Block-1 Concepts of Community and Community Development

1
Concepts of Community and

Community Work
*A. Malathi
Introduction
Community has been a central focus of social work
practice since its inception. Communities are one of
the many social systems that touch peoples’ lives and
shape their individual and group identities. People are
born in social contexts, they grow, mature and learn
about and form perceptions of social structures. They
also develop individual and group identities through
associations that connect them to life-long community
experiences.
Community provides the context and setting for social
work at all levels of intervention. For social workers
engaged in direct practice at the micro level there is
need to understand the macro environment in which
their client groups live and work, how the resources
are made available to them and how community
dynamics affect individual behavior. For macro level
social workers whose practice is focused on
programme planning and administration, Community
is central to their work. It is also the target or vehicle
for change where interventions are designed to
address broader social problems that affect a large group
of people.
* Dr. A. Malathi, University of Delhi, New Delhi

2 Community Organization Management for Community Development
Definitions
Community is a set of descriptions of what is implied. It
is essentially a subjective experience which defies
objective definition. It is felt and experienced rather
than measured and defined.
The definition of community is linked to its construct.
It is useful to look at it from a historical perspective as
well as from the geographical and ideological
backgrounds in which it evolved.
Robert Bellah defines community as “a group of people
who are socially interdependent, who participate
together in discussion and decision making, and who
share certain practices that both define the community
and are nurtured by it”
According to Foundation for Community Encouragement
“A community is a group of two or more people who
have been able to accept and transcend their differences
regardless of the diversity of their backgrounds (social,
spiritual, educational, ethnic, economic, political, etc.).
This enables them to communicate effectively and openly
and to work together toward goals identified as being
for their common good.”
Bryon Munon (1968) defines “A community is a relatively
self-sufficient population, residing in a limited
geographic area, bound together by feelings of unity and
interdependency.”.
C. Farrington and E Pine define a community as a “
group of people lined by a communications structure
supporting discussion and collective action.”
Random House Unabridged Dictionary has many
meanings on the term community. The meanings that
are closest to social worker’s profession are as follows.
Concepts of Community and Community Work 3
1. Social group of any size whose members reside in a

specific locality, share government, and often have
a common cultural and historical heritage.
2. A social, religious, occupational, or other group
sharing common characteristics or interests and
perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some
respect from the larger society within which it exists
example the business community; the community
of scholars.
3. Community, hamlet, village, town, city are terms
for groups of people living in somewhat close
association, and usually under common rules.
Community is a general term, and town is often
loosely applied. A commonly accepted set of
connotations envisages hamlet as a small group,
village as a somewhat larger one, town still larger,
and city as very large. Size is, however, not the true
basis of differentiation, but properly sets off only
hamlet. Incorporation, or the absence of it, and the
type of government determine the classification of
the others.
In addition to these there is also a concept of Virtual

Community
A virtual community, e-community or online community
is a group of people that primarily interact via
communication media such as newsletters, telephone,
email or instant messages rather than face to face, for
social, professional, educational or other purposes. If
the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an
online community. Virtual and online communities have
also become a supplemental form of communication
between people who know each other primarily in real
life. Many means are used in social software separately
or in combination, including text-based chatrooms and
forums that use voice, videotext or avatars. Significant
socio-technical change may have resulted from the

proliferation of such Internet-based social networks.
It is also possible for virtual networks to be created and
used by geographically and interest bound communities
for social uplift and collective action. One example is
the case of village blogs created by villagers in Goa to
tackle the powerful mining lobby.
Understanding Community
Communities come in an infinite number of shapes,
social arrangements, population and compositions.
Relationships that form the basis of communal life and
the shared perceptions and common interests of its
members are the glue that bonds the community into a
coherent unit. Moreover these social relationships and
shared perceptions transcend time, structure and
location. Some communities are relational in nature
and are based on shared beliefs values or interests.
Such communities are not tied to a single location or
physical structure.
In understanding communities Social work draws from
both sociological and practitioner’s insights, shaped by
the growth of profession in trying out the community
organization as method of social work practice.
Community Construct: Sociological Insights

The Construct of community has been associated with
the German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies in the late
1800s. He considered the relationships characterizing
communities and accordingly came up with two variants
one named as Gemeinschaft and the other Gesselschaft.
The Gemeinschaft communities are based on natural
personal, informal face to face social relationships,
where individuals are accepted for who they are, and
not what they have done. People are recognized and

accepted for their innate qualities. This sort of human
relationship is reflected in families, small groups and
traditional communities.
Gesselschaft communities are characterized by rational
self-interest and are more contrived in nature. They
place greater emphasis on specialized segmented social
interactions. The interests of the individual supersede
the interests of the group. Utilitarian goals as well as
contractual agreements dominate interactions between
individuals. There is division of labor and social control
is more formalized, based on laws and rules with formal
sanctions enforced when laws are violated.
This is particularly attributed to the rise of industrial
capitalism in Europe and the United States at the end
of the 19 th century which was bringing about major
transformations in the nature of human relationships.
It is however true that both forms of community life
form the current reality of Indian Society and one cannot
be attributed a higher/superior value than the other.
These need to be viewed as different forms of human
association that are present in the rural, urban and
tribal communities. It is best to view them as ends of a
continuum of human interaction wherein communities
are grounded in both informal personal relationships
and in the formal institutional structures that are part
of contemporary life.
Given the complex and multifaceted nature of
communities no single conceptual framework provides
an adequate theoretical foundation for understanding
community
Further two other aspects besides the above are useful
to understand communities. Community is seen as a)
shared physical space or geographic community and
b) community based on shared interest or identity or

functional community.
Community as Bounded by Geographical Space

Brueggemann (2006) contends that community needs
to be embodied to have existence, meaning that it
requires a physical space that symbolizes the community
for its members and for those who are not part of the
community. Bounded is referred to as location based
community. The boundaries of this community are often
established with a recognized authority such as the
Panchayat, the Mohalla, the Municipal government,
zoning commission etc. Community may also be
embodied in a physical structure, such as a panchayat
ghar, a chaupal, a temple, a mosque, a church, a
satsang, a choir group, or a recreation club etc. these
are also known as geographical communities- that is
communities are located in a particular space and
locality such as communities in Okhla, Harinagar,
Ambedkar Nagar etc.
Communities of Interest
This refers to Communities where the membership is
based not on shared physical space but on shared
interests or characteristics that unite members and
provide the basis for one’s personal identity. Things like
race ethnicity, religion culture, social class professional
affiliation and sexual orientation often form the basis
of communities of interest. Because such communities
are based on identity and interest members carry the
community with them. For example one can refer to the
caste Mahapanchayats that are a way to foster
community identity and to protect community interest.
Similarly communities can be formed of alumni
associations and old boys/girls associations. There could
be communities based on professional interests such
as that of artists, professional associations such as the

Engineers of India, Indian Medical Association, Traders
Associations, Industrial associations etc. There can also
be linguistic, religious and cultural associations. Say
the Kar natic Music group, the West Bengal
Mountaineering association etc or even the positive
people’s network, fish workers forum, the dalit writers
association, the schizophrenic association of India, the
Association of Professional Social Workers in India etc.
Sometimes they are also referred to as functional
communities. Thus community workers sometimes work
with functional communities such as the child labour,
the sex workers and so on.
Communities of interest sometimes overlap with locality
based communities as when a residential area contains
a high proportion of people whose personal identity is
tied to one or more specific interest groups, such as the
slum and shack dwellers associations, Mahila Milan in
Mumbai etc. Most people in urban areas belong to more
than one community, with varying degrees of
identification of interest and engagement. These multiple
community affiliations can be thought of as one’s
personal community network, representing various
locality-based and interest based communities that
connect the individual to others and to broader society.
It is to be understood that the individual is located across
various groups, in a range of formal and informal
helping/hindering systems in the community. These
provide important tools for the location of the individual
in a social context for developing more realistic
interventions plans that connect the various levels of
human interaction, micro to macro.
Community Construct: Social Work Perspective

In addition to the above understanding of communities
Kirst-Ashma(2008) suggests that community theories
can be thought of as a series of lenses that focus on

different aspects of community each highlighting
different dimensions of the community, its dynamics
and the ways it impacts the lives of its members. Three
frameworks are said to be useful to look at a community
from a social work practitioner’s perspective. These
are:
a) as a social system,
b) as an ecological system, and
c) as a center for power and conflict.
Let us discuss each of the above.
a) Community as a Social System: General systems
theory is used by social workers to understand many of
the phenomenon they encounter in social reality. A
system is viewed as being composed of multiple
interacting components that relate to one another in
an orderly, functional manner. Moreover systems are
embedded within larger systems, thus providing a
framework for understanding the connection between
different levels of the systems. For example an individual
might be viewed as one element within a family or
kinship group, the kinship group exists within a
community, the community within a stagnation or
society, thus a system perspective provides a useful
framework for understanding the structure of
community and the processes that tie the structural
elements together.
This assumes that the community is composed of a set
of subsystems that perform specialized functions that
meet the needs of the entire community. The actions of
those subsystems are seen as coordinated and
integrated in ways that benefit the community as a
whole.
Five major functions are said to be associated with the

various social units and systems within a community.
These are production- distribution, consumption,
socialization , social control, social participation and
mutual support.
Social workers need to critically examine how the sub
systems meet or fail to meet the needs of their client
groups. Tools that could be used here are community
assessment, which can identify the community needs
as well as community strengths. These also need to be
understood with respect to global systems that impact
and impinge on these functions. These global effects
could be related to the way globalization, privatization
and the dismantling of the social safety net impact on
the lives and livelihoods of communities.
b) Community as an Ecological System: In this
community is seen as having close interrelationship
with the environment in a symbiotic manner. There
are regular exchange relationships that occur between
the various parts of the community where each part
gives and receives in symbiotic relationships with others
in the system. There is a definite interdependence
between various parts so that equilibrium is achieved.
It brings into what is known as geo-cultural perspective
where in the spatial features (land use patterns and
distribution of services) of a specific location interact
with the community- its population characteristics (such
as size, density, diversity) and technology (production
of goods and services, transportation, communication
etc) The physical features play a significant role in
community life and determine the patterns of
interaction. The location of specific groups vis a vis the
location of resources (water, land, road) is determined
by the social dynamics of the community. Thus lower
caste communities are often located away from
important and central places in the village community.
Thus important territorial boundaries are not only

physical in quality but also social and psychological
that represents the social hierarchy.
This perspective also enables the social workers to
understand the community structures emergence
through dynamic processes of a) competition
(competition between various groups for common pool
resources) and b) dominance(dominance of a particular
group or caste in determining service delivery and access
to services) c) centralization (concentration of resources
both economic and social in the hands of particular
groups –clustering of these in one area- say the
Panchayat and Mahila Mandal or temple location as
seat of power and important decisions pertaining to the
community in of power), d) concentration (location of
specific groups – ghettoisation because of affinal and
kinship bonds, or regional and linguistic bonds- such
as the Bihari colony, Bengali colony or the Madrasi area
-location of specific groups in the urban areas)
e) succession (the process where in there is population
movement as part of a natural process where in the
migrants often move to less desirable areas-moving up
once situations are favourable or when they could afford
better places) and f) segregation( where in even when
they could move to new areas they cannot because of
antipathy by other groups- the sub groups function as
isolated communities- say Seelampur Jhuggi clusters
in the North east of Delhi.
Such features can be explored over time by using the
Geographical Information systems in the spatial
distribution, concentration of resources and amenities
juxtaposed with the location of communities. These
enable us to understand the relationship between the
physical and social environment of the community.
Further the social structure of the community as it
evolves over time and the correctives needed become
immediately visible and also suggest the type of

interventions that could be carried out.
c) Community as a Seat of Power and Conflict: The
perspective goes beyond the social systems perspective
that sees community as constituting of subsystems that
have their functional role cut out for them. The conflicts
of interests and disagreements as well as domination
are not emphasized. In the ecological system even though
there is acknowledgment of power processes of
domination, concentration and centralization, there is
not much thought provided on how to deal with the
differences and the inequitable distribution of resources.
How can social workers work to bring about changes in
the community to enable those with less power to better
meet their needs.
The perspective of community as a centre for power and
conflict considers power and politics as central to our
understanding of community. It assumes that conflict
and change are central attributes of most communities.
Community Decision-making is not merely seen as
rational planning, collaboration and coordination but
also as involving confrontation and negotiation.
Communities are seen as arenas where competing
groups are constantly engaged in conflict over power
and the control of scarce resources. Some groups often
based on social class, caste, religious, linguistic and
regional affiliations dominate over other groups. There
is a constant process of negotiation and confrontation
to fulfill the basic needs by those who are involved.
Sometimes the conflict is resolved in favour of the
marginalized, aided by the institutional presence of law,
judiciary and administration and at other times the
institutions take an opposite stand, and conflict is
resolved in favour of the powerful. This perspective
enables Social workers to understand the community
power structures, the way decisions are made to favour

or condemn groups, the way conflict positions are taken
and perpetuated and the role that change agents should
play in strengthening the capacities of those lower in
hierarchy to change the situation. Such issues are very
well evident in urban, rural and tribal areas where the
communities are denied access to resources on their
social origins or economic situation or political affiliation.
Caste and communal riots are an extreme form of those
conflict positions.
Characteristics of a Community
Community is a group of individuals having shared
space, values and practices. They are seen to be
integrated in a network of relationships that foster
commonness and spirit of togetherness. Communities
are seen to be homogenous entities with a degree of
relationship that is seen to be the very essence of
community.
Community can be seen to have the following
characteristics:
1) Human Scale: Communities have individuals
engaging in face-to-face interactions. They are in
that sense primary groups who are in direct contact
with one another. People know each other and in
this sense are in control of the range of interactions
they are engaged in. Social structures are
sufficiently small and people are able to own and
control them.
2) Identity and Belonging: There is feeling of
belonging and acceptance of each other as well as
security Thus one feels a part of the community or
a member of a community. Membership involves
acceptance by others, allegiance or loyalty to the
aims of the group concerned. This sense of belonging

is significant and positively regarded. Community
can become the person’s self concept. Identity also
plays a role in the person not only feeling a sense of
belongingness to one community but a sense of
difference from the other groups. Institutions within
community and shared practices also a play a role
in identity formation and foster a sense of belonging.
It also means that people can face a change in the
sense of belonging to changing institutions. These
can be seen to erode the togetherness within a
community.
3) Obligations: The belongingness carries with it
certain sense of rights and responsibilities. There
is a mutuality of trust and reciprocity involved firstly
in maintaining community life in terms of
participating in the collective activities of
community, sharing and interacting with others.
Participating in community events with adherence
to customs and traditions are ordained by collective
will of the members
4) Gemenischaft: This implies that the people have a
wide variety of roles in which they interact with
each other. These interactions are not contractual
but are obligatory. These are important for self-
enhancement of individuals as well as for fostering
the use of a range of talents and abilities for the
benefit of others and the community as a whole.
5) Culture: A community has a specific culture that
is reproduced and continuously being shaped by
the members of the community, through its social
structures, economic systems and power relations.
A culture in that sense is all encompassing and all
embracing the way of life of a group of people.
Place of Community Work Within Social

