As per the famous isolation versus integration debate on tribal societies, the isolationists believe that :
(1) Tribals were backward Hindus
(2) Addressing their problems as similar to OBC
(3) Providing welfare schemes
(4) Protecting tribals from getting detribalised as landless labour
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Protecting tribals from getting detribalised as landless labour
Option (4) Protecting tribals from getting detribalised as landless labour — Correct. The isolationist side argued that tribals needed protection from traders, moneylenders and Hindu and Christian missionaries, all of whom were intent on reducing tribals to detribalised landless labour.
Note: The lines on the isolation versus integration debate of the 1940s, in the section ‘Mainstream Attitudes towards Tribes’ of the chapter ‘Social Institutions: Continuity and Change’, were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, the textbook of 2022. This portion has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its section on tribal communities are still there.
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Mainstream Attitudes towards Tribes … The famous isolation versus integration debate of the 1940s built upon this standard picture of tribal societies as isolated wholes. The isolationist side argued that tribals needed protection from traders, moneylenders and Hindu and Christian missionaries, all of whom were intent on reducing tribals to detribalised landless labour. The integrationists, on the other hand, argued that tribals were merely backward Hindus, and their problems had to be addressed within the same framework as that of other backward classes. This opposition dominated the Constituent Assembly debates, which were finally settled along the lines of a compromise which advocated welfare schemes that would enable controlled integration.…” |