both traditional food production as well as consumption.
Food security, traditional food practices and community efforts
The government public distribution system (PDS) is one of the key sources of caloric requirements in rural India. The communities had reported receiving a more or less standardized supply of rice which had been increased by five kilograms in all states. In Chattisgarh additional supplies of sugar and pulses were also part of the public distribution system. There has not been much difficulty in accessing these across the states. However, it has been noted by a senior respondent that the PDS has been excessively stretched with the coming in of migrant workers and that it might lead to a lot of deficiencies in the future. Also, the single food grains are not enough to meet most of the nutritional requirements of the population and the rest is met either from traditional food sources or the market.
Purchased food supply chains in the country have been largely affected by the lockdown. The respondents noted that their ability to access markets have been limited and were restricted not only from buying food items but also seeds, which were to be acquired before locally or from bordering states before the sowing upcoming sowing season.
In the absence of the market, the forest had been the only source of food alongside the homestead farms and kitchen gardens. Thus, these traditional practices have been one of the key aspects of nutritional security among the indigenous communities of the region. In fact the practices of inter-village seed sharing, community seed banks have also been leveraged in the times of the lockdown. Yet, the respondents mentioned, only certain kinds of wild foods like green leafy vegetables were consumed, tubers which are more difficult to collect were largely avoided. In certain areas of Jharkhand, where the bureaucracy is more developed, such collective food collection practices were restricted by the social distancing rules. In such areas farming was also affected by the lockdown till government directives regarding farming were altered.
But for many communities who do not own much land, like the Birhors of Chattisgarh, or those who are exposed more to the industries like the communities living around Jamshedpur town of Jharkhandare largely dependent on various alternative modes of livelihoods including collection and harvesting of non-timber forest products. With greater monetization of indigenous communities and dependence on markets, the disruption of income from these sources of livelihood can have significant consequences for food-security and well-being of communities.
Livelihood, Migration and the role of the government
Livelihoods of the forest dwelling communities are very closely linked to the commercially important products of the forest. While some of the forest dwellers are engaged in commercial agriculture, traditional crafts, employed in industries for their livelihood, forest products tends to play a major role. It is for this reason we have tried to summarize the difference in prices (In Table 1.) caused by the lockdown and the cause for these differences.
The products which were acquired by the government were immune to any disruptions due to the lockdown and provided a support to the livelihoods of the target communities. This shows the importance of a government support price in the times of livelihood disruption. But this also leads to the possibility of overexploitation of the resources in the absence of alternative modes of livelihood, and excessive reliance on market for basic necessities like food grain.
And as has been pointed out by the members of all the communities, alternative forms of livelihoods in these regions are scarcely available. Especially for the semi-skilled and skilled workers there are not many opportunities. This has led to large scale migration from many indigenous communities. And the very little jobs that had been there near the relatively industrialised regions have been disrupted by the lockdown.
Although the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups who were interviewed reported that, these communities do not have too many people working outside the village. But in the Bhariya community the respondent provided a detailed account of the hardships faced by a significant number of people who have returned to the Village after losing their jobs. And this had led to financial hardships in many such households including his own, with the return of his cousin.
Outside the PVTG communities the rate of migration is much higher. And in fact in those communities the rate of returnees are also much higher, but having been displaced from land and forests they have very little options. In fact the only job opportunity left for them is in the form of the government rural employment guarantee scheme. The workers who have acquired skills in their places of work and are used to a higher pay are not willing to do this form of work and as a result some of them have even decided to move back to their work places in the cities out of desperation.
In all aspects of livelihood, whether through acquisition of forest produce or the employment guarantee program, the communities are significantly dependant on the government. This has also revealed the resilience of these systems in creating livelihood opportunities. However, the government infrastructure is designed to cater to the most basic requirements of the communities. And the aspirations of the communities as highlighted by the respondents here shows the need for the government to expand these schemes into more skilled work and also involve support for making the traditional practices more profitable including a stable and resilient supply chain for NTFPs which will provide more power to the communities. This by implication also means greater autonomy over forest resources.
Some reflections on the future
While, in the food security front, the PVTG communities have been able to insulate themselves from the market shocks by falling back to their traditional food practices which are independent of the external processes, market based livelihoods have proved to be much more precarious. In fact the diversity of their diets has improved over this period. Based on earlier research, it can be assumed that the nutritional intake must have improved as a result. The collective practices have improved, and therefore the sense of community.
The community members have also mentioned the increasing interest in community based agricultural practices as well as wild food collection. The respondents also said that some people who have returned from cities are wary of returning. Nevertheless, they are aware of the aspirations of the younger generation and the importance of cash income to meet these aspirations. This is why they state unless the traditional practices of NTFP collection or farming of traditional crops do not become lucrative sources of cash income it is difficult to sustain a long term interest in the traditional agriculture and food self-sufficiency.
Author: Arnab Chakraborty
Arnab Chakraborty Masters is a Masters student of society and development with Azim Premji University (APU). He was part of a summer internship program with Keystone Foundation during which he was associated with the Using Diversity Network in a research capacity. This paper is a culmination of some of the research he carried out during his internship.
Arnab wants to understand and contribute to the process of improving the health and well being of communities from a socio-ecological perspective. His past experience has been in understanding urban agriculture, sustainable housing, sanitation and water as well as governance of common pool resources like wetlands.
