Rethinking about Tribal Marriage, Family and Kinship of Chhattisgarh State

(With special reference to tribes of base camp in Dantewada district)

Dr. L.S. Gajpal (LMI 2613)

(Associate professor)

S.O.S. in Sociology

Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur (C.G.)

Email – gajpal14@gmail.com

Abstract: Present paper is based on the findings of major research project “Tribal life in base camp and structural change.” Researcher has been try to find out what are the factor responsible for migration of large number of tribal people from native places to nearby the district and block head quarters. The study is focused on impact of migration on tribal marriage and family in base camp. A comparative study of social life of tribal people before coming in base camps and changes after boarding in base camps. The findings of the study show that due to naxal movement and residing in the base camp tribal marriage, family and kinship system is highly affected.

Objectives of the Proposed work are as follows:-

1. To study the socio-economic background of the migrated tribal’s in base camp.
2. To understand changing pattern of marriage, family and kinship amongst migrated tribal’s living in the base camps.

Study Area: South Bastar (Dantewada District) has been selected for the study area.

The Sample: A sample of 300 migrated tribal’s living in the base camps of Dantewara district has been purposively selected.

Collection of Data: For collection of the primary data as a tool an interview-schedule was constructed. The data has also been collected through group discussion and Non – participatory observation.

Major Findings: Findings of the study shows that partially significant change in pattern of tribal marriage, family and kinship structure after coming in base camp amongst the tribes of under study.

The study of socio-cultural background is the soul of research in social science because lack of understanding about socio-cultural background, we cannot analyze sociologically. Socio-cultural background of human reflects their behavior from birth to death. To all intents and purpose a newborn human baby is helpless. Not only is it physically dependent on older members of the species but it also lacks the behavior pattern necessary for living in human society. It relies primarily on certain biological drives such as hunger and the charity of its elders to satisfy those drives. The infant has a lot to learn .In order to survive; it must learn the skills, knowledge and accepted ways of behaving of the society into which it is born. It must learn a way of life; in sociological technique, it must learn the culture of its society.

Age structure of the respondents:

Age is the important basis of stratification of society. The capacity of human work is depend on age. With growth, simultaneously knowledge and experience also grows. Age also reflect moral and intellectual development. As the age grows man can easily differentiate between significant and insignificant things. The age structure of the respondents is given in the following table: -

Table 1

Age structure of the respondents

It is revealed from the above table that 50% respondents are belonging to the age group between 20 to 30 years. 21% respondents are between 30 to 40 years. 15% respondents are between 40 to 50 years. 12% respondents are between 50 to 60 years and only 02% respondents are belonging to the age group more than 60 years.  It is also clear from the table that majority of samples consists in youths.

Educational status of the respondents:

Education is the important tool of development. According to Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru ‘If you want to know the status of development of any society, you should always know, what the educational status of the society. Present study is based on tribal region of Chhattisgarh where literacy are very poor area.

In tribal society till date informal education is lacking, in this regard west Bastar comes under low literacy area. According to the census 2001 the literacy rate was 44.56 only. In 1991 it was 16.46%, but after ‘Shaksharta Abhyan’ some improvement is seen, however at national level the goal is far away from its targets. Details can be seen in the following table.

Table 2

Respondent’s educational status

 Response in relation to the educational status of the respondents in the base camp, the above table shows that 62% are illiterate, 24% respondents are having primary education, 11% are having education up to middle school. And barely one each percent respondent are having education up to high school, high secondary and graduation.

Cast group of the respondents:

The total population of the district according to the senses of (2011) 73% population are schedule tribs peoples which mainly includes; Muriya, Dhakda, Bhatra, Halba, Dorala .Most of them are Gond schedule tribes (Muriya). In the selected study area (district) Dantawada and kuwakonda block are having more Muriya and Halbas. In the present study the tribe group data related to the base camp 73% families are Muriya’s, 25% are belonging to Gond tribe, while one-one % families belong to Mariya and abhujmadiya tribe.

 Mother tongue of the respondents:-

Gondi dialect is a major and common way of communication. The above data related to the base camp respondents revels that 98% respondents speaks Gondi where as only, 2% respondents speaks Halbi, Hindi or Chhattisgarhi dialect are absolutely out of focus. 

Marital details of the respondents:

Marriage is important natural way of life. According to the   respondents in the base camp the findings on their material status is, that 90% respondents are married, 5% widow, 3% Widower and 2% were unmarried.

