https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920521994195 Critical Sociology 1–15 © The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0896920521994195 journals.sagepub.com/home/crs Pushed to the Margins: The Crisis Among Tribal Youth in India During COVID-19 Eswarappa Kasi Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, India Atrayee Saha Jawaharlal Nehru University, India Abstract Lack of awareness, lack of availability of non-farm activities, lack of nutritional facilities, inadequate health infrastructure, restricted movement to forest areas, and reliance on herbal medicines are some of the worst conditions that the indigenous population had to face worldwide, during the pandemic. Around 10.45 crore (10.45 million) indigenous population that resides in India are at stake because of economic inequality and social stigma. Lack of developmental measures in India has always led the tribal population to dwell at the margins without proper resources of economic sustenance. The announcements of lockdown and proposals for industrial projects approved during the lockdown period further aggravated their conditions. With the help of secondary data, news reports, and international agency reports, the article tries to critically review the conditions of the tribal population in India, the measures taken by the government, and the role of local organizations in helping tribal people to sustain the pandemic. Keywords tribal youth, economic inequality, educational infrastructure, health infrastructure, government measures, local measures, pandemic, sociology Introduction The pandemic caused due to the spread of COVID-19 has brought forth some stark deficiencies of the democratic government systems throughout the world. As Rousseau (1968: 78–79) pointed out, . . . .luxury is either the effect of riches or it makes riches necessary; it corrupts both the rich and the poor; it deprives the state of all its citizens by making some the slaves of others and all the slaves of opinion. . . Corresponding author: Eswarappa Kasi, Department of Tribal Studies, Faculty of Tribal Studies, Art, Culture and Folk Literature, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Anuppur, MP 484886, India. Email: kasieswarigntu@gmail.com 994195CRS 0 0 10.1177/0896920521994195Critical SociologyKasi and Saha research-article 2021 Article