6146 Constraints faced by the Tribal Youth in Vocational Preference S. Dhanush1 and P.P. Murugan2 ABSTRACT Tribes are considered as primitive people and they are cut-off from the social and political structures of development. The present study identified the constraints faced by the tribal youth in The Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu. Data were collected from the tribal youth through a structured interview schedule developed for the study. A majority of the tribal youth reported that insufficient credit facilities was the major constraint faced by them. Other major constraints faced by the tribal youth were lack of periodical training, land alienation and job insecurity. Keywords: Tribal youth; The Nilgiris district; Constraint; Tamil Nadu Research Note Journal of Extension Education Vol. 30 No. 3, 2018 DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2018.3.30.6146-6149 Received : 28-11-2018; Accepted : 24-12-2018 1-PG Scholar and 2-Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, AC&RI, Madurai The Tribal people live in specific areas having a unique culture and habitat. Tribes have territorial identity and each tribe occupies a common well-defined territory, which serves as their home land. The tribal people depend on forests with hunting and forest produce collection as main occupation and unaware of external world. Many of them are exploited by the outsiders and who live in a different way of life. In many cases women are not allowed to come out their cultural and traditional norms. India is a vast multicultural country with a large tribal population in the world. The total population of tribes in India is 104.3 million in which 93.8 million are in rural areas and 10.5 million are in urban areas as per the Census of India, 2011(www.tribal.nic.in). Tamil Nadu, one of the major states of India, consists of important tribal groups. According to the 2011 census, the tribe population in Tamil Nadu was 7,94,697 (4,01,068 males and 3,93,629 females) constituting 1.1 per cent of the total general population. The literacy rate of the tribes was 59 per cent. As per the 2011 census, 83.08 per cent of the tribals live in hilly / rural areas and 16.91 per cent of them live in urban areas. The tribal youth of Nilgiris face many problems in their life which reflect on the development of the individuals and also their society. The present study was an analysis of constraints faced among the tribal youth in Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu. METHODOLOGY The Nilgiris district was purposively selected because this is the only district wherein all the major tribal groups such as Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Irulas, Paniyas and Kattunayakans are present. Research Article Journal of Extension Education Vol. 30 No. 1, 2018 DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2018.1.30.5996-5999 6147 The Nilgiris district comprises four blocks. Tribals are scattered among these blocks viz., Udhagamandalam, Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur. Hence, saturated sampling procedure was followed to select all the four blocks for the study. From each block, 30 respondents were selected based on simple random sampling irrespective of different tribal groups. Thus, 120 respondents were selected for the study. The constraints faced by tribal youth in vocational preference were collected and percentage analysis was used to describe the results. The suggestions to overcome the constraints expressed by the tribal youth were also collected and percentage analysis was used to describe the results. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The tribal youth struggle a lot to lead their life due to various factors. Hence, it becomes necessary to study the problems faced by tribal youth. The problems faced by tribal youth were collected, analyzed and presented in Table.1 Table l. Constraints Faced by Tribal Youth in Vocational Preference (n=120*) Sl.No. Problems Number Percentage 1 Insufficient credit facilities 102 85.00 2 Lack of periodical training 91 75.83 3 Land alienation 84 70.00 4 Job insecurity 78 65.00 5 Non maintenance of values and tradition 71 59.16 6 Low price for their produce 63 52.50 7 Lack of employment opportunities 56 46.66 8 Lack of opportunities for income generation 48 40.00 9 Lack of awareness on health 27 22.50 (*Multiple responses obtained) It could be seen from Table 1, that majority of the tribal youth (85.00 per cent) expressed insufficient credit facilities as their primary problem as the tribal youth felt that the credit institutions were less in number and the credit provided was insufficient for sustaining in any sector. They also felt that there were problems in choosing the vocations they prefer due to poor credit facility. The other important problem expressed by them was lack of periodical training (75.83 per cent) because the tribal youth knew the importance of trainings and they needed trainings of different activities at regular intervals for choosing different vocations. Majority of the tribal youth (70.00 per cent) expressed land alienation as one of the major constraint. Tribal youth are forced to migrate to different places as the land was occupied by either government or private organizations. Constraints faced by the Tribal Youth in Vocational Preference 6148 Job insecurity was also one of the major constraint expressed by majority of the tribal youth (65.00 per cent) as they did not possess any high profile jobs and they also had the fear of losing their jobs. More than half of the tribal youth (59.16 per cent) expressed non maintenance of value and traditions because most of the tribal youth followed their ancestors’ profession and felt that they would lose their values and traditions if they prefer any other vocation. Another constraint reported was low price for their produce (52.50 per cent). This has forced them to change different professions due to lack of market for their produce. Nearly half of the tribal youth (46.66 per cent) felt lack of employment opportunities as a constraint because the tribal youth were not aware of the job opportunities and nearly one-fourth of the tribal youth (22.50 per cent) expressed lack of opportunities for income generation as a constraint in choosing any vocation, since they were not exposed to a wide variety of income generating activities. The suggestions offered by the tribal youth to overcome the problems faced are presented in Table 2. Table 2. Suggestions Offered by Tribal Youth to Overcome their Problems (n=120*) Sl.No Suggestions Number Percentage 1 Government should allot adequate amount of funds for various tribal development projects 78 65.00 2 NGO or government institutions for tribal youth to provide training in different aspects at regular intervals 82 68.33 3 Documentation of land in the owner name should be carried by the government to avoid land alienation 90 75.00 4 Permanent jobs in any sector to reduce job insecurity 78 65.00 5 Creation of skill based centers and reduce skilled training 83 69.17 6 Forest department may procure their produces directly at reasonable rates 92 76.67 7 Creating awareness, motivating tribal youth to participate in various development schemes that provides employment 98 81.66 8 Livelihood programmes should be designed for streamlining field activities to create opportunities for income generation 84 70.00 (*Multiple responses obtained) Journal of Extension Education 6149 It is evident from the table that majority of the tribal youth (81.66 per cent) suggested creating awareness among tribal youth to participate in various development schemes providing employment. Nearly two- fourths of the tribal youth (76.67 per cent) suggested that forest department may procure their produce directly at a reasonable rate. Majority of tribal youth (75.00 per cent) suggested documentation of land in the owner’s name should be carried by the government to avoid land alienation. Around 70.00 per cent of the tribal youth suggested that livelihood programmes should be designed for streamlining field activities to create opportunities for income generation. The study has shown that tribal youth were innovative and require sufficient funds for starting new ventures. Tribal youth were also aware of the importance of trainings which provide income to them. Therefore, the government should take necessary steps to provide sufficient credit facilities for starting any venture and should provide training at regular intervals. REFERENCES Magimairaj, D & Balamurugan, S. (2017). Socio economic status and issues of Toda tribes in Nilgiris district: A study, International Journal of Advanced Research and Development, 2(5). Natrajan, S & Palaniswamy, S. (2015). Pattern of decision making of Irula Tribal Farm woman in Nilgiris District, Journal of Extension Education, 27(4) Selva Kumar, D.S & Siva Kumar, S. (2014). A Study of Current Socio-Economic Conditions of the Tribal Communities in Nilgiris District, Tamilnadu, Asian Journal of Business and Management, 2(6). Constraints faced by the Tribal Youth in Vocational Preference