Video | Tribal culture and natural resources: The Chota Nagpur (Chotanagpur) plateau of eastern India – Jharkhand

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Chota Nagpur [Chotanagpur] plateau is in eastern India, in Jharkhand state. The plateau is composed of Precambrian rocks (more than 540,000,000 years old). Chota Nagpur is the collective name for the Ranchi, Hazaribagh, and Kodarma plateaus, which have an area of 25,293 sq m (65,509 sq km). Its largest division is the Ranchi Plateau, which has an average elevation of 2,300 ft (700 m). The Chota Nagpur plateau in its entirety lies between the basins of the Ganges and Son rivers to the north and the Mahanadi River to the south; through its centre, from west to east, runs the coal-bearing, faulted Damodar Valley. Numerous streams have dissected the uplands into a peneplain (an area reduced almost to a plain by erosion) with isolated hills.

Centuries of heavy cultivation have depleted the plateau of much of its natural vegetation, though some valuable forests still remain. Forest products, such as tussah silk and lac, are economically important. The Chota Nagpur area has the most valuable concentration of mineral resources in India. The Damodar Valley has vast coal reserves, and Hazaribagh district is one of the main sources of mica in the world. Other minerals are copper, limestone, bauxite, iron ore, asbestos, and apatite (useful in the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers). A huge thermal plant for generating electricity and a large steel mill are located at Bokaro. Railroads cross the plateau, connecting Calcutta to the southeast with Patna to the north, and also link other cities in the south and west.

Source: Geography
Address : http://www.tribalzone.net/geography/geography.htm
Date Visited: Sun Jul 27 2014 12:34:34 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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We are the Indigenous People Of Chotanagpur, the Adivasis mostly comprising of Santal, HO, Kharia, Munda and Oraon Population. Due to various developmental activities we are loosing our identity. WE ARE BECOMING EXTINCT.

The song describes the present day exploitation of tribal land and forests in the name of development.

Source: ▶ gaon chodab nahi (we will not leave our village) – YouTube
Address : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M5aeMpzOLU
Date Visited: Sun Jul 27 2014 12:38:28 GMT+0200 (CEST)

[…] Originally, Chota Nagpur [Chotanagpur] was mostly forest-clad and was ruled by chiefs of various aboriginal tribes. Though British authority was only gradually established in the plains to the north during the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, occasional revolts against them took place in Chota Nagpur, the most important being the Ho revolt of 1820 to 1827 and the Munda uprising of 1831 to 1832. Later, Bihar was an important centre of the Indian mutiny and revolt of 1857 to 1859 against British political authority. Bihar formed a part of the Bengal Presidency until 1912, when the province of Bihar and Orissa was formed; in 1936 the two became separate provinces. […]

Source: History & Culture
Address : http://www.tribalzone.net/history/history.htm
Date Visited: Sun Jul 27 2014 12:55:59 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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Photo Birsa Munda © Wikipedia >> photograph in Roy (1912-72)

“Munda’s rebellion had shaken the foundations of the British empire, fighting the British army’s advanced weapons with bow and arrows. He died under mysterious circumstances in the Ranchi jail, and has, since then, been remembered as a martyr.” – Sushmita in The Wire >>

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Audio | Birsa Munda (1875-1900), the young, charismatic healer: “The only Adivasi whose portrait hangs in the Indian Parliament”

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