Work Practice
While many of the community work aspects are looked
after by traditional institutions within Indian society,
there are causes of concern related to the inequality
and injustice that are located within the social structure.
The norms and values governing Indian society enable
Community welfare and self-help as binding, though
these are confined to their particular social groups.
The development of the community work as a method of
intervention may be viewed from two perspectives. One
from its relationship to the history of social work as a
profession and the other from the variety of community
intervention methods that have been pursued by various
professions as well as non-professional citizen groups
Historical Perspective
However in terms of professional community work
practice and its place among the methods of social work
practice, we need to trace the history of social work
profession in America and Great Britain.
Social work in the 19th century was often conceived in
terms of a much broader setting than casework. The
settlement movement and charity organization society
movements formed the context for the development of
social work as a profession and from its genesis
community practice has been an essential constituent.
Reform movements to change the situation of the
distressed were at the heart of community development
and organizing efforts. In the settlement houses in
America and in the charity organization societies with
which the social work profession began had the reform
element as core.
In America for example, the settlement movement was

initially focused on the educational and recreational
needs of the communities served, and later expanded
into many other activities such as housing and legal
advice. Work with young people was also developed
through clubs and other forms of what might now be
called ‘group work’.
Rapid developments of community chests and planning
councils in the 1920s and the 1930s paved the way to
conceptualize community organization practice and
social planning in particular. Focus was on
improvements of health and welfare programs and the
balancing of community needs and resources.
Also there was a call for a move from more centralized,
elitist and expert ridden to one that is localized and
existing at various levels as well as participatory that
recognizes the importance of citizenry. There is also the
aspect that community organization processes contain
technical skills and knowledge as well as the social
goals and the value stance.
Community organization emerged in two traditions in
England- one with the community worker taking the
place of the churches in their role of moral alleviation.
Community work is seen to be an attempt to respond to
moral confusion because of the erosion of religious faith
in the middle of last century; second with the view that
the degradation of the poor is a consequence rather
than the cause of their poverty.
Community organization as a method of social work
emerged in Great Britain with a growing dissatisfaction
of Casework as a method of social work practice.
The reasons can be seen as follows:
a) The deficiencies of case work, as a method of social
work seems to be one major force in the development
of community organization.
b) Increasing knowledge and understanding of the

nature of informal caring systems and other forms
of voluntary action in their society and the potential
for interweaving statutory services with such
systems;
c) The influence of the pioneers in community based
teams and the evidence that their work offers
alternative methods;
d) The impact of cut-backs in local government
spending which have compelled the serious
consideration of alternative;
e) Political changes on both right and left which for
different reasons have favoured the introduction of
policies of decentralization. On the right these tend
to be founded on policies of self-help and local
responsibility. On the left they are likely to derive
from local socialism that seeks to revitalize relations
between representatives and electorate founded on
the local delivery and control of services.
The term community work itself was coined by a study
group founded in 1968 as the Gulbenkian Foundation.
They saw community work as consisting of three
interrelated forms of activity – community development,
community organization and social planning.
Initially community work was supportive of traditional
methods of social work practice such as group work
and case work but the developments in the
understanding of societies as well as the growing body
of knowledge related to practice interventions with
communities meant that community work became an
important method by itself.
Purposes of Intervention
The purposes of Community work vary with the issues
of each community that are the focus. Developed
industrial countries have seen the post world war II

period. The diversity of purpose of community
organization has reflected the complex character of
societies with their many groupings and the basic
differences among them in their conditions, status,
needs and orientation towards maintenance or change
of existing institutions. The purposes of community
organization are therefore said to be not uniform but as
the reflection of diverse purposes of groups,
organizations and movements.
Indian society is multi cultural and represents a
diverse reality that had seen practice of community
interventions stemming from various social, religious
and political movements. These did consider a change
in the social reality and a better life for the marginalized
howsoever paternalistic they may have been. The
diversity of groups, populations with diverse geo-cultural
positions and livelihoods brings with it diverse needs
that are more commonly concentrated towards economic
improvement. Community efforts in India have been
fostering these efforts to improve the lot of the down
trodden, the powerless in rural, urban and tribal
locations. These efforts have been at the beginning of
the century holistic and encompassing all round
improvement in the life and living of people in health,
education, livelihoods and political empowerment.
A major purpose of community work practice is
concerned with improving the way in which social
welfare services are organized and delivered with the
targeted population being involved in the solutions to
their problems hence their participation is a key.
Participation and self-help are key concepts in
community work.
Social Action as Part of Community Work

Here the objective is not specific and direct problem
solving but the organization of a population to obtain
resources and power that it did not have before. This
may take form of bringing pressure upon existing social
institutions, the development of new channels of
representation whereby the voice of the groups previously
excluded may be heard in the decision making process
or the creation of new political and economic
arrangements that will actually transfer resources to
them.
It was the emphasis of enabler role for a community
work practitioner that made it possible for it to find a
place for community work within the general framework
of professional social work. It also provided a formulation
that was broad enough to unite community workers
operating in many different settings and fields.
As an enabler, the community worker would help people
to clarify their problems, identify their needs, and develop
the capacity to deal with their own problems more
effectively. The emphasis is clearly on skill in developing
relationships
Community Development Approaches

Community development thus implies an ongoing
process of dialogue, consciousness raising, education
and action aimed at helping the people concerned to
determine and develop their own version of community.
No single right formula for what constitutes community
and no single right way to develop it. Community
Development is a much more complex process full of
dilemmas and problems which require unique and
creative solutions. Models of community work are thus
valuable if they provide frameworks within which these
problems and dilemmas can be understood and creative

solutions derived.
Community programmes must be grounded in the real
life experiences, sufferings and aspirations of the people
as articulated by the people themselves, while at the
same time these subjective experiences must be linked
to an analysis of broader social economic and political
structures which are the cause of people’s oppression
and disadvantage.
Consciousness raising has important implications for
social worker and client groups relationship. In this
the social worker is not in an expert of the situation but
in a role of service as a resource and is answerable to
them. This change in relationship between the
professionals and the consumers of human services
facilitates their empowerment rather then
disempowerment.
Structures of domination and oppression have resulted
in the legitimation of the wisdom of the dominant groups,
while alternative wisdoms of the oppressed groups are
unrecognized. An essential component of community
development is not only to acknowledge the wisdom of
the oppressed, and their right to define their own needs
and aspirations in their own way, but to facilitate the
expression of that wisdom within the wider society as
an essential contribution to the welfare of the human
race, Thus community development must incorporate
strategies of consciousness raising and of ensuring that
the voices of the oppressed are heard, acknowledged
and valued. Social justice perspective also means that
some who are disadvantaged will continue to be
disadvantaged if seen in functional terms. Functional
communities can be there at the expense of local
communities, then it is to be discouraged and
geographical communities be supported instead.
For this geographical communities represent preferred

option for community development and community based
services. Functional communities both of the elite and
the powerless have to be recognized to exist and the
latter encouraged and former discouraged.
Community based strategy involves giving central place
to the initiative of ordinary people at grass-roots level,
recognizing their voice and efforts in changing their
social situation.
Conclusion
We have understood how communities are defined as
bounded by place and interest. We have also seen the
various characteristics of communities in their
interactions, sense of identity and belonging, their
mutual obligations and rights and the multifarious roles
that individuals play within communities contributing
to the social and economic life and the way this life is
maintained and modified to carry within itself a sense
of change as well as stability for human beings to survive
and flourish. We have also understood the various ways
in which communities are understood by social workers
as social systems, ecological systems and zones of power
and conflict.
We have also understood the nature of community
practice its origins in Great Britain and America with
the work with poor communities and settlement
movement respectively. We have also understood how
the nature of communities carries with it both
traditional and modern features that make community
practice in India different from what it has been in
Britain and America.
References
Henderson Paul, Jones David and Thomas David N
(Ed) 1980 The boundaries of change in community
work Allen and Unwin, London.
Hadley Roger, Cooper Mike, Dale Peer& Stacy
Graham.(1987) A community Social Worker’s
handbook. Tavistock Publications, London.
Bryon Munon (1968) Changing Community Dimensions
Ohio State University Press, Columbus, OH accessed
from http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sg7/eng521
spring02/communitydefinitions.html on 14 th
August 2008.
Mizrahi Terry and Davis Larry E (2008) Encyclopedia of
Social Work Vol I NASW Press & Oxford University
Press New York.
C. Farrington and E Pine, “Community Memory: A Case
Study in Community Communication.” Reinventing
Technology, Rediscovering Community. Greenwich,
CT: Ablex, accessed from http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/
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Robert Bellah et.a., Habits of the Heart. Berkeley:
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2
Urban Communities
*A. Malathi
Introduction
‘Urban’ communities have to be understood in their
variability and heterogeneity. Cities have also to be
understood to mean different things to different people.
Stakeholders have different perceptions and the way
these perceptions govern the city development has to
be unraveled for community organized community
development to take place. There is always a tension
and conflict with multiple perceptions regarding
development. The dominance of a particular perspective
determines dimensions of the discourse of community
development.
For us to understand urban communities we draw upon
insights from sociology, economics, and public
administration.. With regard to interventions we draw
upon insights derived from social work methods. One
predominantly in use is the community organization
method along with group work. Communities can be
either defined as vulnerable or communities are looked
at from strength’s perspective. For social workers, the
social justice perspective becomes the enabling
perspective to look at urban communities, be it slums,
elite class or displaced communities.

Urban Communities 23
Meaning of Urban Community

‘Urban’ means relating to or located in a city. It
represents the characteristic of the city or city life. It
has its roots in the Latin word Urbnus- the root urb
means city.
Urban refers to the city or town. Several criteria such
as demographic, ecological and socio-cultural attributes
are used to identify an urban area. It is the size of the
population and degree of complexity of organsiation,
which differentiates a village from a town, a town from
a city or from a metropolis. The concentration of
population, predominance of non-agricultural activities
and better provision of social amenities including health
and education infrastructure are important
characteristics of urban areas. However there is a stark
variation in the distribution and access to these among
the various communities living in urban areas.
Sociological Understanding
Max Weber considers urban areas to be more evolved
organizationally based on the principles of rationality
with the presence of a market and a specialized class of
traders. Other religious, political, economic
technological and complex administrative structures
found in a city complement the trade and commerce
network. There is a predominance of industrial and
service sectors. City is also characterized by
heterogeneity, impersonality, anonymity etc.
Louis Wirth (1938) considers urban areas as relatively
large, dense, permanent settlement of socially
heterogeneous individuals. Here secondary groups such
as the corporation, voluntary associations,
representative forms of government and mass media
replace the primary group associations that are found
in a village. Such relationships are also considered

impersonal, segmental, superficial, transitory and often
predatory in nature.
Robert Redfield in the 1940s proposed a folk –urban
model in which he contrasted the image of city life
with an image of the folk community (invariably rural).
The latter is considered as small, sacred, highly
personalistic, and homogeneous in contrast to the urban
as invariably impersonal, heterogeneous, secular, and
disorganizing.
Gideon Sjoberg (1960) divided the urban centres into
two types, the pre-industrial city and the industrial city,
which he distinguished on the basis of differences in
the technological level. Pre-industrial cities are those
without sophisticated machine technology, where
human and animal labours form the basis for economic
production. Industrial cities have a predominance of
energy sources from fossil fuels and atomic power. The
pre-industrial neighborhoods were strongly integrated
by personalistic ties of ethnicity and sectarian allegiance.
They maintained strong family connections, and social
disorganization was little in evidence. Industrial
production was not yet the major concern.
Herbert Gans (1968) on the other hand considers these
features to be the part of main city or inner city, but
argues that the suburbanites pursue a different way of
life, which is called quasi primary. The loss of kinship
and primary community ties in the urban area is
superseded by the emergence of neighborliness.
Neighborhood ties are more intimate than professional
and other secondary ties but more guarded than primary
ties of kinship and extended family.
Census Definitions
As per the 1961 census, an area is considered urban if
it meets the following criteria- 1) all places having a

municipal corporation, municipality, notified area
committee and cantonment board, 2) the places which
satisfy the following criteria a) population not less than
5,000, b) Density of Population 1,000 persons per sq
mile 9400per sq km, c) seventy five percent of workers
engaged in non-agricultural sector.
Census 2001 distinguishes between statutory towns and
census towns:
Statutory towns are all places with a municipality,
corporation, cantonment board or notified town areas
committee etc so declared by a state law.
Whereas census towns are places which satisfy the
following criteria of i) a minimum population of 5,000
ii) at least 75% of male working population engaged in
non-agricultural pursuits and iii) density of population
being at least 400 persons per sq.km.
Another term urban agglomeration is used to understand
the urban spread and growth. It refers to a continuous
urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining
urban outgrowths, or two or more physical contiguous
towns together and any adjoining urban outgrowths of
such towns. Examples of outgrowth are railway colonies,
university campuses, port areas, military camps etc that
may have come near a statutory town or city but within
the revenue limits of a village or villages contiguous to
the town or city. As per census 2001, it was decided
that the core town or at least one of the constituent
towns of an urban agglomeration should necessarily be
a statutory town and the total population of all the
constituents should not be less than 20,000. With such
basic criteria the urban agglomerations could be
constituted in the following way
i) a city or town with one or more contiguous
outgrowths,
ii) two or more adjoining towns with or without their

outgrowths, and
iii) a city and one or more adjoining towns with their
outgrowths all of which form a continuous spread.
Urban communities live in urban areas. There is
tremendous diversity and complexity that characterizes
these communities. Urban community is a complex
multi-group society.
Historical Development of Urban Areas

