Perception of freedom from poverty and insecurity of tribal women: the case of palakkad district

Kerala comprises of 36 unique kinds of Scheduled Tribes (ST) whose livelihoods show wide variation.Their traditional jobs also vary such as hunting-gathering, shifting cultivation, settled agriculture, contract labour, etc. Attappadi, one of the prominent forest regions of Kerala, is situated in the north eastern part of Palakkad district of Kerala. It is one of the 43 tribal development blocks in India.The very working of the development paradigm, by uprooting them from their niche, language, modes of understanding, livelihood etc., proves to be against their interests.The pressure for subsistence fall heavily on women. The loss of traditional agricultural land compels them to engage in wage labour. As gender discrimination is prevalent among tribal labour, the women are forced to work for lower wages.Tribal women were less conscious about their actual living conditions. Theywere unaware of their relative poverty also they were oblivious to their developmental needs.Perception of freedom from poverty was found to be high among the respondents. Similar wayperception of freedom from insecurity of tribal women was found to be very high.