colonial period and

post – colonial period.

A. Colonial period

 Encroachment of feudalism on tribal life: It led to emergence of a new class structure set in with three-fold division, replacing the earlier social formation of the tribe based on a clannish system of land tenure.

 New land settlement system: The colonial system curtailed the traditional land rights of tribals, like shifting cultivation to extract surplus from the tribal masses. It forced tribes to mingle with mainstream and become socially stratified.

B. Post-Colonial period

 Modernization: Education and expansion of public and corporate sectors, exposure of tribal areas to infrastructural and technological modernization, mass migration etc. are several factors that led to class-differentiation among tribes.

 Affirmative actions: Reservation in jobs and education has resulted in emergence of elite class within different tribes.

Impacts on tribal society

 Class differentiation has reaped inequalities within otherwise egalitarian tribal societies.

 With increased intermixing due to this new phenomenon, tribal society is increasingly afflicted by the ills of mainstream society. For example, declining sex ratios etc.