Not many takers for survey in tribal haadis

Lack of motivation to work in tribal areas amongst the youngsters has delayed the implementation of some research programmes under taken by Karnataka State Tribal Research Institute (KSTRI).

KSTRI is planning to conduct a detailed survey of the tribal population by collecting details such as their socio-economic status, educational qualification, health condition and other issues, by doing a house to house visit. For this they require manpower, particularly young people, who can go around and collect the data by talking to the tribals.

According to sources, not many candidates are coming forward to work in Tribal areas, as to collect the relevant data from the tribals, they have to spend at least two to three weeks in each Haadi and have to tour all across State for six to eight months to collect data from various tribal hamlets. The selected candidates are paid Rs 12,000 per month, along with TA/DA.

The other major problem being faced by KSTRI, is to provide training to the selected candidates, as most of the candidates do not have any prior exposure or knowledge about field work. In this regard, KSTRI has written letters to several Universities in the State, seeking to assign students of Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Economics or Social Work, with the field work.

“We have corresponded with Universities, seeking to assign students with field work before the completion of their two year PG course. If Universities implement this, it will help students in their career, when they go out seeking for a job after completion of the course,” says, KSTRI Director Basavannagounda, admitting that there is lack of interest among candidates to work in tribal hamlets.

'Lack of experience and knowledge on the field work for candidates has become a stumbling block for us to undertake the task. We have invited experts from the field to provide specialised training on the methods of data collection done in cases of such intensive research programmes,' he added.

Appropriate questionnaires will be prepared and as per the list the data collection is done. Once all the data is collected it will be compiled, analysed and report is prepared, he said.