Colonial Influences
While earlier cities developed because of their
importance as trading centres, port towns, as pilgrimage
places, the colonial history has changed all these and
made their importance hinge on their ability to serve
the colonial rulers for processing and marketing of raw
material from hinterland and finished goods from the
empires. The processing also meant establishment of
factories notably the cotton mills for processing raw
cotton aided by the development of railways with each
of the trading centres. Industrialization has led to the
rapid rise in urban populations, urban centres, and
development of urban culture that was starkly different
from the pre-colonial city development.
The cities were seen as commercial and trading zones
for primary exports and manufactured imports. This
continued even after the colonized countries became
independent.
Postcolonial Influences
The neocolonial city represents city development that
has taken place in third world countries with the capital
from advanced industrial nations, creating enclaves of
industrial production. The commodities produced in
neocolonial cities generally are destined for export rather

than for home consumption, except perhaps by a small
home elite. There are urban factories and urban-
resident wage labourers. There is a developing
infrastructure of urban transport and communication
by which these commodities and labourers are allocated.
There is massive urban-ward migration from
neighbouring rural areas. The neocolonial city has given
rise to informal economy consists of urban services and
products provided by the neocolonial city’s poorest
denizens, the petty hawkers, the shoeshine boys, the
household help, the rag pickers, and others who form a
class of petty commodity producers and sellers.
It is useful to look at the concept of urbanization in
understanding urban communities.
Urbanisation and Spread of Urban Com-

munities
Meaning of Urbanisation
The concept of Urbanisation refers to the geographic
concentration of population through movement and
redistribution in large human settlements with non-
agricultural activities. The concentration of population
is in urban environments of varying size and form.
Urbanisation is also seen as the diffusion of urban
values, behaviour, organizations and institutions. Some
of the interrelated characteristics of modern day
urbanization are: 1) the rapid rate of urban growth and
its effect on municipal governments; 2) the upsurge in
rural impoverishment and release of large work force
into the urban informal economy; 3) urban poverty and
its effect on the urban economy; and, 4) the proliferation
of slums and their vulnerability; 5) the impact of
globalizing economy on urbanisation through policies
and programmes that promote urban activity and urban

spread.
Spread of Urban Communities

As per census 2001 742 million live in rural areas and
285 million in urban areas comprising of 72-2% and
27.8% of the population respectively. Delhi has the
highest percentage of urban population (93%) and
Himachal Pradesh has lowest (9.8%)
In 2001, India had 35 cities / urban areas with a
population of more than one million people. In total,
some 108 million Indians, or 10.5 per cent of the
national population, live in the country’s 35 largest
cities. Mumbai (Bombay) with a population of more than
16 million is now the world’s fourth-largest urban area
followed by Kolkata (Calcutta) in fifth place.
Maharashtra has the largest share of urban population
of the country(14.4%)followed by Uttar Pradesh (12.1%)
and Tamil Nadu (9.5% ) About half the urban population
of the country lives in five states namely Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra
Pradesh.
In the 2001 census nine districts were considered as
fully urbanized – these were New Delhi, Kolkata
Mumbai(suburban) , Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai,
Yanam and Mahe (Pondicherry) While in 1991 census
there were 129 district that had 30% of its population
living in urban areas, in 2001 it increased to 148.
Urban slum areas are home to more than 40 million
Indians or 22.6 per cent of India’s urban population.
More than 600 Indian towns and cities incorporate slum
areas. The largest slum population in cities with
population of more than one million) is found in Mumbai
(48.9%) and the lowest in Patna (0.25%). As per the size
of the population the 2001 census of India has grouped

cities into six classes. These are given below:
Class Population Size No of Urban
Agglomerates/Towns
Class I 1,00,000 and above 393
Class II 50,000 - 99,999 401
Class III 20,000 - 49,999 1,151
Class IV 10,000 - 19,999 1,344
Class V 5,000 - 9,999 888
Class VI less than 5,000 191
Unclassified 10
All Classes 4378
Source: Office of the Registrar General of India (population totals
for India and States for the Census of India -2001)
Characteristics of Urban Communities

The characteristic features of urban communities relate
to the economy, social structure, the political system,
the cultural life and the spatial organization and their
linkage and importance in contributing to the
institutional and economic growth of the region and
state in particular and the nation at large.
Social Aspects
Secondary relations dominate such heterogeneous
communities. The formal means of social control such
as law, legislation, police, and court are needed in
addition to the informal means for regulating the
behavior of the people. There is mobility and openness.
The social status is achieved than ascribed. Occupations
are more specialized. There is widespread division of
labour and specialization with plenty of opportunities
for pursuing various occupations. Family is said to be
unstable. More than the family individual is given

importance. Joint families are comparatively less in
number. People are more class -conscious and
progressive and supposed to accept changes. They are
also more exposed to the modern developments in the
fields of science and technology. Despite these as
enduring features of an urban community, we can find
variations in the level and degree of specific features.
Thus some communities may be more modern, even
while living in the same area. Similarly in major human
development indicators there may be variations within
urban communities though sharing the same
geographical space.
Caste and Class in Urban India

Caste affiliation, kinship ties continue in urban areas
despite the modernizing and secularizing effects of urban
living. In terms of the urban social structure it is seen
that there is persistence of social relationships
resembling those of rural areas. The so-called secular,
formal and rational behaviour that is portrayed by the
traditional understanding of urban areas does not
entirely apply to the Indian situation. There is evidence
of inter-caste/religious /ethnic competition which may
turn into conflict situations too. The power structure
thus is not only constituted by the hostilities and
opposition that are derived from ones’ affiliations, but
also those derived on account of one’s class. The pattern
of conflict and cooperation thus cut across caste, religion
and class lines.
The urban areas show the co-existence of various forms
of social relationships and micro societies that
represent, urban, rural, semi-urban – traditional and
modern. There are also immigrants who live between
the urban and rural cultures.
Families in Urban Areas

The three major family types of nuclear, joint and
extended families are found in urban areas.
Since the majority of urban families have to live in areas
that have cheaper accommodation, often their place of
work is located at a considerable distance This creates
pressures on the time available for house care, childcare
and maintenance of family bonds. Consequently families
suffer a lot of strain. The frustrations experienced at
the work place and the degradation of environment
contributed by both indoor and outdoor air pollution,
takes a heavy toll on the health and mental health
aspects of urban families. This is compounded by the
rising costs of urban living and privatization of health
care.
Economic Aspects
The urban economy is predominated by industrial and
service sectors. The secondary and tertiary sectors
predominate. The mode of organisation of the economy
is to achieve the above results in various groups and
classes, with an uneven distribution of social and
economic resources. There is great diversity of the labour
force with a few in the organized sector, receiving a
high salary packages and a larger number in the
informal economy receiving marginal and sustenance
incomes with lack of social security benefits.
There are two types of sectors – the organized or the
formal sector and the unorganized or the informal
sector. Organized sector consists of large-scale
operations in terms of capital labour wage labour with
the use of advanced and modern technology- with
institutional arrangements known as public and private
sector partnerships. This sector is also closely linked
with the global financial and economic systems. With
the result any changes in the global economy affect it

directly.
The unorganized sector on the other hand consists of
smaller scale of operation in terms of capital and labour,
private or family ownership, labour intensive, less
advanced technology, unregulated markets and
unprotected labour(almost no social security benefits-)
this is being modified with the social security bill for
the protection of unorganized(recently ratified by the
Rajya Sabha). This also is affected by government policy
regulation as in the case of protection of industry for
capital or for labour. The small-scale industrial policy,
the programmes of National Institute for micro, small
and medium industries institute are some such
examples. 93% of the labour force is employed in
unorganized sector.
There is a growing evidence of feminisation of poverty
and feminisation of labour force especially in the informal
sector. That is more and more women joining the labour
force for lower rates of wages as their men folk are
unemployed or are unable to seek a place in the formal
economy.
Inter Relations between the Social and Economic

Characteristics
It is necessary to view the social and economic
characteristics of urban communities as interrelated
aspects. The economic structure is closely linked to the
social settlements. Social and economic features of the
city thus get enmeshed in a complex web of local
economic relations and global economic transactions
The economic structure is closely linked to the social
settlements. Social and economic features of the city
thus get enmeshed in a complex web of local economic
relations and global economic transactions. The settings
for the local economy are influenced by the local

governance systems.
Urban Poverty
It is important to understand urban poverty for social
workers to design appropriate interventions. Workers
engaged in the urban informal economy constitute the
bulk of the urban poor. A large section of this population
consists of low skilled rural migrants or migrants from
smaller towns. Since they have neither the skills nor
the opportunities to enter better paid and more secure
formal sector jobs, they join the informal work force as
soon as they enter the city. They thus move from one
level of poverty in their place of origin to another level
at their destination. In addition because of cost cutting
measures by the formal sector and recession – there is
a growing section of workers in the formal sector who
have lost their jobs and are compelled to work in the
informal sector. This change in their lives means a
reduction in their standard of living as well as insecure
and unregulated employment.
23.62 percent of India’s urban population is living below
the poverty line. The urban poor population is 3.41
percent less than the rural poor.
The tenth five year plan notes that urban poor can be
defined in a declining scale such as core poor,
intermediate poor, and transitional poor. Or they can
also be classified in terms of declining poor, coping poor,
and improving poor, with different degrees of priority
for the three basic needs of survival, security, and
quality of life.
The urban poor are characterized by inadequate income
and unstable asset base, inadequate shelter, provision
of ‘public infrastructure’, and provision of basic services,
limited or no safety net, protection of poorer groups
rights through the operation of law and poorer groups

voiceless ness and power less ness.
Urban-rural Linkages
It is to be recognized that many poor households have
livelihoods that draw on rural and urban resources or
opportunities. Urban and rural areas are closely linked,
each contributing to the other. These linkages need to
be taken into account while planning for community
development programmes
Spatial Segregation
All urban communities are spatially segregated. That
is, communities can have particular location because
of their occupations, linguistic, regional, class and caste
affiliation. Further the migrants to a city can settle
down owing to group affiliations and informal ties. For
example in the case of Delhi, the colonial administration
ensured that the city development was to benefit the
rulers, after annexation of Bahadur Shah Jaffer, the
earlier walled city was neglected as the colonial rulers
developed the vast New Delhi area, with wide roads,
gardens and parks. There was more spatial segregation
after partition, when refugees settled in new areas
followed by continued influx of surrounding urban
populations . Spatial segregation of city thus was not a
one time phenomenon, but took place because of the
waves of migrations and political upheavals in the sub-
continent. Segregation of the city also took place as the
migrants cluster to one particular area because of the
informal connections and networks that had with city
dwellers. As the refugees because of partition or other
political conditions came into the city, the city got its
ethnically based groups like the Tibetan community,
the Nirankari Colony, the Nizamuddin Basti etc.
Specific Urban Communities

A) Refugee and Displaced Communities
The partition of Indian sub-continent into India and
Pakistan had deleterious effects on millions of people.
There was not only the trauma of leaving one’s place of
residence, occupation and property but also the
apprehension of reaching a safe place. Refugee
communities have placed a tremendous strain on the
resources of the state/area to which they move. Besides
these there is also the trauma experienced when leaving
loved ones behind or on the way to a safe destination,
they are subjected to violence and loss of dignity. These
problems were compounded by the settlements that were
established for refugee populations that had the bare
minimal facilities. Communities had to establish their
lives all over again.
The problem of urban resettlement of the refugees and
displaced (2-5 million displaced persons from West
Pakistan) was accentuated with the differences in the
economic situations of the incoming and outgoing
population. This difference has been the more marked
in the case of displaced persons from West Pakistan.
There was also a difference between refugees related to
their origin. Thus, while the Muslim migrant from the
Punjab, PEPSU, Delhi, etc., was often a labourer or an
artisan, with a comparatively low standard of life, the
incoming non-Muslim was frequently an industrialist,
a businessman, a petty shopkeeper or one belonging to
the white-collar professions and used to much better
conditions of living.
Government initiated special agencies, such as the
Faridabad, Rajpura and Hastinapur Development Boards
and the Sindhu Resettlement Corporation were involved
in meeting the housing requirements of the refugees.
The experiments at Nilokheri and Faridabad are
significant in themselves. They are based on the principle

of self-help on a cooperative basis.
Rehabilitation of refugees involved providing educational
facilities, training in vocations, grants for running
businesses or setting up small enterprises etc.
Besides this there is internal displacement of
communities that is taking place continually when their
lands are taken away as in the case of tribal
communities or when rivers are submerged during dam
construction- the case of communities displaced say in
Narmada valley, or the communities that are displaced
because of economic pressures- drought and flood moving
away from their place of birth to places far off in search
of food and work.
Also there is displacement as a result of ethnic or caste
violence that makes communities to move to newer areas
within a city or elsewhere- through either a government
rehabilitation scheme or on their own. Urban areas are
made of many such people and major metropolitan areas
are seen strewed with such communities.
B) Slums
Areas that are overcrowded with dilapidated structures,
faultily laid out and lacking in essential services are
generally termed as slums.
Slums are considered as the physical and social
expression of inequalities in the distribution of the
benefit of economic growth. Slums are neglected parts
of cities where housing and living conditions are
appallingly lacking. Slums range from high density,
squalid central city tenements to spontaneous squatter
settlements without legal recognition or rights,
sprawling at the edge of cities. Some are more than fifty
years old, (infact in Kolkata some of the slums are 150
years old)
Slums have grown because of the poverty of rural areas.

When all livelihood options fail, the rural communities
move to urban areas in search of work. Sometimes they
move with their entire families or only men migrate
first, bringing their families with them later.
The migrants settle down in vacant places, which are
not in the control of civic authorities. These areas lack
basic civic amenities and these areas have soon grown
into slums where people perforce live in unhygienic and
unsanitary conditions. While slums are considered
derogatively, the work force of the slum is an important
constituent of the informal economy, which has links
with the formal economy. The communities in slums
are settled in groups which maintain their affinal and
other bonds.
Definition of Slum
Slums have come to form an integral part of the
phenomena of urbanization in India. It is for this reason
that first time in the history of census in this country,
the census 2001 has compiled slum demography.
As per the Census of India, 2001, the slum areas broadly
constitute of:
(i) All specified areas in a town or city notified as ‘Slum’
by State/Local Government and UT Administration
under any Act including a ‘Slum Act’.
(ii) All areas recognized as ‘Slum’ by State/Local
Government and UT Administration, Housing and
Slum Boards, which may have not been formally
notified as slum under any act;
(iii) A compact area of at least 300 population or about
60-70 households of poorly built congested
tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with
inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper
sanitary and drinking water facilities.
UN-HABITAT definition denotes a slum as ‘a wide range

of low-income settlements and/or poor human living
conditions.’ characterized by the following attributes:
a) lack of basic services; b) substandard housing or
illegal and inadequate building structures; c)
overcrowding and high density; d) unhealthy living
conditions and hazardous locations; e) insecure tenure,
irregular or informal settlements; f) poverty and social
exclusion; and, g) minimum settlement size.
Characteristic Features of the Slums

Physically, slums consist of clusters of huts comprising
several rooms constructed with temporary building
materials, where each room is inhabited by a family
sharing a common latrine, without arrangements for
water supply, drains, disposal of solid waste and
garbage within the slum boundaries.
Slums are characterized by a) Lack of basic services,
b) Overcrowding, c) high density doubtful and insecure
tenure, d) Inadequate housing, e) Hazardous or
precarious environments, f) Lack of access to basic
facilities, g) Poverty or social exclusion.
It is to be understood that each locality, each
metropolitan area has different slum types and none of
them could be subsumed in one broad category. They
are locally known with different names and different
features with differing histories, different physical
layout, pattern of ownership, political patronage and
social make-up.
In case of Kolkata, these slum types could be categorized
as the unauthorized bustees located on the sides of
canals, large drains, garbage dumps, railway tracks and
roads.
Among the unauthorised slums types are those, which
are simply encroachments by the poor people either
displaced from the city itself or retrenched from their

work place, on the roadside (locally called jhupri), canals
(called khaldhar), or any vacant place (called udbastu)
another type of displacement is reported as displacement
due to an excessive increase in family size. It has been
found that the predominant structure types in the slum
areas are pukka, semi-pukkaand kutcha (crude or
imperfect).
The authorized slums are the hut type settlements on
leased land from landowners, which is let out to
migrants; The second type of slum called “thika tenant
slums” where the slum dwellers have taken possession
at a fixed rent and have constructed their houses; Third
types of slums are those constructed by zaminders
(landowners) themselves and let out to the slum dwellers.
These types of slums are locally called bustees; The
fourth type of slums is Refugee Resettlement Colonies
(locally called udbastu colonies) where land has been
leased out for 99 years to the refugees from present-day
Bangladesh by the government at nominal rents. (These
types of houses are called Berar Ghar).
Conclusion
This chapter has provided you with an understanding
with respect to urban communities. We have seen that
Urban communities are not homogenous. There is a
variation with respect to their demographic, social and
economic features. This variability is not only across
urban areas in India but within cities themselves.
Further urban and rural communities are interlinked
with each other in myriad ways- both for economic and
social reasons. Urban communities borrow from their
rural brethren, the culture and customs as well as play
a part in rural economy through remittance economy or
participation in major agricultural operations. Also when
the informal economic activity in urban areas gets

affected they immediately fall back on the rural
agricultural economy to provide a safety net.
We also have seen that there are economic interlinkages
within the urban communities. Thus both the formal
and informal economies are interlinked with each other.
This variegated situation of urban communities brings
with it a different set of problems, strengths and
limitations of each of these communities affected
differentially by the various policies at the national,
regional, state and local levels. In working for
community development thus provides a backdrop in
which community based interventions have to be
designed.
References
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Sandhu Ranvinder Singh (Ed) (2003) Urbanisation in India
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3
Profile of Rural Communities
*A. Malathi
INTRODUCTION
Rural communities form the backbone of India- adhering
to the adage that India lives in its villages. Village life
is much talked about in terms of its serenity, idyllic
surrounding, free from conflict and having a beautiful
relationship with nature. But there is much more to
understand about the rural communities in the vast
terrain of India. The geographical and cultural variability
brings with it social arrangements that are adaptive to
the specific context- hence defy the notion of uniformity
in village communities. Also the various villages are
subject to a number of factors, be it in the ecological,
cultural, geographical and political or economic spheres
that provide a dynamism to the village community, its
existence and their ways of living.
A rural society is better understood through certain key
aspects like size, populations, physical structure and
their social and economic way of life. Also one needs to
look at the way the economic and political policies
influence the life of the villagers for any meaningful
social work intervention. Social work interventions
pertaining to village community have as much to deal
with their economic condition as with their political
condition and access to power. As much as their
variability is a factor, some common elements can be
understood to be the pervasive factors of rural living.

