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Fertility and mortality trends in the Kharia tribals of Orissa Salil Basu * Gautam K. Kshatriya ** The demographic features and health care practices in Dudh Kharias of Sundargarh district of Orissa have been, discussed. The Kharias have higher fertility rate and infant mortality rate compared to the national average. INDIA IS A VAST country with a population of more than 844 million. The tribal populations of India constitute a significant proportion of India's total population. There are more than 400 tribal population groups constituting around 8 percent of India's total population. Most of these tribal populations across the country are faced with similar health conditions accentuated by widespread poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, poor environmental and personal hygiene and poor maternal and child health care practices. Present study examines demographic features and health care practices among the Dudh Kharias of Sundargarh district of Orissa. Demographic analysis on 451 Kharia nuclear families belonging to Subdega and Bargaon blocks of Sundergarh district is conducted employing, indirect estimation technique. The results of the Study indicate that total fertility of the Kharias is higher than Indian National population. Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is found to be 38.5 per thousand as against 29.5 per thousand for India (SRS, 1993a). Crude Death Rate (CDR) for the Kharias is computed as 11.80 per thousand as against National average of 9.8 per thousand (SRS, 1993a). The sex ratio among the Dudh Kharias has been found to be 1098 as against 972 for Scheduled Tribes of India (Census of India). The current population growth rate of 2.67 percent for the Kharias is much higher than Indian National population which stands at 2.05 percent and is closer to the growth rate of Scheduled Tribes of India recorded as 2.57 percent. Similarly, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) shows a staggering high figure of 102.4 per thousand live births as against 80 per thousand live births for Indian National population. However, Kharia's life expectancy based on q5 values is 52.03 years which is comparable to (58.6) Indian National population (Census of India, 1991). Literacy rate of 46 percent among the Kharias is much higher than its corresponding figure of 25.9 percent in Indian tribal population (Census of India, 1991). Prevailing health care practices reveal dismal picture as far as health status is concerned with the exception of few health indicators. Nevertheless, an overall demographic and health profile indicates that the Kharias are in the process of transition, and developing at a faster rate as compared to other tribal groups of Orissa. Introduction Sundargarh is one of the thirteen districts of Orissa with a population of 1.34 million (Census of India, 1981a). It lies in the northern region of the State between 21 35'N rind 22 32'N latitude and between 83 32'E and 85 22'east longtitude. Out of the total population of 1,337,871 about 51.26 percent of the district population consists of tribals. Kharias with a population of 88,000 has been notified as a primitive tribal group of Orissa (Government of India, 1989). The Kharia tribe is mainly split into three social groups namely, the Pahari Kharia or hill Kharia, the Dhelki Kharia and the Dudh Kharia. All the three social groups of the Kharia are endogamous and their social organisation is based on totemistic exogamous clans. The hill Kharias are the most primitive of the three, depending mainly on hunting and food gathering. The Dhelki Kharias represent more advanced culture with the habit of plough cultivation. The Dudh Kharias represent most advance culture of all the three subsisting on settled agriculture. They are mostly Christian converts. Besides agriculture, they are engaged in agriculture labour, mining, quarrying and other developmental work. Many of the educated persons have also entered in various cadres of the State Government and in teaching profession. Their staple food is rice which they consume in different forms and in various concoction. Although Dudh Kharias are comparatively more developed among the three recognized social groupings of Kharias, a number of cases of diarrohea, respiratory infection, Malaria, skin disease, vitamin deficiency have been seen among these people and there is wide spread malnutrition from time to time. In the present investigation 451 Dudh Kharia nuclear families from randomly selected villages of Borgan and Subdega blocks of district Sundargarh, Orissa, India were studied. Villages were chosen on the basis of predominant distribution of the tribal groups under study, followed by a random selection of the households. Results and discussion The fertility records of Kharia mothers in various child bearing age groups indicate a total fertility of 5.01 estimated from the average parity of women in the age group 45+. However, the indirect estimation of total fertility has been found to be 5.39 which differs little from the observed fertility rate for the women in the age group of 45+. The total fertility rate of Kharias is higher than that for Orissa State and Indian national population of 3.8 (SRS, 1993b), but is in accordance with high tribal fertility rates reported for various Indian tribal populations. The Kharias also reveal higher rates with respect to various fertility indicators when compared with Orissa State. Fertility statistics#
# SRS, 1993 a&b Kharia's life expectancy at birth is 52.03 years, it is much higher than the life expectancy at birth of 36.9 years for Juangs of Orissa, 41.09 years for Bastar tribes and 44.28 year for Kutia Kondhs of Orissa. Age at menarche and marriage among Kharia women.
