Within the Third World exists a world of those without assets, resources, power, prestige, influence, education and income. This Fourth World is distinct from the world of those who control the structures of society and resources of the nation. The Fourth World in the Indian context primarily comprises people who inhabit the urban slums, the hamlets, and the forests which lack infrastructural facilities for fulfilling basic needs. The inhabitants suffer from the infinities of inaccessibility, remoteness and social ostracism. Called variously as savages, barbarians, exotic peoples, natives, dasas, dasyus, aborigines, autochthones, tribes, Indians and indigenous peoples, they lead lives that are ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. They are faceless in their own country and made voiceless by unremitting violence. The process of development is destroying their habitat, forcing them out of their hearth and home, depriving them of their traditional way of life and work, and introducing a new system of slavery in violation of Universally accepted human rights. The portrayal of the Fourth World in the present book has been done by those who belong to the Fourth World themselves, who have lived the life of want and indignity, and have felt frustration, pain, and certainly anger. This book emphasizes the evolution of a strategy of survival and progress for the people of the Fourth World, starting with their organization for peaceful collective action.
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