Occupation of the respondents:

To satisfy basic need man chooses one from different types of occupation according to their eligibility, capacity and intrest. “It refers to a set of activity which perdomiently engage ones time for primary motive of earning livelihood.”⁴ Humfort (1982)²⁵ he has written that till today we can see the existences of Munda and Orawn people are how become rickshapuller as they were engage in agriculture field Jain (1988)²⁶ has also found in his study that in tribal areas after industrialization people are doing both jobs agriculture and casual industrial labor work. Sinha (1967)²⁷ in his study he found that people near the industrial belt were doing agricultural work plus other work on the field. Thussu (1968)²⁸ in his study on  occupational pattern in rural tribal community he found that due to industrialization tribal people are shifting from agriculture to labor job work etc.

In south Bastar district the region is 75% covered with denst forest thus majority of the tribal people are depend on forest for their livelihood. Prior the people were having the custom of traditional farming, but after forest preservation they started doing modern farming. Majority of the tribal’s depends on agriculture and collection of produces forest. Due to industrial development in some villages few do the labor work job. Even after working as a govt. employee people says that agriculture is their main occupation. In present study the people living in the base camp are mostly indulge in agricultural work which is 50%, 40% are doing govt. jobs, 4% are doing non- agricultural work, other 4% are jobless, while only 2% do cultivation and forest product collection.

Monthly income of the respondents-

Income is a parameter of livelihood. In every society either tribal or rural, status of a person is measured on the basis of his income. Income had wide effect on family status. Income also plays an important role in life of tribal people.

Agriculture and related work are the main occupation of people belonging to schedule tribes for livelihood; they depend on agriculture for their needs. According to the report of 2006, 80% schedule tribe’s people in South Bastar are engages with cultivation and collection of minor forest product, there is a fall in house hold occupation but more people are attracted towards industrialization in casual job an increase in their income in rural areas and upliftment in their economic status too. But the mass schedule population is still living below poverty line. Monthly income of the respondents that 51% family living in the base camp are earning more than 2500 pm, 20% families are earning between 1500-2000, 12% families are earning between 1000-1500, 8% family  earning is between 2000-2500 and 5% families earning is less than 1000.Result shows that majority of the samples were survive under below the poverty line.

Family background of the Respondents: -

32.2% are children of the 0-10 year’s age group, 29% members belong to 10-20 years age group, 24% family members belong to 20-30 age groups, 8.7% are of more than 40 years of age and 7.7% belong to the age group between 30-40 years. It is seen that over 60 percent of the respondents are working job refers in base comps.

Sex details of Family Members: -

“All societies assign to individuals an array of roles based on sex that are usually believed to be ‘just’ as well as natural.”⁶ Some differences are seen in social status of male and female indifferent periods. In spite of those differences between male and female is still alive. The sex detail of the family members of respondents residing at base camp 62.6% female members and 37.4% male members.

Educational Status of Family Members:

 Education is the main base of socialization. Education of the family members certainly affects the children. Educations have great significance in society and through this man can enable to know their responsibilities. “The significance of education in modern societies cannot be overestimated. A literate and educated people are a prerequisite both for maintaining and further developing these societies. A crucial need of education for the people in various phases of modern social life (economic, political, social, ethical and others) has been unanimously recognized”⁷.

Tribal’s are not serious towards education. Particularly females are for away from the school enrolment. Isolation from urban culture they afraid to exploits educational schemes in scheduled areas.

Education status of the respondent’s family members is cleared from the above table, 53.8% are illiterate, 29.5 are having primary level education, 9.0% are having education up to middle level, 5.5% are high school qualified and 1.9% is having education up to high secondary.

Occupation of Family Members

 Occupation provides security of livelihood. In society each human being need economic security for better living slandered. To satisfy his needs men chooses various types of occupations according to their eligibility, capacity and interest. Related information is collected from the respondents about the occupation of their family members residing at Raipur is given in the following table: -

Table 3

Occupation of Family Members

 The above table shows that majority 41.3% members have no any occupation because they are small children, school going children and old age person., 31.5% n v  2zare doing labor work in the respondent’s family, 11.7% members are doing private business, 11.7% members are doing Govt. job, 1.9% members are working in Meetanin group (social worker – Asha), and 1.9% is working as Aaganbadi worker.

Monthly Income of Family

 Price given in rebate of any work is called Income. At present in society social and family status of man is measured on the basis of gross income. Thus on the basis of this, he can save and consume comforts Income had wide effect on family status. If income increases then living status will also increases. If income decreases living status will also decreases. This is the reason why all men want to raise his status.

Information is collected from the respondents about the monthly income of their family members residing at Raipur is given in table, which is as follows: -

Table 4

         Monthly Income of Family (Rs.)

 The above table reveals that 26% family of the respondents are having the monthly income between 1000-1500, 26% respondents family having more than 2500, 23% respondents family having between 1500-2000, 16% respondents family having less than 1000, 9% respondents family having the monthly income is between 2000-2500.

