“Who are Scheduled Tribes?”: Clarifications by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes – Government of India

The framers of the Constitution took note of the fact that certain communities in the country were suffering from extreme social, educational and economic backwardness on account of the primitive …

Audio & eBook | United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Repatriation is an important part of reconciliation

Indigenous people across North America are working to return thousands of sacred objects and ancestral remains, belongings that were taken and put in museums, galleries, private collections, and universities. […] “Some …

Video | “A living testimony of one’s love for nature, culture, tradition, history and posterity”: The Ever Living Museum at Mawshabuit (Shillong) – Meghalaya

The Ever Living Museum at Mawshbuit, located a stone’s throw away from Shillong, Meghalaya, is well known for its collection of the region’s natural and cultural heritage including crafts and …

Tip | Voices from the Periphery: A multidisciplinary book “reversing the gaze”: Questioning the fringes of India’s mainstream society

“It is wrong and does not help the tribal cause either to reduce the image of the Indian tribal society to that of destitute remnants, on the verge of dying …

The Lambani: A pan-Indian tribal community of many names and “known for its colourful dress” – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa & West Bengal

LAMBANIS: ORIGIN AND SOCIO CULTURAL PROFILEBy Dr. K. Ramalingareddy ORIGIN OF LAMBANIS India is a land of castes and tribes. According to an estimate there arc about 427 tribal groups …

Forest dwellers in early India – myths and ecology in historical perspective

By Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University  The hunt introduces us to the forest dwellers. These tended to be either creatures of the imagination such as the raksasas who …

Memories of life in a remote Bhil hamlet on the Narmada river: “Poor but not impoverished” – Maharashtra

The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has been setup under the final orders and decision of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) as a machinery for implementation of its directions and …

Tribal traditions, colonial history and the birth of a modern state – Jharkhand

Forests and woodlands occupy more than 29% of the state which is amongst the highest in India – www.jharkhand.gov.in The region enshrouded in the hills and forests inaccessible to a …

Tribal Politics – adivasi culture, language, and religion in Encyclopedia of India

Tribal Politics The “tribal” peoples or adivasis of India, according to the 2001 census, constitute roughly 8.1 percent of the country’s population, some 83,6 million people, classified under 461 different …

Tribal culture a living example of the Gandhian concept of trusteeship – Human Ecology by Lachman Khubchandani

Tribal heritage needs to be respected on its own terms. It will be disastrous to aim at absorbing tribal communities into the ‘mainstream’. Nehru had forewarned us against following such …