Human Rights Issues and Challenges Among Bhil Tribes of Madhya Pradesh: A Case Study

Bhils are one of the most primitive and significant tribes of India Located in Western and central west part of India. One of most predominant indigenous and once rulers Bhils traditionally lived off the practice of shifting cultivation, hunting and gathering in forests. First encounter of change for Bhils came with intrusion of British for extracting timber they displaced the bhil tribes from their lands hence first attack on bhils rights as habitat and living conditions, also making it difficult for them to follow their natural practice of subsistence. Yet when India gained independence in 1947 Bhils condition worsened. Indian rulers intensified the process of extraction initiated by the British and refrained from providing the tribals with tools to survive the modern world, like education, medicine and economic skills. Then, in 1957, the group was displaced from their ancestral lands by Madhya Pradesh’s Forest department, which declared their land “reserved forests.” Though the Indian Forest Act (1927) made provisions to help farmers settle their claims, the forest department exploited the tribals’ lack of knowledge about these laws and took away their lands, and effectively their food, livelihood source as well. Lack of essential skills for living in changed surroundings and their displacement from native places leads their conditions more miserable and indicates depletion of human rights. Migrations to other states for work, seasonal employment, poor health and prolonged social exclusion from mainstream addresses a lot about violations of their basic rights. This paper aims to identify and address such human rights challenges among bhil tribes of Jhabua and Alirajpur districts of Madhya Pradesh India. For study researcher used techniques like Personal interview and Focused group discussion for getting qualitative data from primary sources. Secondary data taken from Gazetteers, Government Reports, Articles and other sources as a part of case study.