The size of income shows the worse economic status of the samples

After explanation it is clear that in the study area growth of industrialization turned down, job opportunities reduced and lack of communication facilities, due to awareness villagers do agricultural labor work, but they do not earn sufficient profit from it, therefore their economic status is weak. In the study area the minimum monthly earning of respondents are more is seen according to findings, The job they have selected do not give them sufficient income resultantly there by they are poor (BPL).

The findings of the survey shows that in the study areas majority of people do not have land for cultivation and other agricultural material, seeds even lacking other labor work, weaker group are facing difficulty in normal daily life, doing labor work and are satisfied with it, they are not capable to using the new technology and do not get properly which is a barrier in their development.

Size of family:

 Social structures in tribal’s are changing very rapidly to scientific approach and new information technology. The structures of joint family are becoming low.

Size of family is taken to be indicated by number of members in the family. “The family in India does not consist only of husband, wife and their children but also of uncles, aunts and cousins and grandsons. This system of family is called joint family or extended family system which is a peculiar characteristic of the Indian social life.”⁸

“According to I.P. Desai the concept of family as nuclear family is still not the Indian concept. To the Indians the family is that which is the joint family is English Sociologists like A.M. Shah have differentiated between joint families as a residential household.

Iravati Karve says that the joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, eat the food cooked at one hearth, hold property in common, participation in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred.”⁹

Now there are some factors, which are responsible for the disintegration of joint family system such as industrialization, extensions of communications and transport, decline of agriculture and village trades, impact of the west and new social legislation. The details are given in the table, which is as follows: -

Table 5

Size of Family

 The size of family is obtained in table no 2.15 the table shows that 91% families are of small size, 09% are of medium size. It is clear from the above table that the maximum numbers of families are of small size. It includes one to three family members. Due to displace from native place the size of family also affected. Small family can be described on single family or house hold.

 TYPE OF FAMILY:

 “Family varies both in numerical strength and in the nature of membership. To differentiate among the families based on the membership we must refer to what may be called the structure of the (families) interrelationship between the members of the families. In the broadest term distinction here may be made between nuclear family and joint family.”¹⁰

“A family is defined as a kinship grouping which provide for the rearing children and for certain other human needs”¹¹. There are two broad types of family: the nuclear family and the joint family. A third type is extended family, which is not a very common form. The joint families are of two types: (a) patrilineal and patrilocal family; b) Matrilineal and matrilocal family. The nuclear family is a group of persons consisting of husband, wife and their unmarried children joint family consists of more than one primary family. All the members have blood relations or close kin’s and generally share common residence, kitchen and property. Joint family generally consists of three or more generations. The details are given in table, which is as follows: -

 Table 6

Type of Family

 The table shows that 98% are nuclear family and 02% are joint family. It is clear from the above table that maximum numbers of families are nuclear. It includes husband, wife and their unmarried children.

 Type of marriage-

Table 7

Type of marriage

In relation to type of marriage, the above table shows that the people 72.3% respondents said monogamy was the type of marriage, 15.7% respondents believes that polygamy was the type and 12% said that both types of marriage use to take place.84.3% monogamy marriage take place according to the respondents after coming to base camp, while 9.7% says it is polygamy marriage and 6% says it is both.

Followed marriage custom -

Table 8

Followed Marriage custom

 When details collected related to marriage custom of the tribal people living in the base camp the result is as follows- 73.3% said they complete the marriage ceremony by traditional custom but after coming to base camp they do it in both modern and traditional way.

Expenses of the marriage-

            Traditionally Tribal’s believe in simple marriage. Heavy expenditures on gold / silver ornaments are restricted but today there are so many factors effecting the tribal marriage i.e. Industrialization, Urbanization, media and Information technology. Traditionally the expenses of tribal marriage were very low but today we can see many changes in type, form and customs of tribal marriage because of this expenses of marriage is very high. The data regarding expenses of marriage is shown here under table-

Table 9

Expenses of the marriage

 It is clear from above table that majority of the 57.3% tribal family expends Rs. 1000-5000 thousand in marriage before coming to base camps,20.3% 5000-10000 thousand and 22.4% respondent said no such expenses on marriage were made before coming to base camps, but after coming to base camp maximum 25% tribal family expended more than 51000 thousand in marriage, 21% 40000-50000 thousand,19% 30000-40000 thousand,17% 10000-20000 thousand, 11.7% upto 10000 thousand  and only 6.3% respondent expended 20000-30000 thousand after coming to base camps.

  Conclusion:

 The findings of research shows that Naxal movement has been highly affected the type of tribal family in the region because through the movement. Most of the joint family divided in nuclear family.The data also shows that most of the family residing in base camps they are expending more money in marriages ceremony. The reason behind this is the impact of local culture and urbanization, because before that they lived in ABUJHMAD which is very backward region but presently they are living in nearby the town and district head quarter.

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