<P> In the early 20th century, however, large areas fell into the hands of non-tribals, on account of improved transportation and communications . Around 1900, many regions were opened by the government to settlement through a scheme by which inward migrants received ownership of land free in return for cultivating it . For tribal people, however, land was often viewed as a common resource, free to whoever needed it . By the time tribals accepted the necessity of obtaining formal land titles, they had lost the opportunity to lay claim to lands that might rightfully have been considered theirs . The colonial and post-independence regimes belatedly realised the necessity of protecting tribals from the predations of outsiders and prohibited the sale of tribal lands . Although an important loophole in the form of land leases was left open, tribes made some gains in the mid-twentieth century, and some land was returned to tribal peoples despite obstruction by local police and land officials . </P> <P> In the 1970s, tribal peoples came again under intense land pressure, especially in central India . Migration into tribal lands increased dramatically, as tribal people lost title to their lands in many ways--lease, forfeiture from debts, or bribery of land registry officials . Other non-tribals simply squatted, or even lobbied governments to classify them as tribal to allow them to compete with the formerly established tribes . In any case, many tribal members became landless labourers in the 1960s and 1970s, and regions that a few years earlier had been the exclusive domain of tribes had an increasingly mixed population of tribals and non-tribals . Government efforts to evict nontribal members from illegal occupation have proceeded slowly; when evictions occur at all, those ejected are usually members of poor, lower castes . </P> <P> Improved communications, roads with motorised traffic, and more frequent government intervention figured in the increased contact that tribal peoples had with outsiders . Commercial highways and cash crops frequently drew non-tribal people into remote areas . By the 1960s and 1970s, the resident nontribal shopkeeper was a permanent feature of many tribal villages . Since shopkeepers often sell goods on credit (demanding high interest), many tribal members have been drawn deeply into debt or mortgaged their land . Merchants also encourage tribals to grow cash crops (such as cotton or castor - oil plants), which increases tribal dependence on the market for necessities . Indebtedness is so extensive that although such transactions are illegal, traders sometimes' sell' their debtors to other merchants, much like indentured peons . </P> <P> The final blow for some tribes has come when nontribals, through political jockeying, have managed to gain legal tribal status, that is, to be listed as a Scheduled Tribe . </P>

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