Ecology, health behaviour and development of the small communities: An anthropological analysis

The very existence of a viable, functioning society proves its adaptation to its environment, though the quality of adaptation can vary greatly. The bio-medical functions like increased height, earlier maturation and high haemoglobin level are directly linked to fertility, mortality, morbidity and other aspects of health and survival. The knowledge on health related behaviour of a community/tribe depends upon the variables like how ‘man’ and ‘ecology’ has been defined, nature of man-environment relationship and changing nature of the human ecosystem. This paper is an attempt to find out the critical links between the environment and the Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) which are small and declining population groups in India. These groups are geographically, culturally and genetically isolated from the other communities/populations. In addition, their habitations are prone to deforestation, industrialization and heavy mining. This paper tries to link the environmental factors and the decline in population of the PTGs and consequently for the development policy for these people.