2. The areas inhabited by the tribes, whether in Assam or elsewhere, are difficult of access, highly malarial and infested also in some cases by other diseases like yaws and venereal disease and lacking in such civilizing facilities as roads, schools, dispensaries and water supply. The tribes themselves are for the most part extremely simple people who can be and are exploited with case by plainsfolk resulting in the passage of land formerly cultivated by them to money-lenders and other erstwhile non-agriculturists. While a good number of superstitions and even harmful practices are prevalent among them the tribes have their own customs and way of life with institutions like tribal and village panchayats or councils which are very effective in smoothing village administration. The sudden disruption of the tribals customs and ways by exposure to the impact of a more complicated and sophisticated manner of life is capable of doing great harm. Considering past experience and the strong temptation to take advantage of the tribals’ simplicity and weaknesses it is essential to provide statutory safeguards for the protection of the land which is the mainstay of the aboriginal’s economic life and for his customs: and institutions which, apart from being his own, contain elements of value. In making provisions however allowance could be made for the fact that in the non-excluded areas the the tribals have assimilated themselves in considerable degree to the life of the people with whom they live and the special provisions concerning legislation in particular are therefore proposed largely for the Scheduled Areas in Provinces other than Assam: (Report, paras 10 and 11) and the autonomous districts [(Assam) Para 13 of Report and Section A of Appendix A).
