Mainstream WeeklyKeywords: Adivasi, Central Tribal Belt, Karl Polanyi, embedded economy, capitalism, neo-liberal economy, equality
Abstract:
The present-day GDP-driven neo-liberal economic model has resulted in irreversible climate change and extreme economic inequality in India. An alternative, sustainable economic paradigm is the need of the hour. In post 2008 global economic crisis class-based modern civilisation history, is being questioned with the discovery of new evidence of prehistoric equitable and sustainable societies in different parts of the world. But in India such comprehensive studies on tribal socio-economic history with new methodology are lacking. Nearly a century ago, the embedded economy theory was conceptualised by Karl Polanyi to the modern economy, an evolved version of which have been practiced by many Indigenous societies from time immemorial. Many colonial and post-colonial studies and literature shows ample evidence how Adivasi