Warli youth stare into the abyss
Few employment opportunities and lack of healthcare access mar the future of the tribe’s youngsters
Dahanu Taluka (Palghar): The Warli Adivasis of the Dahanu district in Palghar, Maharashtra, have come a long way from their forest-dwelling days. But modernisation hasn’t made the future of the tribe’s youth better.
Mostly inhabited by the Warli and Katkari adivasis, Dahanu is mostly underdeveloped. The Warlis have traditionally relied on the forest for everything: food, shelter, medication etc. They grow a few crops like rice, pulses, vegetables and fruits. However, they don’t grow enough crops to make a living out of it and only use it for domestic consumption.
This leaves them without an income for most of the year. Some take up menial jobs as unskilled labourers or work in factories. Some living in Bahare or Karajgaon go to work in the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation factories, which are 10 km away.
Varli art depicting the intersection of the various aspects of life and religion
In Bahare, the nearest Public Health Centre (PHC) is within a 2 to 5-km radius and the nearest Rural Hospital (RH) is 12 to 15 kilometres away. They offer basic treatment and injections for animal bites and sicknesses. But for major issues like delivering babies, treating diseases and surgeries, they have to be taken to Vedanta Hospital, which is 20 kilometres away and expensive.
The PHC has many young patients coming in. “Kids aged 14 or 15 come into the hospital with early pregnancies,” says Ganpath Soura, an official at the PHC. Early marriage often leads to adverse health consequences for women and children.
Research shows that 74.4 per cent of tribal couples have their first child when the woman is between the ages of 15 and 19. This can lead to health issues for the mother and child (Sankar et al., 2009). According to NFHS-3 (2005-06) reports, 29 per cent of tribal mothers did not do any antenatal checkups and 25 per cent of tribal women delivered in healthcare facilities attended by untrained individuals in 67 per cent of the cases.
Moreover, lack of access to health care and limited knowledge of the healthcare system have increased the vulnerability of the reproductive health of tribal women. Furthermore, according to the study by Sahu, 2019, child malnutrition starts in the uterus itself, and young tribal women are unaware of the issues and extra care required during pregnancy.
In 2005, child malnutrition claimed as many as 718 lives in one single district — Palghar. In 2016, more than 600 children died due to undernutrition in the same district, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) being the most vulnerable in Maharashtra. Undernutrition in the state is worse than in some of the world's poorest countries, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan or Mozambique (Ghosh & Varerkar, 2019).
“I am worried that this tribe may not be see be there in the next 10-15 years if things continue this way.”
- Sister Clera from the Gyanjyoti Community College in Karajgaon.