Profile of Rural Communities 43
These and the institutional presence and its access also

make an important focus for social work interventions.
Like in the case of urban communities we draw upon
insights from sociology, economics, and public
administration to develop our understanding of rural
communities. Similarly with regard to interventions we
draw upon insights derived from social work methods.
One predominantly in use is the community organization
method.
There is homogeneity across villages in terms of certain
broad features of social and economic characteristics.
The technological and organizational aspects are also
simpler compared to the urban areas and also well laid
out within the socialization processes. Within the village
there are bounded societies that clearly demarcate
between various social groups. This is seen in the
restrictions and taboo on rituals and customs and
interactions with others. There is village endogamy or
caste endogamy. The relationships are informal and
primacy is accorded to face-to-face interactions with
personal and kinship intimacy being predominant.
Meaning of Rural Community

Rural communities reside in rural areas. Rural areas
as per census consider the village as the basic area of
habitation. A village is usually considered as the
smallest area of habitation. The village generally follows
the limits of a revenue village that is recognized by the
local administration. The revenue village need not
necessarily be a single agglomeration of the habitations.
It could comprise of a large village or a cluster of very
small villages. It has a definite boundary and definite
name. But the revenue village has a definite surveyed
boundary and each village is a separate administrative
unit with separate village accounts. It may have one or
more hamlets. The entire revenue village is one unit.

There may be unsurveyed villages within forests etc.,
where the locally recognized boundaries of each
habitation area are followed within the larger unit of
say the forest range officer’s jurisdiction.
The other meaning relates to the nature of livelihoods.
Rural thus refers to livelihoods that are based on
agriculture and something to do with nature. It would
also refer to the scale and nature of technology used in
rural areas. Thus in rural areas the technology followed
is simple with production levels meeting one’s family’s
needs and some surplus that could be sold in the
markets nearby.
Rural Urban Continuum

The rural urban dichotomy is experienced in some
states but not in others. For example in some states
like Kerala the distinction of a village and town is
impossible to discern. Instead there is a continuum.
The left end of the continuum consists of the rural whilst
the right of the urban having a mix of characteristics.
Those which are having mixed features are placed in
the middle. Changes from rural to urban are called
urbanization. There is nothing like the ideal model of
rural or urban but an increasingly urban flavour to
rural locales. The rapid process of urbanization through
the establishment of industries, urban traits and
facilities has decreased the differences between villages
and cities.
There are some sociologists who treat rural-urban as
dichotomous categories differentiating the two at various
levels including occupational differences, environmental
differences, differences in the sizes of communities,
differences in the density of population, differences in
social mobility and direction of migration, differences
in social stratification and in the systems of social

interaction.
A third view regarding rural and urban communities,
believes that both village and city are elements of the
same civilization and hence neither rural urban
dichotomy, nor continuum is meaningful.
Some sociologists have used the concept of rural-urban
continuum to stress the idea that there are no sharp
breaking points to be found in the degree or quantity of
rural urban differences. M.S. Rao points out that both
village and town formed part of the same civilization
characterized by institution of kinship and caste system
in pre-British India. But there were certain specific
institutional forms and organizational ways
distinguishing social and cultural life in towns from
that in village. In this one can consider the degree of
urbanization as a useful conceptual tool for
understanding rural-urban relations. The factors
distinguishing rural from urban communities include
occupation, size and density of population as well as
mobility, differentiation and stratification.
However there is no clear conceptual difference between
rural and urban as every village possesses some
elements of the city and every city carries some features
of the village.
Diversity of Rural Communities

Rural society includes a number of communities that
live in what are known as villages. Villages in India
vary with respect to their natural resource base,
population density, demographic features, amenities,
connectivity, historicity, and diversity of lifestyles,
languages, cultural features and their proximity to city
centres. Some villages have very old population as the
majority of younger generation migrates in search of

jobs. Such villages are known as Gray villages. Some of
the villages are also uninhabited. There are other villages
which are known as fringe villages which are located in
the outskirts of the towns that eventually become parts
of the urban whole. Such examples abound in the
metropolitan areas for example, Nayabans in Noida –
Harola etc which have been surrounded by the planned
city of Noida in the south eastern outskirts of Delhi.
A village can have varying composition of social and
occupational groups such as agriculturalists, artisans,
craftsmen and other occupational groups and all depend
one way or the other upon agriculture. One major
understanding was that communities, which are non-
tribal as well as tribal, tend to live in rural areas.
Persons belonging to the former are often known as
peasant societies or communities in which there is a
definite bonding with the nearby market towns. These
communities are not isolated like the tribal
communities. Their linkage with the nearby towns is
also through some forms of shared governance that bind
them within the region to other constituents. They have
also well established market links with the nearby town’s
people for the sale of surplus agricultural produce and
for the purchase of useful items for daily living
manufactured in the urban areas.
Villages are primarily food producing units and they
are agriculture based. They produce not only for their
own subsistence but also for the urban societies, which
are non-producing. Land and the natural resources are
the primary means /unit of production in rural societies.
Ecological conditions influence the pattern of their stay,
with hamlets that are stringed together or individual
houses surrounded by their fields.
Housing Patterns and Settlements in Rural Areas

a) Different kinds of villages are found all over the
country. In some, the fields of the village surround
a tight cluster of houses. An outlying hamlet or
several satellite hamlets are also found attached to
some villages in this case.
b) Linear settlements – e.g. in Kerala and Konkan and
in the delta lands of Bengal. In such settlements
houses are strung out each surrounded by its own
compound. However there is little to physically
demarcate where one village ends and another
begins.
c) Here there is scattering of homesteads or clusters
of two or three houses. In this case also physical
demarcation of villages is not clear. Such settlements
are found in hill areas, in the Himalayan foothills,
in the high lands of Gujarat and in the Satpura
range of Maharashtra.
Usually a village is conceived as a physical entity having
an aggregation of houses of mixed architecture (some of
mud and thatch and some of cement) in the midst of
surrounding agricultural fields. Of course there may be
some exceptions to the general image of a village. Village
can have more than ten thousand population as in the
case of Kerala. Or the village may be a conglomeration
of cement houses inhabited by people who may
predominantly be in service or may be self-employed
non-agriculturalists as in the case of a number of villages
situated near towns and cities in Himachal Pradesh.
Size of the Villages

In 1981 census there were 5, 57, 137 inhabited villages
in the country. By the year 1991 this number increased
to 4689 towns and 5, 80,781 villages. According to 2001
census there are 5161 towns and 6,38,365 villages
including uninhabited villages with 72% of the total

population living in villages. Further rural life is
characterized by direct relationship of people to nature
i.e, land, animal and plant life. Agriculture is their main
occupation. Agriculture provides livelihood to about 58%
of the labour force.
Rural Social Structure

Village, community, family and caste are the basic
components of the rural social structure. They
encompass the entire field of life: social, economic,
political and cultural life of the rural people. The
complexity of social norms and values statuses and rules,
rights and obligations is reflected in them. These are
long enduring rural social institutions which have
millennia old historical roots and structures.
Rural social structure would refer to the inter -
relationship, inter-connectedness and inter-dependence
of the different parts of the rural society. Caste system
is one unique social structure and the inter relationship
of the different units (castes) constitutes the structure
of the rural society. Society, caste and Panchayat have
control over the individual.
Caste System
Caste is the fundamental principle of social
organizations in the Indian village. The structural basis
of Hinduism is the caste system.
Caste is also seen as a ‘monopolistic guild’. The
occupation on which a caste has monopoly may be very
simple. Village is conceptualized as an aggregate of
castes, each traditionally associated with an occupation.
The members of the caste are spread over a region in
more than on village. The members of a caste have
matrimonial relations with the neighbouring villages.
Sometimes, the castes are also named after the

corresponding occupations, eli caste, dholi caste,
chakali- washerwomen, Kammari- potters etc. Members
of the caste marry within their own caste-but usually
outside their village. In other words, the village is
exogamous, while the caste is endogamous. There are
some systems of marriage in which the men of upper
castes marry women of lower castes allowing lower caste
women to move up the hierarchy. This is known as
hypergamy, (anuloma). For political purposes, social
control and matrimony, the members of the caste in a
village are dependent upon their caste group located in
other villages. Society, caste and Panchayat have control
over the individual.
It is also true that all caste occupations are not found
in the village. A village has some castes – but for services
it may depend on members belonging to various other
castes from neighbouring villages. Caste and class are
linked to each other with high castes usually being
associated with higher classes.
Inter-caste Relations
Inter -caste relations at the village level constitute
vertical ties. The castes living in a village are bound
together by economic ties. Generally peasant castes are
numerically preponderant in villages and to perform
agricultural work, they need the services of carpenter,
blacksmith and leather worker castes. It is unlikely that
all castes are located within a village, consequently they
depend on neighboring villages for certain services, skills
and goods.
Inter-caste relations are mediated by a system known
as Jajmani System. Jajmani is sort of mutual give and
take form of relationship in which one family is
hereditarily entitled to supply goods and render services
to the other in exchange of the same. The person

rendering the services or supplying the goods is known
as kameen or prajan and the person to whom the services
are rendered is called a jajman. Thus under jajmani
system a permanent informal bond is made between
jajman and kameen to meet each other’s need for goods
and services. Exclusive and durable relations exist
because when the family moves out it becomes its moral
duty to find an alternative service provider for its
patrons. These rights are also sold. Jajmani system is
characterized by unbroken hereditary and
multidimensional relationship based on barter system.
Family and Kinship Relations

Rural family functions as the unit of economic, cultural,
religious and political activity. In agricultural societies
the family becomes the unit of production, distribution
and consumption. Marriage is a decision of the family
governed by rules of kinship. Family has a strict control
and administrative powers over the individual.
Both nuclear and joint family with their modifications
are found in rural India.
There are Inter regional variations and in the
distribution of family types.
Currently the family is changing in rural India with
changes in the social and economic situation. The family
as a unit of production has changed more into a unit of
consumption. Rules of marriage vary between South
and North India.
Political and Economic Connections

Political power centered in cities controls villages. The
conflicts between different people pertain mainly to the
matters of land disputes, traditional power
arrangements, sharing of common resources such as
the community pastures, water and forest resources

and transgressing caste boundaries. Panchayats are
usually the forums for dispute resolution. There are
two types, one the Village Panchayat and the other Jati
Panchayat. The former deals with the welfare of the
families living in that village undertaking collective tasks
of the village such as performing rituals for the welfare
of the entire village or organizing programs for the
collective welfare such as building tanks, roads, granary.
A traditional caste council called Panch or five,
comprises of a small but always an odd number, deals
with issues related to caste matters and inter-caste
relations. A particular caste is dominant implying either
a numerical predominance, or control over economic
resources, political power or having a high ritual status,
or first ones to take advantage of the Western Education
system.
Lower castes are often reduced to a marginal status.
The dominant castes have often resorted to violence to
keep other castes submissive. The power of the
Panchayat is being reduced by the presence of the
secular formal institutions, of the dominant castes.
There is also conflict between the traditional caste
Panchayats and the secular institutions such as the
Gram Panchayat. Class has an economic dimention.
Upper castes are the landed, and lower castes are the
landless, generally.
The power relations are also closely related to the
gendered location one has. Thus in rural society women
have less power in decision-making and their needs
and concern do not seem to be well articulated at the
household level and in the larger community. Their
institutional presence is also considerably less as
compared to men. These are compounded when class
and caste are joined together.
Rural Economic Structure

The salient features of a rural economy are related to
the conditions of agriculture that is the predominant
economic activity. The rural sector consists of agriculture
and non-agriculture related activities, which are known
as farm and non-farm economy.
Agricultural Sector
The agricultural sub sector consists of agriculture and
allied economic activities such as crop husbandry,
animal husbandry, and dairying, fisheries, poultry, and
forestry. The non-agricultural sector consists of
economic activities related to industry, business or
services. This refers to the cottage and village industries,
khadi, handloom, handicrafts etc. Business refers to
micro enterprises, trading of general goods, small shops
petty traders etc, whereas services refer to transport,
communication banking and input supply, marketing
of farm and non-farm produce etc. The main
stakeholders of rural sector include farmers-
agricultural and non-agricultural laborers, artisans,
traders, money lenders and those engaged in providing
such services as transport, communication, processing,
banking and education and extension.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy because
of its high share in employment and livelihood creation
notwithstanding its reduced contribution to the nation’s
GDP. The share of agriculture in the gross domestic
product has registered a steady decline from 36.4 per
cent in 1982-83 to 18.5 percent in 2006-07. Yet this
sector continues to support more than half a billion
people providing employment to 52 per cent of the
workforce. This means that the share of the value of
goods and services produced by the agricultural sector
has diminished much more than the decline in the
number of people depending directly on the activities of

this sector.
It is also an important source of raw material and
demand for many industrial products, particularly
fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural implements and a
variety of consumer goods.
Growth of agriculture over a period of time remained
lower than the growth in non-agriculture sectors. The
gap between the growth of agriculture and non-
agriculture sector began to widen since 1981-82, and
more particularly since 1996-97, because of acceleration
in the growth of industry and services sectors.
Dry Land Agriculture