Age at marriage among the Kharias is higher than its corresponding figure of 20 years for tribal population of India. Similarly, the delayed onset of menarche as compared to 13.21 yrs for Oriya women can presumably be attributed to their socioeconomic status. Distribution of family types in the Kharias.
The Kharias of Sundargarh are strictly monogamous. In the present study more than 92 percent of tribal population have less than 10 acres of land. The average land holding comes out to be 4.46 acre per family. The small land holding among the Kharia goes very well with the high prevalence of nuclear families. Literacy rate was found to be 46 percent among the Kharias, which is much higher than its corresponding figure of 25.9 percent in Indian tribal population and is similar to the figure of 52.2 percent for Indian National population (Census of India 1991). It can thus be seen that the Kharias with a high literacy rate, a high frequency of nuclear families, a small landholding and most of them being aware of modern methods of irrigation are hardly distinguishable from the surrounding non-tribal populations. In the present study, 188 couples were interviewed regarding the practice of Family Planning methods. It was found that each couple was aware of different Family Planning methods and the incentives associated with them. It may be mentioned here that the Kharias of district Sundargarh are Christian converts and have a deep influence of Chirstian missionaries on their life style. Out of 188 couples, only 16 percent of them were currently using any Family Planning method. As far as their attitudes towards family size is concerned, 44.19 percent of respondent preferred to have four children while 32.56 percent preferred three children. Similarly, regarding their belief about childbirth, 61.9 percent of the respondents believed that children were the gift of God. Even though Kharias are quite literate, maternal care during and after pregnancy is not satisfactory. It was observed that 84 percent of pregnant women take essentially the same diet as they were taking before pregnancy. Infact, 10 percent of the women reduced their food intake because of the simple fear of recurrent vomiting. It was observed that 11.70 percent of women consumed alcohol during pregnancy and almost all the pregnant women continued with their usual activities till the last trimester. In the present study 67 percent of the pregnant women were found to be immunized against Tetanus Toxoid indicating their willingness to accept the Government programs on motivation. But this healthy trend withers out when the observation is made on the place of delivery in this group. Over 94 percent of the deliveries are conducted at home attended by elderly ladies of the household. Hospital services are secured only in difficult cases. Placental cord is cut with the help of a blade in 91.62 percent of cases. Astonishingly, the Kharias customarily apply cow's urine, pig's fat or both on the placental cord of the newborn. In the present investigation too, the above material was used and applied on the placental cord of 66.25 percent newborns of the Kharias on whom the information was collected. Childcare practices among the Kharias showed that 36 percent of the infants get their first feed as mother's milk without colostrum. Only in 8 percent of the cases do the mother give their feed to the infants along with colostrum. Thus, infants are deprived of the most essential nutrition in the form of colostrum. In nearly 37 percent of cases, infants get their first feed in the form of goat's milk, milk powder, glucose, sugar solution, simple water etc. As far as initiation of the first supplementary diet is concerned, 64 percent of the newly born infants get their first supplementary diet between 6 and 12 months. Similarly, 43 percent of newborn are breastfed up to a minimum period of three years. There is a tendency among the Kharias to keep an infant on breast feed as long as possible. Infact, only 13 percent of newborns leave their mothers milk by the end of their first year of life. The long duration of breast feeding in the Kharias can be reasoned out from the fact that the Kharia women are basically involved in household activities and in those income generating resources which do not require them to leave their kids at home. The Kharias are very highly motivated for child immunization program. Incidently Subdega block of Sundergarh district is the oldest ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) block in India. It can be observed that nearly 70 percent of the children are immunized against BCG, DPT and Polio. However, a large percentage (47.14) of children are immunized within the village indicating their willingness to accept the immunization programme, provided the camps are organised within the village. It has been observed that Kharia females show a higher life expectany (52.95yrs.) as compared to males (51.02yrs). Sex ratio of Kharias (1098/1000) lends further support to the above observation. Thus, in studying the Kharias two things are clearly observable. While the Kharias are more, literate, prefer nuclear families, have small landholding, more mobile as far as opportunities are concerned, positive in their attitudes towards many Government programs (specially the immunization program), more aware under the influence of Christian missionaries, reveal higher life expectancy at birth, yet, their knowledge and attitudes regarding competitive economy, personal hygiene, modern medicine, family size, child birth, maternal care during and after pregnancy, child care practices are not quite satisfactory. Nevertheless, based on the above observations it can be said that the Kharias are in the process of transition and fast acculturating with neighbouring non-tribal groups with modem based value system, and their demographic profile is strongly associated with the prevalent health care practices as well as their socioeconomic and cultural traditions.
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