Breastfeeding and lactational amenorrhoea play a unique role in child health, birth spacing and fertility regulation.

The present paper discusses the status of tribal women in terms of their demography, health; education and employment. Despite constitutional protection and assurances, even after four and a half decades, their status is

The tribal population groups from 7.95 percent of the total population of India. About 67.76 million persons have been enumerated in the country (excluding Jammu & Kashmir) as members of the Scheduled Tribes (1991 census).

In India tribals are neglected a lot, discriminated in terms of income distribution and social status.

The Indian family welfare program is a centrally sponsored scheme, implemented by the State governments within the framework of elaborate guidelines and norms developed by the Central Government.

India's efforts to promote family planning have produced a significant increase in the couple protection rate (CPR) which has increased by about 33 percent during the last 22 years-from 10.4 percent in 1970 to 43.5 in 1992.

Indian society consists of immensely varied political, social, ethnic, linguistic, religious and community groups, which, by and large, reside in villages, where poverty, misconceived religious notions, social customs, illiteracy, ignorance and superstitions prevail.

India has made appreciable progress in improving its overall health status since the beginning of the century. The crude death rate has declined, but there is no sign of a decline in the maternal mortality rate. Also, most of the evidence relating to high maternal mortality rates is fragmentary.

Most studies of maternal mortality are hospital based. However, in developing countries, where many such deaths take place in the home, hospital statistics do not reflect the true extent of maternal mortality.

In India, as per census 1981, around 11 million children in the age group 5-14 are in the