Dry land agriculture is usually unaccounted for in
mainstream agriculture. In India, it is estimated that
410 million people depend on the dry lands for a living.
Dry land agriculture is another economy in rural areas
that closely enmeshes with the ‘poverty geography’ of
the country. Other than the arid zones where even
rainfed farming is quite difficult, the heart of the
drylands is in the semi-arid zones. Drylands in this
country constitute more than 70% of the cultivable lands
and despite several odds stacked against them, produce
about 42% of the country’s food. It is reported that nearly
83% of sorghum, 81% of pulses and 90% of oilseeds
grown in the country come from these areas.
Rural livelihood systems in dry lands are usually a mix
of natural resource based, non natural resource based
and migrant incomes. These have tended to persist over
several decades without any change because of the policy
focus on green revolution. The nature of agricultural
strategy underwent significant changes in the early
plans to the current. These have important implications
for promoting rural livelihood base. Strategy of green
revolution and spread of irrigation was emphasized.
Much of the technologies, subsidies and public support

systems provided under this undifferentiated agriculture
policy fail in responding to the needs or problems of dry
land agriculture, thus promoting inequity, whether we
examine input support (irrigation, fertilizers, seeds) or
out-put support (minimum support price and
procurement price mechanisms). A similar tendency is
visible in terms of agriculture research priorities,
technology development and investments.
Allied Agricultural Activities

Animal husbandry and horticulture, pisciculture,
apiculture and sericulture are examples of allied
activities which are closely related to agriculture and
provide marginal or substantial source of income for
rural communities.
Non-agricultural Activities
This sector in rural areas constitutes an important
component of the rural work force constituting 20 to
25% of the rural work force. This includes manufacturing
of implements and work of artisans and crafts persons
that support the agricultural work.
Rural industries that fall into the Khadi and village
industries serve as an important support for
employment. Also some of the people are employed in
rural services such as health, education and the
markets. In 2001 the workers in rural industries
accounted for 3.8% of the rural work force and above
3% for the total workforce of the country
Basic features of rural economy are:
1) Excessive dependence on Nature.
With 64% of the net sown area in 1993-94 was
rainfed that is crop production depended on the
quantum and distribution of rainfall over the

growing season. Indian agriculture is vulnerable to
natural calamities, such as droughts, floods,
hailstorms, and cyclones. This means that the
degree of nature induced risk and uncertainty in
agriculture is higher than in the non-agricultural
sector, with the burden of risk falling on the farmer.
2) Low capital labour ratio.
This refers to the amount of capital available per
worker. As there is a large workforce depending on
agriculture this makes the capital available per
capita low.
3) Small economic holdings and livestock holdings.
The existing land inheritance law means that the
process of subdivision and fragmentation of
landholdings continues unabated affecting
generation after generation. Almost all the marginal
and small farmers are poor, producing very little
marketable surplus. It is estimated that the farmers
having less than four hectare of land are not
financially viable. Thus over 90% of farms in India
are not financially viable. Compounded with this is
the factor of continued low returns which is making
the cultivators to join the ranks of agricultural
labour
4) Low factor productivity.
There is low average crop yields per hectare
compared to other nations. The inadequate capital
in the form of production of inputs, raw material
and improved machinery and equipment available
per worker/unit of enterprise
5) Long gestation and low rate of turnover.
The gestation period for investments in agriculture
is long compared to non-agricultural enterprises.
Three to four month period for crops to mature, six

years for a calf to the stage where milk production
is possible, and in horticulture the fruit tree takes
about 5-10 years for bearing fruit. Longer time is
taken for a return on investment.
6) High incidence of poverty and unemployment.
The poverty in terms of absolute numbers as per
official figures is 22%. But the incidence of poverty
and the conditions for the above poverty line to turn
into poverty situations are plenty. There is
increasing rural debt experienced even by the rich
farmers specially those in the cotton belt. The
uncertainties unleashed by the economic reforms
make the poor suffer more. Low skills are
compounded by low work availability. Similarly
unemployment conditions are increasing.
7) Preponderance of illiterate and unskilled workforce.
The labour force in rural areas is less skilled because
of the disadvantaged class and caste status. They
are unable to complete basic schooling. Both
individual and collective structural factors make it
difficult for the labour force to acquire skills
required to move them from primary sector to the
secondary and tertiary structures.
8) Lack of basic infrastructure.
Basic infrastructure in terms of connectivity and
health and education facilities as also market
facilities related to cold storage, etc are still to be
achieved in adequate numbers and quality.
Rural Assets and Poverty

The picture of assets in rural areas is skewed. Over
78% of the cultivators belonging to the category of
marginal and small operators cultivate less than one
third of the land. In contrast less than two percent of

the cultivators having holdings of more than 10 hectares
each cultivate about 29% of the land.
The average size of holding is bigger in states such as
Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. On the other hand in
easter n states like Bihar and West Bengal the
operational size of these holdings is relatively small. It
may be remembered that the regional differences in the
structure of holdings are related to the pressure of
population on the land, soil, agro climatic conditions
and the extent of irrigation. It is also true that the
economic value and productive potential of small
holdings in irrigated areas might be higher than
relatively large landholding in areas where agricultures
is largely dependent on rains.
The incidence of poverty is closely linked to the
employment, ecological setting and ethnic profile of the
population. Even if employment is available the nature
of such an employment determines whether such a
person is poor or not. The incidence of poverty in rural
areas is linked to such factors as landless or marginal
farmers cultivating low value products, mostly for family
subsistence; self-employed artisans/service rendering
people catering to low income customers/markets;
women headed households and groups with larger
families but limited assets and earning opportunities;
people with limited skills and education engaging in
seasonal casual work; socially excluded, depressed
groups (e.g lower castes), tribals, nomads etc; victims
of the side effects of development of infrastructure and
other changes which disintegrated their past
sustenance strategies (e.g people affected by breakdown
of traditional occupations because of macro economic
changes, construction of big projects, decimation of
forests etc).
Rural Credit Markets

Credit is required in rural areas for consumption and
production purposes. Consumption needs require small
amounts of credit that meet needs such as food, clothing,
shelter, education and health. Credit requirements are
usually met from the shaukar/money lender informal
institutions. However there is increasing evidence that
the growing SHG movement in several parts of the
country especially south is able to make inroads into
traditional money lending institutions. Their share is
less but growing. The traditional institutions survive
because of their timely, ready availability of credit and
their informal linkages that could be caste or kinship
or village based with the client groups. There has been
an effort to meet credit needs from the formal institutions
but there has been a low presence of these with addition
to bureaucratic hurdles in the way.
The growth of formal banking institutions was high
during 1970s and 1980s following nationalization of
banks in 1969. However there has been a decline in the
formal banking services in rural areas since 1990s. Flow
of credit to rural areas also declined.
Policies and Practices

Policies and prescriptions related to institutional
presence, and procedures which govern access or that
control and constrain legitimacy related to citizen
participation etc strongly influence rural communities.
Reform measures such as reduction in fiscal deficit,
reduction of subsidies, devaluation of rupee, export
orientation and reduction of agricultural credit adversely
affect the rural poor especially in terms of food security,
which relates to production, distribution and pricing of
the food grains. The agricultural sector is worst affected
by the fiscal contraction which invariably result in a
disproportionate cut in capital expenditure. Agricultural

sector is the mainstay of the rural Indian Economy which
is closely related to the existing pattern of the social
equity. The shrinkage of the flow of resources to the
rural sector, a misconceived interest rate policy which
discriminate against agriculture, a sickening rural
delivery credit system, the emergence of a new banking
culture nurtured by reforms which is far from friendly
to agriculture and rural development all go against the
interests of rural economy.
Reform and post reform period impact on agriculture
are found to be deleterious to the rural poor and the
rural landless. Reforms have increased the vulnerability
of these masses and this forms one of the critical issues
for rural community development.
There are many policies that the government makes
with regard to the rural sector directly- such as policies
related to agriculture, rural credit policy, policy on
investments to be made in social sectors- policies related
to the provision of infrastructure in rural areas such as
in health, education, employment (NREGA) road
connectivity, housing and sanitation, drinking water
supply etc. At the same time policies related to industry
such as mining, availability of land for real estate for
urban areas affects villages located in urban fringes.
Similarly the fiscal policy, which promotes export
promotion, favouring areas for tourism development such
as in the coastal areas affects the rural people who are
living in these areas. These play a role in affecting the
livelihoods of these communities and make them
vulnerable to the point of crisis in survival. Thus these
become critical for social workers to working with rural
communities. Thus any thing that affects the rural
populace be it with governance issues such as service
delivery or with lack of institutional presence, is of great
concern for rural community work.
Conclusion
We have seen how rural communities are understood
through certain key aspects of like size, populations,
physical structure and their social and economic way
of life. We have also seen that despite the diversity there
are certain common features like the social system of
caste and inter caste relations which are closely related
to their economic activities. The lower social hierarchy
also means low in assets and income. We have also
seen the importance of strengthening the livelihood base
of agriculture and allied activities especially in the dry
land region for the development of communities at the
margins. We have also understood that the living
conditions of these communities are subject to change
both from external and internal factors especially from
the policy interventions by the government. These would
be important for any meaningful social work
intervention.
References
S.C Dube (1955) Indian Village Cornell University Press,
Ithaca.
Government of India Economic Survey (2007-08) New
Delhi.
Government of India 10th Five Year Plan New Delhi.
Government of India 11th Five Year Plan New Delhi.
Singh Kartar (1999) Rural Development in India Sage
Publications.
A.R. Desai (2005) Rural India in Transition, 2nd ed Popular
Prakashan Mumbai.
4
Tribal Communities
*A. Malathi
Introduction
This chapter looks at the tribal communities of India. It
does so by firstly looking at the position of tribes
historically, the coinage of the term tribe and its various
meanings, the diversity among the tribes of India, their
linkages with the rest of the rural society, and their
natural resource dependent livelihoods. The profile would
include their economic and social aspects and the
current issues of the tribal communities.
The Meaning and Definitions of Tribe

The word tribe is derived from Tribus, a Latin word
meaning “a group”. Dictionary meanings of a tribe range
from considering them as:
a) any aggregate of people united by ties of descent
from a common ancestor, community of customs
and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc.,
b) a local division of an aboriginal people,
c) division of some other people,
d) a class or set of persons, especially one with strong
common traits or interests,
e) a large family.
Historically tribal communities have often been
understood as exotic and indicative of forbidden cultures

that are ancient and need to be preserved. This has led

to some of their classifications since the colonial times
and their categorization into nomadic, criminal, vanvasi,
adivasi etc. These terms are overridden by their inclusion
in scheduled tribes list- that by itself tries to build a
category of tribes known as the scheduled tribes. And
also gives legitimacy to those listed as being recognized
by government as such. The numerous nomenclatures
provided by the sociologists, census officials and the
government have only created confusion as to how should
tribes be categorized, understood and treated. All these
have implications for the mainstreaming of tribes that
is actively being encouraged by all those concerned with
tribal communities, sometimes with positive outcomes
and at other times, deleterious to the very existence of
tribe(s).
Robert Redfield considers tribe to be a small community
and possessing characteristic features as
i) distinctiveness: where the community begins and
where it ends is apparent. This is expressed in the
group consciousness of the people of the community
ii) smallness: a compact community with a small
population
iii) homogeneity: all the persons do similar activities
and have similar state of mind. All persons have
similar livelihood strategies, which continue over
generations,
iv) self sufficiency: The community is self-sufficient and
provides for most of the activities and needs of its
people.
Majumdar 1958 defines a tribe as a ‘social group with
territorial affiliation , endogamous with no specialization
of functions, ruled by tribal officers hereditarily or
otherwise united in language or dialect, recognizing
Tribal Communities 63
social distance with other tribes or castes without any

social obloquy attaching to them, as it does in the
caste structure, following tribal traditions, beliefs and
customs, liberal of naturalization of ideas from alien
sources, above all conscious of homogeneity of ethnic
and territorial integration’.
According to S.C. Dubey (1960) ‘the tribe generally refers
to territorial communities living in relative isolation of
hills and forests’.
Their comparative isolation, in some ways has kept them
apart from the mainstream of society in the country.
Partly because of this isolation and partly because of
their limited world view, characterized by lack of
historical depth resulting in the early merging of history
into mythology and an overall tradition orientation,
they are integrated in terms of certain themes rooted
in the past. These integrative themes and a special
cultural focus gave them a separate cultural identity
and they often possess latent or manifest value-attitude
and motivational systems which are remarkably different
from those of the other peoples.
Mandelbaum (1956) mentions the following
characteristics of Indian tribes:
a) Kinship as an instrument of social bonds.
b) A lack of hierarchy among men and groups.
c) Absence of strong, complex and formal organization.
d) Communitarian basis of land holding.
e) Segmentary character.
f) Little value on surplus accumulation on the use of
capital and on market trading Lack of distinction
between form and substance of religion
In this way we can see that a tribe is a social group of
people associated with:
a) homogeneity,
b) isolation and non-assimilation,
c) territorial-integrity,
d) consciousness of unique identity and common
culture,
e) animism (now defunct) as an all-pervasive religion,
f) the existence of distinctive social and political
systems with an absence of exploiting classes and
organized state structure,
g) multi-functionalist kinship relations,
h) segmentary nature of the socio-economic unit ,
i) frequent cooperation for common goals,
j) self-sufficiency in their distinct economy, and
k) a common dialect, and many other attributes that
seem to have remained unchanged over centuries.
The concept of homogeneity and equality among the
tribes has been challenged by social scientists. It has
been found that there is considerable inequality in term
of economic and political rights related to the control of
marriage, exchange of allied goods and the redistribution
process. There is enormous diversity within the tribes
of India.
The tribes are said to live in exclusion and isolation of
other communities but the historical relations of the
tribes and non-tribes from time immemorial is often
forgotten.
Many of the definitions of tribes are thus problematic;
hence social scientists have conveniently used the
officially recognized Scheduled Tribes to categorize
tribes. The constitution of India in its article 342(i)
provides that the President of India with due
consultation with the governors of the states may
designate the tribe and tribal communities or parts of

groups within tribes or tribal communities to be
Scheduled T ribes for each state. This juridical
terminology has received uncritical acceptance. Hence
both for social workers and social scientists the term is
practically synonymous with the list of those
communities listed in the Scheduled Tribes.
The definitions of tribes continue to characterize certain
categories of pre-literate cultures covering a wide range
of forms of social organizational and levels of techno-
economic development. In understanding tribes, social
workers draw upon a variety of contributions drawn
from sociology, anthropology, history and political
economy.
Given social workers’ desire for changing the condition
of the communities towards self-reliance with social
justice perspectives, tribes are conceived in two ways
firstly as irrational and traditional with the need to
make them, modern and rational; and second as ones
who are exploited and vulnerable.
However attempts to integrate them with the
mainstream are done without clarifying what that
mainstream is. As pointed out by Pariyaram M Chacko,
there are many areas of tribal life which the mainstream
non-tribals can profitably assimilate such as the notions
of wealth, of gender, equality, of sex and marriage and
of the principle of non-interference.
Common Features between a Tribe and a Caste

