PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF GUTTI KOYAS: A CASE STUDY OF GUTTI KOYAS OF WEST GODAVARI DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

Scheduled Tribes are the most vulnerable, under-privileged, marginalized and socially excluded communities in India. Their exclusion from socio-economic and political aspects is furthermore severe than other marginalized social groups like Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Many Scheduled Tribal communities have forest dependent livelihoods like collecting forest produce and hunting. The areas where Scheduled Tribes are living are rich in mineral resources which attracts the development projects such as mining, national highways, nationalization of reserved forests and construction of large-scale dams. This forced them to migrate to plain areas subjecting them to vulnerability, exploitation and social exclusion. This paper deals with the social exclusion of Gutti Koya tribal community, migrated from Chhattisgarh and settled in West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. The paper discusses various problems and prospects of Gutti Koya tribal community by understanding their situation through anthropological approach. In this context, it is necessary to begin with the brief introduction of Gutti Koya community to provide a general idea as a background to this paper.