Sustainable Development And Rural Ho Adivasis Of Jharkhand

 Economists widely use the capital approach to sustainable development (SD) which is based on the notion that sustainability requires non-declining well-being over time and that this goal can be realised if a community’s total productive base (stocks of capital) is maintained intact over time. Despite the multiplicity of definitions of SD, there have been various efforts to assess and monitor progress towards SD at the global, national, regional, and community level. Given the diverse methodologies designed to assess SD, the use of indicators has been the most popular approach. This paper aims to assess SD of rural Ho Adivasis (scheduled tribes) of Jharkhand, from the capital perspective using SD indicators and analyse whether the Hos are on the path towards or away from SD. A framework of four forms of capital (natural, economic, human and social) with capital-based sustainability indicators developed from a bottom-up approach is used to elicit information to assess SD of the Hos. From the survey of 400 rural households, it is observed that level of sustainability of the four capitals is in danger that they cannot provide desired well-being to the Hos. Hence, a system perspective of SD is suggested, as it is unlikely that Hos would move towards SD if sub-systems are focused in isolation. There is a great potential for strengthening social capital in order to enhance other capitals so as to provide enhanced well-being for the present and future Hos and achieve SD.