R.K. MAHANA, Research Scholar, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. e-mail: rkmhn@yahoo.com R. K. Mahana CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT: THE THIRD WAY Whether they live on the plains or in the valleys, whether they live in slums or isolated villages, whether they speak Hindi, Swahili, or Uzbek, people have one thing in common: They do not want charity. They want a chance. They do not want solutions imposed from without. They want the opportunity to build from within. They do not want my culture or yours. They want their own. They want a future enriched by the inheritance of their past. James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/60ByDocName/ SocialDevelopment The two axioms of the cultural rehabilitation should be: (1) we cannot be civilized unless everyone of us is civilized, and (2) every people, however primitive or civilized, has a right to its own way to life, and to the development of its own culture. To reconcile these two requires a complete grasp of the details, and a sympathetic understanding of the realities of tribal aims and aspirations. G. S. Ghurye (1943) A keen kaleidoscopic analysis of the dominant paradigm of development, especially tribal development in India, makes us feel quo vadis. The telescoping development process, projected targets to be achieved in as much as shortened possible time frame provides the leitmotif for steamrollering approach, pick and choose method, lack of effective and meaningful co- ordination of the mainstream and ethnic culture tends to overlook the socio- cultural dynamics of tribal life. Hence, it is a matter of great concern that without adequate knowledge base, and lukewarm interest for involved tribal friendly programmes, the development programmes will not yield the expected results. The resultant situation always makes the tribal stakeholder to absorb the impact of the dysfunctional development process, which is characterized by imposition of development ideas from without rather than co-opting the tribal mind and their interacting heritage culture base. Tribal development is often oriented to fulfilling the physical target rather than problem solving, to