Industrialization, protest movement and tribal women: Challenges and issues

Women are the greatest gift of God for the Society. She is held as the incarnation of Shakti. She is identified with Prakriti. She has the power of creating, constructing, sustaining and destroying. They have been glorified in Indian epics, scriptures and folklore. But ironically today they have become the victims of evil forces. Like other social groups, women are accorded an inferior status in tribal society also. As a matter of fact, acute poverty, malnutrition and starvation death have come to be associated with the life of many of the tribal people, living in different parts of the country. The problems which threaten them all in common are illiteracy, ignorance, economic backwardness and recent crisis of displacement due to development. This study, thus, makes a humble attempt to describe the challenges and issues faced by tribal women during protest movement arising out of developmentinduced displacement. For the purpose of this paper, condition of the tribal women in Kalinganagar and Kalinganagar has been chosen as the case study to establish the linkage between mindless industrialization and security threats to human beings in general.