However such features are not just the characteristic
of tribes but also of castes. Further there is also
tremendous variability among tribes. Hence other
attempts to define tribes consider them as a stage in
the social and cultural evolution. Also with respect to
their economic life, the production and consumption
among the tribes is household based and unlike

peasants they are not part of a wider economic, political,
and social network. This could be resolved by considering
the tribes and castes as belonging to one continuum.
The tribes have a segmentary, egalitarian system and
are not mutually inter-dependent, while castes are in a
system or organic solidarity. They have direct access to
land and no intermediary is involved between them and
land.
T ribes are always understood in comparison to
mainstream civilizations –that it may fight, serve, mimic,
or adopt but cannot ignore. In India it has been found
that tribes have been transforming themselves into
larger entity of the caste system; others have become
Christians or Muslims. There is further a change in
their economic life – that is a change in the livelihoods-
from hunting and gathering to peasantry, and in modern
times become wage labourers in plantations, mining,
and other industries. There is a changing notion of
tribe- which has to be the frame work for
understanding tribes.
Spread Across Regions and Demographic

Features
The tribal communities are spread in all regions of the
East, West, North and South of India with varying
altitudes, terrain and resources. This means that each
tribe has a different history, ecology and political
economy and socio-cultural complexities. Further there
is contiguity of the spread both within India and the
neighbouring countries. Some of the Scheduled Tribes
within the borders of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Manipur and Mizoram have their counterparts across
the borders of China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.
Tribals constitute only 8% of the population but occupy

nearly 20% of the geographical area, which contains
over 70% of the minerals and the bulk of forests and
water resources.
Demographic Distribution
The population of Scheduled Tribes number only 19
million people distributed among 212 communities in
the 1951 census. Their strength has increased to 38
and 52 million in 1971 and 1981census. As per 2001
census, the Scheduled Tribes population is 84.32
million, constituting over 8.2 percent of the country’s
population. Some tribes were temporarily accommodated
in the other backward classes’ category. In 1950 there
were 212 and in the year 2003, there are 533 tribes as
per notified schedule under Article 342 with largest of
them being in Orissa (62). Of the 698 scheduled tribes,
seventy five are considered as primitive tribes. They
are considered more backward than scheduled tribes
and continue to live in pre-agricultural stage having
very low literacy rates. The listing of tribes in the
schedule depends on whether synonyms and sub-tribes
are treated separately or not. There are also variations
in the size of the communities, from 31 people of Jarwa
to over 7 million Gonds. The numerically small tribal
communities comprising of less than 1000 people are
Andamanese, Onges and Toda etc. On the other hand,
tribes like the Bhil, Santhals, Oraon, Munda, Mina,
Khond and Saora and the like had more than 1 million
population each.
The demographic and geographic spread has
implications for the policies and programmes they are
subject to as well as their social and economic life. For
example large population of a tribe means that it is
spread over a number of states and therefore the same
group is treated differently by different state policies
and development programmes which influences its social

and economic structure. Also they may be educated in
the language of the state in which they reside – these
have far reaching implications for questions of identity
and entity of the tribal communities.
Let us consider the social and economic structure of
tribal communities now.
Tribal Communities: Their Social and

Economic Structure
a) Social Structure
The social structure is unique for each tribe. This comes
with the way the family is organized, the customs and
beliefs and the place of habitation, racial and linguistic
features.
There is a wide variation across the communities with
respect to the above. There are also wide variations
with regard to the particular social institutions that
characterize all communities such as their family,
marriage and kinship relations as also their particular
modes of economy, that are much dependent on the
ecological conditions of living. Further the relationship
of the community with the nature and the kind of rituals
associated with it is another facet that distinguishes
them from other communities.
The social life of the tribals revolves round the various
activities for common existence by sharing in common
activities under the bonds of relationship. Each tribe
has its own structure and organization. As the tribals
form a small community of their own in a particular
territory their relations are direct and intimate. By no
means such patterns of relations are sacrosanct or
unchanging. They are subject to the influences from
changes in the ecological condition or in the nature of

relationship with other communities or within their own.
Thus the social structure is of dynamic nature.
The social life of Indian tribes can be said to have a
design with the individual forming families, families
forming lineages, lineages in sub-clans or sub-local
groups and sub-clans in clans or local group and clans
in phratries or territorial groups phratries in moieties;
moieties in sub tribes and finally sub-tribes making up
the tribe. In this social design the smallest unit is the
individual who forms the minimum or the smallest group
like family or household. The smaller groups are
combined into a larger one through several levels of
incorporation. It is not necessary that all the above social
units exist in every tribe
Family
The Family is the basic social and economic unit. There
are well established roles for the various members of
the family that are closely related to their authority
and power within their social group. The economic,
political, ritual rights are also associated with the
development of the family. The various tribal
communities differ with respect to the nature of authority
within the family and the group; the nature of relations
with outsiders; the kind of work allocation and
distribution within the families, the ritual and secular
power exercised and so on. All of this is dependent on
the habitats they live in – that is the natural living
conditions and their relationship with it.
b) Economic Structure
In India tribals belong to different economic stages, from
food-gathering to industrial labor which presents their
overlapping economic stage in the broader framework
of the stages of economy. A tribe is usually considered

as an economically independent group of people, having
their own specific economy and thus having a living,
pattern of labour, division of labour and specialization,
gift and ceremonial exchange, trade and barter, credit
and value, wealth, consumption norms, capital
formation, land tenure and good-tangible and intangible
–economic status. All these are significant markers for
a special tribal economy in the broader set-up of Indian
economy. The interdependence between the cultural,
social life and the natural surroundings is of great
significance in understanding tribal economy.
The economic life of the tribal communities has to be
seen in the light of non-monetary aspects that influence
their living conditions. They have a very simple
technology which fits in well with their ecological
surroundings and self-dependent nature. Their economy
can be said to be of subsistence type in which there is
assurance of subsistence livelihood to all the persons
in the community. This is achieved through the social
determinations of labour and land allocation and the
social right to receive emergency material in times of
need. Thus there is a strong and persistent social control
of production and distribution. They follow what is
known as “marginal economy”. This refers to the
practice of different types of occupation at one time by
a group of people for their livelihood. That is a tribe can
indulge in all kinds of occupations to eke out its
subsistence such as hunting, food gathering, shifting
cultivation, fishing, domestication of animals,
horticulture, and also some artisan work like production
of crafts and other items required by other communities
in rural areas. The complexity of economic subsistence
is indicated by the combination of activities that they
indulge in.
Also they may have linkages with other rural

communities and their economy. Thus, some of the tribes
practice settled agriculture, and are in touch with the
other communities. They supply honey, medicinal plants,
toys, baskets etc in exchange for grains, cereals, clothes,
etc. Thus they follow a basket of livelihoods that is
dependent upon the ecological cycle of the area they
inhabit.
The mode of production in tribal economy is traditional,
indigenous and culturally predominant. This needs to
be understood in its structural arrangements and
enforced rules for the acquisition and production of
material items and services in the context of their
cultural, social and natural living conditions. Further
there are no class divisions within the tribes as the
production relations are governed by the social
arrangements. They are culturally a social unit, with
being an enterpriser and worker as well as producer
and consumer, all at the same time. The system of
distribution is linked to the barter system or mutual
exchange.
Some of the elements of this economic system are

seen to be
a) Small economy- smallness of scale which is the
fundamental characteristic of tribal communities-
the resources, goods and service transactions take
place within a small geographical area and within
a community of persons numbered in hundreds or
thousands. Further one or two good crops are
considered staple and produced in bulk. Within the
small framework of the tribe and a relatively small
number of goods and services are produced and
acquired.
b) Use of simple technology compared to the
industrialized economies – may be made by the
producer himself or herself or acquired from others

for a small sum. This also means that large-scale
production processes are ruled out.
c) Geographical and cultural isolation- in that they
are self-contained and have very little transaction
with outside communities in a majority of tribal
communities.
d) The profit motive is usually absent, and the role of
an incentive is fulfilled by a sense of mutual
obligation, sharing and solidarity.
e) Cooperative and collective endeavors are emphasized
Interdependence of Tribes and Non-tribal

Communities
The functional relationship between tribes or within
tribes or tribal people and non-tribal of the tribal villages
or the region is characterized by interdependence quite
similar to the Jajmani system. Under the system each
caste group, within a village is expected to provide
certain standardized service to the people of other castes.
The head of the family who is served by an individual is
known as his Jajman while the man who performs the
service is known as the Kamin of Jajman. The Jajman
pays his Kamin in cash or kind on a daily monthly or
yearly basis.
For example in the Jaunsar Bawar there is a typical
interdependence seen in the agriculturalist, the artisan
and the community servant and the free professional of
the area. They help each other out. The Koltas till the
lands of the Brahmans and Rajputs (khasas) for years
together on some annual or periodical agreements and
on payment. The Bohars make iron implements for
agriculturists. The drummer Bajgis or Dhakis are an
indispensable artisan community in Jaunser- Bawar.
Their services are required in the temple on communal
and ceremonial occasions.
The Economic Institution of Dhangar

This institution facilitates the agriculturalist activity.
One gets the agricultural labour ryotwaris for cultivating
one’s own vast land. The person who is employed by a
big landowner is commonly known as Dhangar in tribal
Bihar. Dhangar is a most familiar word for the tribes
like the Oraon, Minda and HO.
In tribal Bihar the big landowners keep agricultural
labour land the year round. A labourer is engaged the
month of magh on annual basis. Apart from annual
payment in cash or in kind he is provided with food and
a roof. From the day he is engaged he becomes a family
member of the employer and gets the same social
privileges. There is no difference in status between the
employer and his Dhangar or agricultural labourer. He
can even marry the land owner’s daughter or sister if
he belongs to a different clan. Generally the Dhangars
are drawn from the same village.
Thus Tribals practice a mixed economy. The economic
system of any Indian tribe cannot be exclusively placed
in a particular typology in its strict sense. The fact that
a tribe uses all available means to eke out its subsistence
and combines minor forest produce collection with
cultivation or shifting cultivation, simple cultivation with
food collection indicates the complex economy of these
people.
Denotified and Nomadic Tribes

De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes and
Banjara communities constitute the most vulnerable
and disadvantaged sections of the Indian society. Some
of these communities were identified as ‘Criminal Tribes’
(which included both castes as well as tribes) in pre-
independent India. Although the Criminal Tribes Act,
1871 was repealed soon after Independence, persons

belonging to these communities are still viewed by society
as habitually criminals.
The terms ‘de-notified’ and ‘nomadic’ do not belong to
the same typology as the former term is legal and the
latter ecological. The communities which were notified
as criminal during the British rule and which were de-
notified after independence are called de-notified tribes.
However, as some of the de-notified communities were
nomadic and vice versa, they are usually considered
together.
As they are constantly on the move, they do not have
any domicile. Though many of them have now begun to
settle down, traditionally they did not possess land rights
or house titles. As a result, they are deprived not only
of welfare programmes, but also of citizenry rights. They
were not considered untouchables but occupied
lowermost positions in the social hierarchy.
The Denotified and Nomadic tribes make up about 60
million of India’s population. There are 313 Nomadic
Tribes and 198 Denotified Tribes.
Denotified tribes or Ex-Criminal Tribes are the tribes
that were originally listed under the Criminal Tribes
Act in 1871, as “addicted to the systematic commission
of non-bailable offences.” Once a tribe became “notified”
as criminal, all its members were required to register
with the local magistrate, failing which they would be
charged with a crime under the Indian Penal Code. The
British authorities listed them separately by creating a
category of criminal castes or tribes. By this act, the
government wanted to certify that communities have
criminal tendencies, which are inculcated from birth
onwards, and second, once a criminal, he or she is a
criminal always.
The grouping of all such tribes in various parts of the

country as one is questionable, as it ignores the fact
that they differ from each other in their codes of
conduct, modes of signs which they use to convey
information to the people. They are considered as caste
groups that have failed to adjust themselves to new
conditions and have fallen into anti-social activities.
The lack of free social intercourse denies these criminally
habituated people an opportunity to reclaim themselves.
Further their socialization and continued isolation is
reinforced by the social security within their
communities. The problems of segregation was
manifested in their being isolated and not having social
interaction with the mainstream society – hence denial
of the normal processes of social change, secondly they
were suffering from fear psychosis- fear of police reprisal
etc. raids by police etc. This led them to suspect everyone.
Mutual distrust was the order of the day. Thirdly their
family life suffered as they were jailed frequently and
were away from their families. This also led them to
experience deprivation of love and affection that are
due to human beings and violation of their rights as
human beings.
The Criminal Tribes Act of 1952 repealed the notification,
i.e. ‘de-notified’ - the tribal communities. This act was
however replaced by a series of Habitual Offenders Acts
that asked police to investigate a suspect’s criminal
tendencies and whether his occupation is “conducive to
settled way of life.” The denotified tribes were reclassified
as habitual offenders in 1959.
In order to acquire a comprehensive picture of the
situation of these communities and to suggest action
for their socio-economic development, a National
Commission for De-notified Tribes, Nomadic Tribes and
Semi-Nomadic Tribes was set up in 2005 whose report
was submitted recently to the Prime Minister. In the

Eleventh Plan, special attention is to be accorded to the
well-being of these groups as per the recommendations
of the Commission.
Despite these there are still some old issues plaguing
these communities. Some of these are:
a) Classification and enumeration of denotified and
nomadic tribes, thereby providing constitutional
safeguards and covering them under the Prevention
of Atrocities Act (1989).
b) Strict scrutiny of the caste certificates of DNTs and
penalization of bogus DNTs.
c) Sensitization of the police force by information
dissemination and in-service training, and setting
up of special cells (in collaboration with NGOs) for
legal aid and counseling, especially for women.
d) Free and compulsory education to genuine DNT
children till at least they are up to higher secondary
level.
Current Issues Facing Tribal Communities

Tribals are at the bottom of social and political ladder
in India. In Post-independent India, the requirements
of planned development brought with them the spectre
of dams, mines, industries and roads on tribal lands.
The major issues facing them are
Land Alienation
They were alienated from their land from colonial times.
Their lands were taken away in the name of development,
or by money lenders for loan recovery. Also reserving
forests in the name of conservation also meant that
tribals were kept away from their habitats and livelihood
base. The expansion of railways in India heavily
devastated the forest resources in India. In Andhra

Pradesh, for instance, the non-tribals own half of the
tribal land. In Orissa 54% of land of tribals is lost to
non-tribals through indebtedness, mortgage and forcible
occupation.
The land alienation often is a result of ignorance of
tribals in getting their land recorded properly, negligence
of officials involved and sometimes sheer corruption in
evicting the tribals from their lands. The mining industry
in Goa undermined the tribal rights to cultivate by
getting these lands on lease. Also polluting both land
and soil and the rivers make it impossible for tribals to
continue their subsistence livelihoods.
Poverty Among Tribals

Majority of tribes live under poverty line. Currently, the
tribal communities live in the most food insecure areas.
Tribals and Indebtedness

Tribals are heavily indebted to the local money lenders
because of their poverty.
Loss of access to Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP)s
deforestation, preference for man-made plantations in
place of mixed forests, regulatory framework, diversion
of NTFPs and forests to industries, nationalization of
NTFPs, and exploitation by government agencies and
contractors in marketing of NTFPs, has meant loss of
livelihood base for the tribal communities.
Displacement
Tribals are displaced from their livelihoods due to
projects like large irrigation dams, hydroelectric projects,
open cast and underground coal mines, super thermal
power plants and mineral-based industrial units. In the
name of development, tribals are displaced from their
traditional habitats and livelihoods with little or no

rehabilitation, and are rendered destitute and poor. In
these large development projects, tribals lose their land
not only to the project authorities, but even to non-
tribal outsiders who converge into these areas and corner
both the land and the new economic opportunities in
commerce and petty industry.
Shifting Cultivation
Tribal communities practice shifting cultivation, a
customary practice they have been engaged in through
generations. This is becoming difficult with less and
less forest land bring available to the communities.
Poor Quality of Governance

