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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2019/Paper II/Tribal Development, Policy & Safeguards
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper II 2019 15 Marks Model Answer Available

Role of NGOs in Tribal Development — 2019 Paper II

Question · 2019 · Paper II · 15 Marks

Critically discuss the role of NGOs in tribal development.

Model Answer

VAID ICS

Approach

  • Demand of Question: Critically evaluate how NGOs contribute to tribal development and identify the limitations of NGO-led interventions.
  • Structuring the Response: Discuss service delivery, livelihood, rights and participation, followed by problems of accountability, sustainability and cultural appropriateness.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover: Participatory development, education, health, livelihood, FRA-PESA awareness, women, SHGs, advocacy, donor dependence and Gram Sabha.

Model Answer

Introduction: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become important intermediaries between tribal communities, markets and the state. Their significance lies particularly in last-mile service delivery, rights awareness, participatory development and mobilization of marginalized communities.

Positive role of NGOs

  1. Education: NGOs contribute through:
  • bridge schools;
  • residential education;
  • mother-tongue teaching;
  • adult literacy;
  • reduction of dropout.

Their local presence can make educational interventions more culturally sensitive.

  1. Health and nutrition: In remote tribal areas NGOs facilitate:
  • mobile healthcare;
  • maternal-child health;
  • nutrition programmes;
  • health awareness;
  • linkage with government facilities.
  1. Livelihood development

NGOs organize tribal households into:

  • Self-Help Groups;
  • producer collectives;
  • cooperatives.

They support:

  • minor forest produce;
  • horticulture;
  • sustainable agriculture;
  • handicrafts;
  • skill development.

For example, BAIF’s Wadi approach has promoted orchard-based livelihoods among tribal households in several regions.

  1. Rights-based approach

NGOs increasingly assist communities in understanding and claiming rights under:

  • Forest Rights Act, 2006;
  • PESA, 1996;
  • land and rehabilitation laws.

Thus:

Awareness → Organization → Rights assertion → Empowerment

  1. Participatory development

Unlike purely top-down administration, NGOs can facilitate:

  • participatory rural appraisal;
  • community planning;
  • local resource mapping;
  • involvement of traditional institutions.

This accords with the anthropological principle of development with participation rather than development imposed from outside.

  1. Women’s empowerment

Women’s collectives and SHGs can strengthen:

  • savings;
  • access to credit;
  • livelihood opportunities;
  • participation in community decisions.
  1. Advocacy and accountability

NGOs may document:

  • displacement;
  • land alienation;
  • forest-right violations;
  • poor service delivery.

They can act as a bridge between tribal communities, civil society and administrative institutions.

Critical limitations

  1. Donor dependence: Funding priorities may determine programmes more than community priorities.
  2. Short project cycles: Temporary interventions may disappear once external funding ends.
  3. Accountability problem: NGOs are not always democratically accountable to the communities they claim to represent.
  4. Cultural mismatch: External professionals may impose inappropriate models without sufficient ethnographic understanding.
  5. Fragmentation: Multiple small projects can duplicate state programmes without generating systemic transformation.
  6. Elite capture: Local elites may disproportionately benefit from NGO resources.
  7. Depoliticization: Excessive focus on welfare may sometimes reduce structural questions of:
  • land;
  • displacement;
  • exploitation;
  • political autonomy

to technical development problems.

Anthropological way forward

NGOs should function as:

Facilitators, not substitutes for tribal institutions

Effective tribal development requires:

Gram Sabha + Community organizations + NGOs + Responsive State

Conclusion

NGOs can make tribal development more participatory, locally sensitive and rights-oriented, especially in remote areas. However, their effectiveness depends upon accountability, long-term engagement and genuine community control. The ideal role of NGOs is to strengthen tribal agency and institutions rather than create new forms of dependency.

2026 Write an account on the contribution of Verrier Elwin in developing policies for the tribal populations in post-independent India. 2026 Article 371A of the Indian Constitution. 2026 Discuss the impact of democratic institutions on the tribal populations of India. 2026 Write an account on Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes (DAPST).

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