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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2017/Paper II/Tribal Problems & Displacement
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper II 2017 20 Marks Model Answer Available

Displacement and the Health of Tribal Communities — 2017 Paper II

Question · 2017 · Paper II · 20 Marks

Describe the impact of displacement on the health and nutritional status of tribal communities.

Model Answer

VAID ICS

Approach

  • Demand of Question:Establish mechanisms linking displacement to health and nutrition; do not merely list diseases. Show how loss of land, forest, community and food systems alters biological outcomes.
  • Structuring the Response:Define displacement -> livelihood/food pathway -> disease and health-service pathway -> psychosocial/cultural effects -> vulnerable groups -> anthropological evidence and rights-based rehabilitation.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover:Michael Cernea IRR model, Walter Fernandes on development-induced displacement, Xaxa Committee; landlessness, joblessness, food insecurity, morbidity, maternal-child effects, mental health, disrupted ethnomedicine, infectious exposure; FRA/PESA and social-impact/rehabilitation principles.

Model Answer

Introduction For tribal communities, development-induced displacement is not merely a change of physical residence; it is the destruction of an integrated socio-ecological system. As highlighted by the Xaxa Committee (2014), separating tribes from their land, forests, and kinship networks converts ecological loss directly into measurable, devastating health and nutritional crises.

Body (Draw a Flowchart: Displacement ➔ Loss of Commons/Forests ➔ Livelihood/Dietary Collapse ➔ Malnutrition. Parallel arrow: Social Disarticulation ➔ Psychosocial Stress. Highlight women and children as most vulnerable)

  1. The Food and Nutrition PathwayDisplacement cuts off access to common-property resources (Minor Forest Produce, fishing grounds). The traditional highly diverse diet (millets, tubers, forest fruits, animal protein) is abruptly replaced by a market-dependent, cereal-heavy diet (often poor-quality rice/wheat). This dietary narrowing leads to severe micronutrient deficiencies and undernutrition, disproportionately affecting pregnant women and children.
  2. Livelihood Collapse and MorbidityUsing Michael Cernea’s Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction (IRR) model, displacement triggers joblessness and marginalization. Without seasonal forest incomes, households fall into debt-traps and distress migration. Reduced purchasing power directly reduces household healthcare expenditure, worsening morbidity rates.
  3. Altered Disease Environment and Service DisruptionRelocation sites often expose tribes to unfamiliar disease vectors, polluted industrial/mining water, and crowded, unhygienic housing. Simultaneously, spatial displacement severs their connection to traditional ethnomedicine (medicinal plants and local healers) while new state healthcare facilities in resettlement colonies remain severely underdeveloped or culturally alien.
  4. Psychosocial and Cultural TraumaHealth is also social. Anthropologists note that the loss of ancestral lands, sacred groves, and burial sites causes profound collective trauma, grief, and a rise in substance abuse. "Community disarticulation" destroys the reciprocal kin-based food-sharing networks that traditionally buffered households during illness.

Conclusion As sociologist Walter Fernandes emphasizes, cash compensation cannot rebuild a tribal health ecology. Effective rehabilitation must move beyond mere physical resettlement. It requires enforcing PESA and the Forest Rights Act (FRA, 2006) to ensure free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), alongside culturally appropriate healthcare and land-for-land reconstruction, ensuring the socio-ecological determinants of tribal health are restored.

2026 Write an account on the prevalence of sickle cell disease among the tribal populations of India. What are the initiatives undertaken by the affected states to tackle with this disease? 2026 What are the major challenges tribal communities are facing in contemporary India? 2026 Make a critical appraisal of Niyamgiri movement against mining-induced displacement. 2025 Examine the environmental and biocultural factors influencing the health of tribals of India.

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UPSC Anthropology Optional 2017 — Paper II

28 questions

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10 Marks150 words
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10 Marks150 words
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10 Marks150 words
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10 Marks150 words
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