Household Economy of Santhals

This book aims to investigate the ways in which the consumer orientation of the of Salampather village which comes under Gamharia block of Saraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand has developed and how the new elements in consumer orientation intersect with other more traditional orientations towards family, work and spending. Interestingly, the considerable role played by women in ensuring food security, and in the provision of cash income from the sale of NWFPs gives women a higher status in tribal societies. In spite of the many affirmative action's, tribals in India face insurmountable problems due to their low socio-economic conditions, poverty, unemployment, displacement, indebtedness, lack of opportunities, accessibility and awareness of the government programmes. This is resulting in large scale migration of rural tribal to urban areas in search of livelihoods either temporarily or on permanent basis which in turn resulting into the disturbances of their traditional socio-psychological family relationship, network of neighbourly relationships and the adoption of new urban culture.