TEER Foundation

The stability and prosperity of tribal areas is crucial for both: India's economy and ecology. Many major rivers are born in tribal areas, many water bodies that cities survive on get their water from sources in tribal areas. These areas host the best forests, the global biodiversity hot-spots. These areas contain mineral wealth and almost all state borders are marked with such areas. The tribal population largely depends on primitive farming and gathering of forest produce for their livelihood. But it was only 12 years ago that the Parliament recognized their livelihood rights. There has been an extreme backlog of development - in terms of connectivity, infrastructure, and livelihood. This is a result of colonial laws and bureaucratic stranglehold of resources. Injustice perpetuates because of such systems. People are forced to take up violent means and are lured by extremists. Such extremism cannot be eliminated by mere imposition of state force. It needs better policies and administrative framework that can respond to people's aspirations. TEER exists to bring such policies.