There is poor quality of governance that afflicts the
tribal areas. Programme delivery has deteriorated
everywhere in India, but more so in tribal areas. There
is often a transfer of posts from tribal regions to non-
tribal regions.
Cultural Problems
Due to contact with other cultures, the tribal culture is
undergoing a revolutionary change. This has meant a
degeneration of tribal life and tribal arts such as dance,
music and different types of craft, and have also raised
questions of preserving cultural identity.
Lack of Sensitivity in Dealing with Upsurge of Tribal

Anger against the Exploitative System
The dwindling resource base of the tribal people in the
shape of loss of land, restriction on access to forest
produce and lack of opportunities for reasonable wage
employment and money lending have caused hardships
to tribal people. Significantly, development processes
have interfered in many cases with traditional tribal

institutional structure and ethos and have produced
negative results. The development process in many
tribal areas, instead of providing succor, has been
instrumental in causing numerous disadvantages,
prominent among them being displacement and loss of
land, the tribal’s main resource base. Notwithstanding
the fact that the State Governments have enacted laws/
regulations to control/prohibit transfer of land to non-
tribals, land alienation still continues.
The various state policies and development interventions
have left the tribal communities alienated from their
natural resource base and pauperized them due to loss
of land.
Education
Educationally the tribal population is at different levels
of development but overall the formal education has
made very little impact on tribal groups.
Conclusion
We have seen that tribal communities are special groups
of people who have distinct way of life depending on
their relationship with nature, with distinct habitat
social and economic life. No tribes are similar. In addition
to these features we have also seen some specific
features pertaining to the denotified and nomadic tribes.
These tribes have been falsely and unjustly categorized
as criminal tribes by the British administration. Hence
they have been subject to lot of hardship through
segregation with the help of criminal tribes act. After
independence this law was repealed and there have been
numerous efforts at their rehabilitation.
We have also seen that these special features make
them vulnerable to the changing demands of modern
day living. Their habitats and their life are not as free
as they used to be. Their living is mediated by the forces
external to their communities. Their natural livelihood
base can be taken away and they can easily become
destitute. Centuries of exploitation of natural resources
has shaken their ecological base.
References
B.B. Kumar(1998) The tribal societies of India Omsons
Publications New Delhi.
L.P Vidyarthi and Binay Kumar Rai (1976) The Tribal
Culture of India Concept Publishing company New
Delhi.
Buddadeb Chaudhuri (Ed) 1992) Tribal Transformation
in India Vol. III Inter-India Publications New Delhi.
Chacko, Pariyaram M. (ed 2005.)Tribal communities and
Social Change, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
5
Community Development
Programmes and Accountability
*A. Malathi
Introduction
This chapter of community development programmes
and accountability are built on the earlier understanding
of what communities are, and how are they located, in
the social and economic contexts. They also gave us
some idea of the issues facing these communities. There
are various ways in which these issues are addressed.
Community development programmes whether initiated
by Government or non-government agencies seek to
address the issues and concerns of the communities.
The concept of community development programmes
focuses on the interventions for community development
to be people centered and people led, that seek to change
for better, the conditions of living of these communities.
Questions such as what is better for the community,
who decides on these, who implements the programmes
what are the ways in which the programmes are
monitored or implemented, who takes decisions
regarding funding and allocations, who is accountable
to whom, form the central focus of community
development programmes that determine the success
in reaching the goals of community development. Thus
community development programmes need to be
understood with dimensions of their context, creation
and culmination. The context factors relate to the

issues, problems, concerns of the community, the

background of the community and the strengths and
weaknesses of the community. The creation refers to
the specific programmes related to addressing the issues
and concerns of the community with what
intentions(values basis and goals), strategies and
mechanisms. The culmination would relate to the way
the programme reaches its goals and with clear
identification of people and processes that are
accountable. This trio of C’s is interrelated and very
important for community development programmes.
Community Development
Concept of Community and Development
Community development has two terms community and
development both of which need some understanding.
The concept of community has already been discussed
in chapter I. We reiterate some of its definitions as “A
relatively self-sufficient population, residing in a limited
geographic area, bound together by feelings of unity and
interdependency”.
“a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing
common characteristics or interests and perceiving itself
as distinct in some respect from the larger society within
which it exists, for example the business community;
the community of scholars”.
Communities refer to people bounded in specific
geographic areas and communities of interest. The past
three centuries have seen major changes in the notion
of community. We have moved from a predominantly
agricultural and rural society, to an urban industrialized
society, and now to a post-industrial society. In this
latter period of de-industrialization, there has been
erosion of community life and a decline in civil society
Community Development Programmes and Accountability 83
organizations. These have meant a slow degeneration

of traditional family networks, heightened inequality
between groups of people as well as growth of institutions
to meet the needs of the people, which were hitherto
met by the community itself.
Development as a concept would imply that there is
progress or change for the better in such a way to
enhance the security, freedom, dignity, self-reliance and
self-development of groups of people. This would involve
twin concepts of social as well as economic development.
Concept of Community Development

Community development may be defined as a process
by which the efforts of the people themselves are
combined with those of governmental authorities, to
improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of
communities to integrate these communities into the
life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully
to national progress.
Community development is a collaborative, facilitative
process undertaken by people (community, institutions,
or academic stakeholders) who share a common purpose
of building capacity to have a positive impact on quality
of life.
Community Development is the process of developing
active and sustainable communities based on social
justice and mutual respect. It is about influencing power
structures to remove the barriers that prevent people
from participating in the issues that affect their lives.
Community workers facilitate the participation of people
in this process. They enable connections to be made
between communities and with the development of wider
policies and programmes. Community Development
expresses values of fairness, equality, accountability,
opportunity, choice, participation, mutuality, reciprocity
and continuous learning. Educating, enabling and

empowering are at the core of Community Development.
Community Development is about building active and
sustainable communities based on social justice and
mutual respect. It is about changing power structures
to remove the barriers that prevent people from
participating in the issues that affect their lives.
Community Development Workers support individuals,
groups and organizations in this process on the basis of
certain values and commitments.
Community development works for strengthening of face
to face communities to meet the psychological needs of
belonging, practical needs of mutual care, and the
political need for participation and campaigning for
rights and resources.
Approaches Used in Community Development

The various approaches used in community development
are:
● using an asset-based approach that builds on
strengths and existing resources;
● encouraging inclusive processes that embrace
community diversity; and
● community ownership through collaboratively
planned and led initiatives.
Aims of Community Development are:
● creating equitable conditions and outcomes for
health and wellbeing;
● improving the health and prosperity of the
community as a whole;
● fostering sustainable community initiatives;
● fostering sustainable self-sufficiency for the people
involved;
● increasing personal worth, dignity, and value; and

● building awareness of and resolving issues in the
community.
Community Development Values

Community development has certain inherent values.
These can be termed as:
Social Justice - enabling people to claim their human
rights, meet their needs and have greater control over
the decision-making processes, which affect their lives.
Participation - facilitating democratic involvement by
people in the issues, which affect their lives, based on
full citizenship, autonomy, and shared power, skills,
knowledge and experience.
Equality - challenging the attitudes of individuals, and
the practices of institutions and society, which
discriminate against and marginalize people.
Learning - recognizing the skills, knowledge and
expertise that people contribute and develop by taking
action to tackle social, economic, political and
environmental problems.
Co-operation - working together to identify and
implement action, based on mutual respect of diverse
cultures and contributions.
Assumptions in Community Development

There are certain implicit assumptions in community
development. These are:
● Individuals, groups and local institutions within
community areas share common interests that bind
them together.
● This commonness also propels them to work
together.
● The interests of the various groups are not

conflicting.
● The state is a supra body that is impartial in the
allocation of resources and that through its policies
it does not further inequalities.
● People’s initiatives are possible in the communities
because of their common interests.
Community development workers are committed to:
● Challenge the discrimination and oppressive
practices within organizations, institutions and
communities.
● Develop practice and policy that protects the
environment.
● Encourage networking and connections between
communities and organizations.
● Ensure access and choice for all groups and
individuals within society.
● Influence policy and programmes from the
perspective of communities.
● Prioritize the issues of concern to people experiencing
poverty and social exclusion.
● Promote social change that is long-term and
sustainable.
● Reverse inequality and the imbalance of power
relationships in society.
● Support community led collective action.
Distinction Between Community Development and

Community Work
Community development is best used to refer to a
process, or a way of doing something, which entails the
mobilization, participation and involvement of local
people on common issues important to them.
Community work, on the other hand, is often used as

a general term and refers to initiatives or activities that
are delivered at a local level that may not actively involve
members of the community as participants but merely
as users of services.
Within India, we might say all forms of community
practice go together- that is provision of basic services,
campaigning for the rights of people and fostering
community based approaches for self-development and
increasing their stake in the developmental processes.
There is an increasing use of professional approaches,
techniques and strategies to build the capacities of
communities to undertake community development
programmes which aim to bring in self-reliance, freedom
and dignity.
Community Development Programmes

and Accountability
Community development programmes base themselves
on the involvement of people in formulating and
executing programmes. It also means the development
and use of large number of local institutions and
voluntary groups local and voluntary groups, use of group
work techniques and the development of local leadership,
development of administration which is development
oriented rather than bureaucratic in approach.
Local self-help village groups are promoted and actively
involved in the development of the village, Mohalla,
hamlet, in mobilizing natural and human resources for
making improvements in various aspects of life with
the active involvement of government and non-
government agencies.
Thus community development programmes aim at
achieving certain goals such as collectively working to
bring about social change and justice, by working with

communities to:
● identify their needs, opportunities, rights and
responsibilities:
● plan, organise and take action;
● evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the action
● and to do all these in ways which challenge
oppression and tackle inequalities.
Accountability in Community Development

Programmes
In all community development programmes the key lies
in the implementation of the programmes for reaching
the goals in such a way that the accountability issues
are taken care of. Any community development
programme has to have inbuilt components of
monitoring and evaluation and transparent
accountability procedures. The concept of accountability
needs to be understood before we proceed any further.
Concept of Accountability
The concept of accountability includes two elements:
‘answerability’ of those who hold power to citizens and
‘enforceability’ of penalties in the event of failure to do
so (Goetz and Jenkins 2001)
Accountability is seen as political and managerial
accountability the former referring to accountability of
decisions(social) the latter referring to accountability
in carrying out tasks of according to agreed performance
criteria (input, output, financial etc) In another case,
some authors speak of political accountability,
community accountability and bureaucratic
accountability.
Questions such as accountability of who to whom, when

and on what issues, purposes of accountability and how
it is to be operationalized are key to put in place a proper
accountability mechanism.
Accountability mechanisms could include citizen
participation in public policy making, participatory
budgeting, public expenditure tracking, citizen
monitoring of public service delivery, citizen advisory
boards, and lobbying and advocacy campaigns.
Accountability requires that one group or individual
provides a professional or financial account (or
justification) of it activities to another stakeholding group
or individual. It presupposes that an organisation or
institution has a clear policy on who is accountable to
whom and for what. It involves the expectation that the
group held accountable, will be willing to accept advice
or criticism and to modify its practices in the light of
that advice and criticism.
Characteristics and Principles of Accountability

● Accountability is personal: authority can only be
delegated to one person.
● Accountability is vertical: from top to bottom,
responsibilities and authority is delegated from
supervisor to subordinate (supervisor holds
subordinate accountable).
● Accountability is neutral: It is neither a positive
nor a negative concept Excellent results are
recognized, but failure may involve sanctions,
including the withdrawal or modifications of
working systems.
The Four Principles of Accountability

a) Specify responsibility and authority
b) Provide guidance and support
c) Objective comparison of results against targets and

standard
d) Take appropriate action
History of Community Development

Programmes
Community development efforts have a long history
dating back to pre-independence times. There were
programmes like the Sevagram and Sarvodaya rural
development experiments of Bombay State, Firca
Development Schemes of Madras State, Pilot projects of
Etawah and Gorakhpur. These efforts were because of
a desire for new techniques, new incentives and
confidence to undertake development work. Some of
these programmes involved rural reconstruction
experiments that had the thinking and backing of
nationalist thinkers and social reformers.
Community Development Programmes

in Rural, Tribal and Urban Areas
There are a number of community development
programmes launched by the government as well as
voluntary organizations. Basic to all these programmes
is people’s participation and development. We now look
at some of such programmes in rural, urban and tribal
areas. These are only indicative and attempt to give an
insight into the design and functional aspects.
Rural Community Development Programmes

Community Development Programme drew its
inspiration and strategy from erstwhile projects of rural
development in the 1920s and just before Indian
Independence, as well as the international influences
on community development project that developed both
in the Great Britain and in America.
The first major rural development programme launched

after independence in October 1952 in 55 development
blocks was with the following main objectives.
a) To secure total development of the material and the
human resources in rural areas.
b) To develop local leadership and self-governing
institutions.
c) To raise the living standards of the rural people by
means of rapid increase in food and agricultural
produce.
d) To ensure a change in the mind-set of people
instilling in them a mission of higher standards.
These objectives were to be realized through a rapid
increase in food and agricultural production by
strengthening programmes of resource development,
such as minor irrigation and soil conservation, by
improving the effectiveness of farm inputs supply
systems, and by providing agricultural extension
services to farmers. It had a wide range of programmes
for developing agriculture animal husbandry, rural
industries, education, health, housing, training,
supplementary employment, social welfare and rural
communication.
A project area was divided into three development blocks,
each comprising about 100 villages and a population of
about 65,000 people. In areas where a full project was
not considered feasible one or two development blocks
were started to begin with. Subsequently CDP became
a national programme that covered all the rural areas
of the country.
Organization
The organizational structure was specifically created to
undertake community development projects. The
organizational structure was located at the central,

state, district and block levels.
In September 1956, a new ministry of community
development was created. Then the ministry of
Agriculture and Rural development was in overall charge
of the programme of the country. Currently the entire
centrally sponsored programmes are part of the Ministry
of Rural Development. From a centrally sponsored
programme it became a state-sponsored one in 1969.
Evaluation
The community development programme was evaluated
by a committee headed by Balwantray Mehta which gave
its recommendation for a three-tier system of local
governments that are popularly known as Panchayati
Raj. At the grassroots or village level were to be formed
at the village Panchayats at the middle or block level
were to be Panchayat Samitis and at the apex or district
level Zilla Parishads were to be formed. It recommended
administrative decentralization with control vested in
elected bodies.
The three- tier structure of Panchayat Raj institutions
was brought into existence in January 1958. These
objectives were later incorporated in the 73rd amendment
of the constitution of India ensuring democratic
decentralization through Panchayati Raj system.
Criticisms of CDP
● It has not been a people’s programme
● It has followed a blueprint approach to rural
development
● It has employed a large army of untrained extension
workers who lacked coordination
● There was lack of functional responsibility at the

block level that led to a good deal of confusion and
interdepartmental jealousy
From a community development approach there was a
shift towards specific programmes that focused on which
agricultural development strategies (in the new
agricultural strategy) - focusing on specific areas. This
changed the nature of community involvement in the
programme. A target approach was adopted – the
identification, training and development of these became
the responsibility of development officials and the
research scientists with emphasis on scientific,
technical and managerial aspects in the intensive
agricultural development strategy.
Other Programmes and the Community Component

