Many of the development initiatives launched to bring in socio-economic changes in the rural and tribal areas in India are yet to achieve the desired results due to low levels of participation by the tribals, though 2 per cent of gross domestic product is being spent on such reforms. In the central and northern India, tasar culture is the major income and employment generating livelihood activity for tribals, which also protects environment. The paper has highlighted that modalities of mobilization of group activity, nurturing of grassroots level community based organizations (CBOs) and their role in decision-making, social and economic benefits derived, etc. are amongst the development initiatives undertaken by the Central Silk Board (CSB) in cooperation with the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India and an NGO, PRADAN, in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. The impact of these initiatives on poverty reduction and environment protection has also been discussed. The paper has argued that such public-private-partnership models should be replicated in other regions of the country for upliftment of the tribal community.
Tasar culture, tribals, community based organisations
