Abstract:
In context of India, tribes have undergone massive changes in their economic system from traditional forest
based economy to the present economy exposed to globalisation and modernisation. This has led to shift in
their traditional economy and has opened doors for new economic endeavours. This article is an attempt to
reflect on tribals perspectives in understanding the factors and the processes involved in their journey of
taking up entrepreneurial activities. Further it intends to understand their entrepreneurial behaviour in their
changing socio-economic milieu. The study has been done in Eastern India with a qualitative approach. It
involves in-depth study with a collective case study approach to examine the context and processes leading to
the entrepreneurial behaviour across the individual cases. There are total 6 cases studied to see the similarities
and differences in the context and the processes involved. The socio-economic aspect, the psychological drive
and the institutional intervention are the three domains found that has triggered the entrepreneurial
behaviour. It also inquires to understand the relationship between these three domains. Analysis shows the
changing world due to modernisation and developmental process has brought many new dimensions in
tribal’s life and has paved way for their exploration into entrepreneurial world. Further NGOs and
Government intervention has also encouraged the tribals to take up entrepreneurial ventures.
