Seminar Theme and Objectives

Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) encounter challenges of varied types and natures in their everyday life. Age-old debates on mainstreaming of the marginalised, integration, and Little tradition vis-à-vis Great tradition have been revisited in the light of People’s Movements and struggle for the preservation of identities and survival. Although the incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic has been indiscriminate, its impact has varied across social and economic groupings and regions.  About 2 million workers from Scheduled Tribes (STs) work in different parts of the country. During the first wave of the lockdown from March 24 to May 31, 2020, many manufacturing and service sector units in urban areas were closed down, throwing millions off their livelihood. Migrant workers from SCs and STs encounter multiple vulnerabilities as migrants, with little social and economic security and lack of alternative skill set to get absorbed in primary labour markets, and above all, possess relatively low social and cultural capital to survive during trying times.

The impact of Covid-19 on health, education, sources of livelihood, and quality of employment has been different across social and economic groups. As accessibility to health and education in the private sector is driven by the ability to pay, the socially vulnerable and economically fragile sections find their basic right to health and education at risk. Important government schemes exclude, by default, the farm-dependent populations, especially the SCs and STs, from its ambit for their inherent deprivations.

The debate on the livelihood of the SCs and STs traversed from isolation-integration-assimilation theory in the 1940s to isolated identities in the 1990s.   The shift in focus of the state government from what is to be done to what we want to be done in the 21^st century has to be traversed and debated. It may be reviewed in the broader context of the movements of vulnerable sections of society. Against the backdrop, a Two-Day National Seminar on SCs and STs is organised to address existential issues and challenges of socially vulnerable groups transcending disciplinary boundaries. The Seminar focuses on identifying major challenges in the everyday life of SCs and STs in contemporary India. The seminar would take a critical review of the policies and programmes implemented for vulnerable social groups to suggest affirmative action to the state.

Sub-Themes for the Seminar

► Development and Forced Displacement
► The State and Affirmative Action
► Livelihood Challenges of SCs and STs in the post-Covid-19 India
► Poverty and Inequality among SCs and STs
► Special Component Plan, Tribal Sub-Plan and 73^rd and 74^th Constitutional Amendments
► Erosion of Common Property Resources and its Impact
► Covid-19 Pandemic and Distress Migration
► SCs, STs and Gender
► De-notified Communities / Tribes
► Demographic changes among SCs and STs in India
► SCs and STs in Rajasthan (Special Session)

Venue:  Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Important Dates

Full paper submission:  7^th July 2023
Intimation on acceptance:   10^th July 2023
(Those who have already submitted abstracts/papers need not submit again)

Outcome: The papers presented in the seminar will be included in an edited volume (after peer review)

Transport cost (2^nd Class AC Train fare) and boarding and lodging will be extended to authors (one paper-one author basis) of papers selected for the seminar.

Completed papers and correspondence may be sent to:  seminarscst@gmail.com