Tribal Governance in India: An Analysis

Abstract

The Tribal cultures are an important and inseparable part of traditions of India. The tribal life is a good example of sustainable use of societal resources and sustainable environment practices in India and guides the world to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The evolutionary insights on the tribal government in India can be traced back into the British India by observing the tribal matter and affairs. The Constitution is the source of the power, governance and authority in India. The term ‘tribal governance’ arises from the constitutional provisions, constitutional text and structure it provides to govern themselves especially in the matters of grassroot level democracy. The most important feature of the administration of justice in the tribal areas is that the appeal from such court of trial and the from the village council shall be exercised only by the civil courts under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court or the High Courts while neither the Regional Councils nor the District Council shall act as the court of appeal from the village court of trial and the village council. The Constitutional safeguards to the tribal community in India are one of the striking features of the Constitution in the form of the fifth and the sixth Schedules, apart from these safeguards there are specific safeguards provided in the constitutional scheme that have been designed in order to provide the institutional and statutory framework on the tribal affairs and development.