Nor have researchers asked non-ousted tribals if they might actually want to be ousted and garner the benefits of modernisation. So, we compared the economic conditions of the resettled tribals with those of their former neighbours in the semi-evacuated villages. We also surveyed a third group of tribals in the forest interior within 15 kilometres of the semi-evacuated villages. In a few instances, the interior tribals (near the GMDC mines) were best off. The resettled tribals used more purchased inputs like fertilisers and pesticides, and grew higher-value crops (with irrigation) like paddy and cotton.

Source: Times of India September 09, 2017 18:56 UTC