A change in these programmes came about with the
advent of the Integrated Rural Development Programme
that had conceived of rural development as that of
targeting specific groups with a focus on asset creation
or wage employment. Later on in the Integrated Rural
development programme launched in the sixth plan,
the asset creation has taken a cluster-oriented approach
that emphasized on the creation of groups for
participation and management. Group approaches
became the focus in all programmes of rural development
dealing with the forestry (joint forest management)
watershed, National Rural Health Mission or Elementary
Education other poverty alleviation programmes as well
as the mid-day meal scheme (mother’s committees to
be formed). Participatory management was emphasized
with a mandatory requirement of neighbourhood groups
in the above programmes. The DWCRA (Development of
Women and Children in Rural Areas) has been
instrumental in popularizing the self-help group concept
and its has now become a widespread phenomenon for
community action and development, in both government

initiated and voluntary agency initiated programmes.
In certain states the nature and extent of community
participation has been significant in bringing about the
needed change. Community ownership of programmes
has become the official refrain with emphasis given to
the Panchayats as vehicles for implementation of the
government programme. Though in many cases the
Panchayats really do not have enough funds at their
disposal, or allocations reach them late in the financial
year. Here there is always a danger that local caste and
class biases may seep in and maintain the status quo.
The later government programmes of Swarnajayanti
Gram Swarojgar Yojana(SGSY), in which the focus was
on establishing a large number of micro-enterprises in
rural areas. This was based on the ability of the poor
and potential of each area, both land-based and
otherwise, for sustainable income generation. This
programme used the concept of groups that could be
utilized for building community led initiatives.
The Self-help groups (SHGs) formed under SGSY may
consist of 10-20 members and in case of minor irrigation,
and in case of disabled persons and difficult areas, i.e.,
hilly, desert and sparsely populated areas, this number
may be a minimum of five. Self Help Groups should
also be drawn from the BPL list approved by the Gram
Sabha. The SHGs broadly go through three stages of
evolution such as group formation, capital formation
through the revolving fund and skill development and
taking up of economic activity for income generation.
Despite the Group approach there are limitations with
respect to making these programmes a truly community
driven development programmes. There are various other
programmes for village and small-scale enterprises,
including some special schemes for scheduled castes
and tribes for promotion of self-employment in rural

areas which relies mainly on formation of self-help
groups to empower rural communities and enable them
to take up economic activities.
Wage employment programmes like the Sampoorna
Grameen Rojgar Yojana, and the recently launched
National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme has
enabled 100 days of employment, do not have the
provision of community building by themselves or the
formation of groups. However because of NGO or activist
involvement these programmes are also taking the shape
of movements for community action and development –
demanding their rightful share in the employment
schemes promoted by the government.
Tribal Community Development Programmes

The tribal communities received some help through
Special Multipurpose Tribal Development Projects
(MTDPs) created towards the end of 1954. These MTDPs
could not serve the interests of the tribal people since
the number of schemes were numerous. Later the
Community Development Blocks where the
concentration of tribal population was 66% and above
were converted into Tribal Development Blocks (TDBs).
Due to failure of this to address tribal communities
needs, Tribal Sub-Plan Strategy (TSP) was evolved for
rapid socio-economic development of tribal people, and
is continuing even now with the following objectives:
1. Over all socio-economic development of tribals and
to raise them above poverty level.
2. Protection of tribals from various forms of
exploitation.
The Scheme/programme and projects under TSP are
implemented through Integrated Tribals Development
Projects (ITDPs) which were set up in Block(s) or groups
of Blocks where ST population is more than 50% of the

total population.
The Government of India formed a Ministry of Tribal
Affairs in October 1999 to accelerate tribal development.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs came out with a draft
National Policy on Tribals in 2004. The draft policy
recognizes that a majority of Scheduled Tribes continues
to live below the poverty line, have poor literacy rates,
suffer from malnutrition and disease and is vulnerable
to displacement. It also acknowledges that Scheduled
T ribes in general are repositories of indigenous
knowledge and wisdom in certain aspects. The National
Policy aims at addressing each of these problems in a
concrete way.
There are many tribal community development
initiatives from the NGO sector that worked closely on
the issues of tribal communities, specially their capacity
building and sustainable development.
Many of the initiatives concerned with tribal
development have adopted participatory approaches
made to ensure the successful completion of the project
goals. There are many tribal community development
initiatives from the NGO sector that worked closely on
the issues of tribal communities, specially their capacity
building and sustainable development.
During the last 10 to 15 years, with increasing
recognition of the importance of people’s participation
for increasing the effectiveness of development
interventions, an extensive array of ‘people’s’ institutions
have been created in the villages for the implementation
of sectoral programmes. These include joint forest
management (JFM) committees being set up by the
Forest Department, education committees by the
Education Department, watershed associations and
committees by the DRDA, water and health committees
by the Public Health Department, water users

association by the Irrigation Department, and Mahila
Mandals (women’s associations) by the Women and Child
Department.
One of the most successful one is the Andhra Pradesh
Tribal Development Project.
The APTDP established a variety of local-level
institutions, including SHGs, cluster-level associations
of SHGs, user groups/village development committees
(such as for education, health, irrigation, soil
conservation and grain banks) and a nodal institution
in the form of VTDAs. The latter were conceived on the
one hand as the forum for the expression of community
priorities and concerns and on the other hand as a
means of delivering projects and programmes to the
communities. The leaders and members of VTDAs were
chosen by the communities as their representatives,
and generally this selection required the approval of
the traditional councils of elders, so that the relationship
between the new and the old did exist, albeit on an
informal basis.
In addition, one novel concept introduced was the
formation of community coordination teams consisting
of groups of dedicated young professionals who lived in
tribal villages to assist in social mobilization, awareness-
building and the identification of needs and priorities
around which development interventions could be built.
Overall, the project has created space during
implementation for a multi-stakeholder approach with
a specific focus on tribal people. The project saw tribal
people as partners in the improvement of their own
natural resource base and means of livelihood with
programme management that is initiated, executed and
monitored by the community. The creation of thrift and
credit groups has increased their habit of savings. The
programmes focused on various aspects like, education,

health, income generation activities, agricultural
development, self-help groups etc.
Urban Community Development Programmes

Urban community development programmes can also
be promoted by government or by voluntary organizations
or member organizations. Such community initiatives
have been reported in the work of urban sanitation,
urban housing and urban health. All of this requires
an external element of support or initiative coming from
a few individuals or groups. Case studies presented
below are only indicative to the extent to which
community groups can actively work towards claiming
citizenship and their fundamental right for a decent
living. Organizations world wide like the Slum and Shack
dwellers International and their partners in various
countries have made a world of difference in housing
and sanitation issues. Organizations like the slum
Jagathu of Bangalore have also played an important
role in raising community consciousness and invoking
moral responsibility among those who govern including
bureaucracy and legislature.
Some of the successful community development
programmes in urban areas are presented below.
Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)

This scheme launched in 1997, has two components of
the Urban Self-Employment Programme (USEP) and the
Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP) These were
substituted for various programmes operating earlier
for urban poverty alleviation. Like its rural counterpart
this scheme also builds on the group approach at dealing
with self-employment issues
Kudumbashree Programme
Kudumbashree is a government programme for poverty
alleviation of women experimented first in an urban
setting in Alappuzha, which was later scaled up to
selected Panchayats. In this scheme women
representatives of all the neighbourhoods in a ward are
grouped into an area development society(ADS) chaired
by the Panchayat member. The ADS of all the wards in
a Panchayat are federated into a Panchayat level
Development committee chaired by the Panchayat
president. In other words, this is a programme for poverty
alleviation that seeks to bring all poor women organized
for micro-credit under the governmental umbrella. It
has its basic in the neighbourhood groups approach.
This was launched in Alappuza Municipality in 1993
for poverty eradication with a difference. The mission
was to eradicate poverty through concerted community
action under the leadership of local governments, by
facilitating organization of the poor for combining self-
help with demand led convergence of available services
and resources to tackle the multiple dimensions and
manifestations of poverty, holistically. The basic unit
was the neighbourhood group federated as Area
development societies (ADS) at the ward level and these
were federated to form the community development
society(CDS) at the town level. Various developmental
programmes like water supply training for women to
start income generating units managerial training or
the elected members of the ADS and CDS, health and
education camps, construction of dual pit latrines. This
community based organizations of Alappuzha
Municipality contributed to the success of the
participatory approach for poverty eradication. The
neighbourhood groups of 20-40 women members
belonging to risk families of the neighbourhood
concerned elected one woman as their leader and she
was designated as RCV( resident community volunteer).

Another women was elected as the president of the NHG.
Three other women were elected as community
volunteers and those volunteers have specific
responsibilities and tasks, focusing on community
health, infrastructure and income generation activities.
The committee of the NHG comprised of these five elected
women. NHGs generate the micro plans which are
incorporated in an ADS under mini plan, which was
consolidated into a town plan by the CDS which is
registered society under the Travencore-Cochin Literary,
Scientific and Charitable societies Act of 1955.
The Kudumbahshree project because of its in-built
participatory character has achieved tremendous
success. This has resulted in the government of Kerala
extending the CDS system to all the 57 towns in Kerala
through a government order giving legitimacy to the
entire project helping the poor women.
The case study of SPARC and its work with cooperatives
of women pavement and slum dwellers (Mahila Milan)
and the National Slum Dwellers Federation, shows a
great range of activities involving hundreds of thousands
of urban poor which have received little foreign funding.
The NGO SPARC, was earlier working with pavement
dwellers in Mumbai by providing them with a space to
meet and discuss their problems. This led to the
formation of women’s groups for savings and credit and
the establishment of Mahila Milan, a women pavement
dweller’s organization. Mahila Milan took up the
challenge of making themselves visible, developing ways
to deal with such common crises like eviction, police
harassment, and obtaining water and ration cards.
Various groups’ experiences were collectively and
continuously analyzed to develop the organization’s
strength and bargaining power with the authorities.
Then an alliance was stuck between National Slum

Dwellers Federation (NSFD), a loose coalition of local
federations active in many cities and Mahila Milan. The
Alliance began to develop an educational and
organizational strategy for community learning, with
pilot projects. The learning was expanded through
continuous exchanges between low-income settlements;
this has been at the centre of its work ever since.
The alliance began to explore the building of secure
houses (in terms of tenure). This it did through a series
of activities that involved upgrading member’s knowledge
and confidence in building and undertaking such tasks.
“Shack-counting”, through community-initiated and
managed surveys and maps, helped communities to
identify their problems and develop their priorities. This
also produced a visual representation of their situation,
which helped the development of physical improvements
and helped in the negotiations with external agencies.
Community members learnt how to develop their own
homes - how to get land, to build, to keep costs down, to
manage professionals, to develop new materials, to
install infrastructure and to negotiate with government
agencies. They developed designs through collective
house-modeling, which usually included developing full-
scale models which are discussed through community
exchanges. This has resulted in the construction of over
3,500 houses built with permanent collective tenure,
and 5,000 borrowers.
Conclusion
We have discussed the concept of community
development as a process facilitated by external
agencies, with people and their development as a central
focus. In community development the social worker is
concerned with issues of social justice, equity, self-
reliance and participation. The leadership of community

is encouraged.
We have explored the concept of accountability to mean
answerability to the people, the donor agencies,
government bodies and NGO partners. There is a need
for proper accountability systems so that responsibility
is clearly mentioned and people held accountable to
their work. Community participation is a key to
accountability.
We have explored the various community development
programmes within the rural, tribal and urban areas
in some detail. There are initiatives that are both people
led and government and NGO inspired. There is a need
for convergence of all these programmes especially those
for poverty alleviation that are truly participatory and
community monitored and implemented. We can learn
from the success of the initiatives and transfer these to
various other programmes.
References
Butcher H., Glen A; Henderson P; and Smith J: (1993)
Community and Public Policy, London, Pluto Press
Jim Ife (1995 )Community Development Wesley Longman
Sydney
Mizrahi Terry and Davis Larry E (2008) Encyclopedia of
Social Work Vol I NASW Press & Oxford University Press
New York.
Marie Weil (2004) The Handbook of Community Practice
Sage Publications London.
Uphoff Normon and Krishna Anirudh & Esman J.
(eds).(1998) Reasons for Hope: Instructive Experiences in
Rural Development Sage Publications New Delhi,
Singh Kartar (1999) Rural Development in India Sage

Publications
A.R. Desai (2005) Rural India in Transition, 2nd ed Popular
Prakashan Mumbai
History and concept of Kudumbashree programme
www.kudumbashree.org accessed on 26th October 2008.

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1

Concepts of Community and

* Dr. A. Malathi, University of Delhi, New Delhi

1. Social group of any size whose members reside in a

In addition to these there is also a concept of Virtual

socio-technical change may have resulted from the

Community Construct: Sociological Insights

not what they have done. People are recognized and

b) community based on shared interest or identity or

Community as Bounded by Geographical Space

as that of artists, professional associations such as the

Community Construct: Social Work Perspective

can be thought of as a series of lenses that focus on

Five major functions are said to be associated with the

Thus important territorial boundaries are not only

immediately visible and also suggest the type of

power structures, the way decisions are made to favour

aims of the group concerned. This sense of belonging

Place of Community Work Within Social

In America for example, the settlement movement was

b) Increasing knowledge and understanding of the

industrial countries have seen the post world war II

Social Action as Part of Community Work

Community Development Approaches

problems and dilemmas can be understood and creative

For this geographical communities represent preferred

* Dr. A. Malathi, University of Delhi, New Delhi

Meaning of Urban Community

in a village. Such relationships are also considered

it meets the following criteria- 1) all places having a

ii) two or more adjoining towns with or without their

Historical Development of Urban Areas

neocolonial cities generally are destined for export rather

Urbanisation and Spread of Urban Com-

and programmes that promote urban activity and urban

Spread of Urban Communities

of the population the 2001 census of India has grouped

Characteristics of Urban Communities

unstable. More than the family individual is given

Caste and Class in Urban India

Families in Urban Areas

the result any changes in the global economy affect it

Inter Relations between the Social and Economic

for the local economy are influenced by the local

rights through the operation of law and poorer groups

Specific Urban Communities

significant in themselves. They are based on the principle

Slums have grown because of the poverty of rural areas.

UN-HABITAT definition denotes a slum as ‘a wide range

Characteristic Features of the Slums

displaced from the city itself or retrenched from their

the informal economic activity in urban areas gets

Jack Malcolm 2006 Urbanisation, Sustainable Growth

* Dr. A. Malathi, University of Delhi, New Delhi

These and the institutional presence and its access also

Meaning of Rural Community

more hamlets. The entire revenue village is one unit.

Rural Urban Continuum

in social stratification and in the systems of social