"Self-Assessment of Quality of Life and Subjective well-being of Irular Tribes: Post pandemic – COVID"

Abstract

Irular are the tribal people who belong to the family of Dravidians. They have their own life style, and they are culturally very stable and disconnect with other sectors of people. Irular population is the second largest tribal population in India. They live in different parts of India in small groups and their major occupations are hunting and agricultural labourers. They have their own rituals during various phases of life. They give more importance to the rituals performed for the dead. Their Deity is Kanniamman and many rituals are linked with worshipping of the deity. The quality of life of the Irular tribes is poor as they live in thatched or tiled houses, use open toilets and have gutter water stagnation. Besides, their hygiene practice among the tribal is very poor. They believe in traditional medicines and only little access to primary health care centers of the government. The present study assessed their quality of life and their subjective well-being in the pandemic post Covid. The Irular community went through the difficult time of the pandemic. The awareness on the pandemic was prevalent among the Irular tribes about Corona but the safe practices were not observed. In this context the researcher has made the Irulars to self-assess their quality of life and subjective well-being. The study generated quantitative data and qualitative data for understanding their perception on their quality of life and well-being among 40 Irulars living in Thiruvallur district Tamil Nadu. The Irular tribes have suffered the lock down since they depend on daily wages. Many of them stated that they resorted to medicines from their trees for fever or cold. Few NGOs have given them some relief food materials and masks. The researcher conducted four Focus Group Discussions and used two scales for the study. The findings of the study showed that their self-assessment on their quality of life and subjective well-being of all the dimensions had low mean values between 2.60 and 3.04, and between 2.80 and 3.19 respectively. The Irulars perceived that their quality of life is poor however their subjective well-being is moderate. It means they are happy in their life with all their constraints in quality of life. The subjective well-being was the predictor of overall quality of life and general health namely Physical health, Psychological health, Social relationships and Environment.