The tribal development in India has been a major concern of the Central and State Government, Voluntary Organizations, NGOs, Social Activists, Sociologist and Anthropologist. But even after more than five decades we are no nearer to the solution of the problem. Rather, things appear to be more muddled than before. Scheme by scheme have been conceived and implemented. Unfortunately most of them have failed. In most cases the tribal life has worsened. What was wrong in the process of tribal development? Where did it go wrong? Is our definition of development at fault? Our perception of the problem is erroneous? The programmes we have conceived and implemented are at variance with the target we have set? Do we have a target at all? I think all these have contributed their mite to the muddle. We are unable to find a single statement as regards the strategy of tribal development in India. No clear cut policy exists on this important issue, though millions of rupees have already been spent in the name of tribal development.