The Alluri Sitarama Raju Memorial Tribal Museum: Commemorating the leader of the Rampa Rebellion – Andhra Pradesh

Diorama on Alluri Sitarama Raju at
Shilparamam © C.V. Subrahmanyam The Hindu >>
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The sprawling Shilparamam Jatara at Madhurawada, which is slowly drawing tourists and visitors, has an added attraction from Friday — a diorama on the life of legendary freedom fighter and leader of tribal uprising in Rampa Alluri Sitarama Raju.

The narrative of the legendary freedom fighter’s life, right from as a boy, when he was known to be spiritually inclined, to his leading the exploited tribal people against the British to his martyrdom, has been told in dozen frames. […]

The narrative was conceptualised by former assistant director of Archaeology Sivanagi Reddy. It is reported to have cost Rs. 12 lakh to develop it. Professional artists from Kolkata were commissioned to do the work and they took three months to develop the life-like models. […]

Source: “Diorama on Alluri at Shilparamam” – The Hindu
Address: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/diorama-on-alluri-at-shilparamam/article7385780.ece
Date Visited: 27 October 2021

It’s a long road to freedom!” – Stan Swamy (the late sociologist and activist for Adivasi rights), quoted in “I am Not a Silent Spectator: Why Truth has become so bitter, Dissent so intolerable, Justice so out of reach” | Indian Social Institute, Bangalore, 2021 | Accountability >>
In pursuit of “equality for all the citizens”: National Legal Services Authority asked to provide free legal consultations to Scheduled Tribes (ST) – Supreme Court >>

The tribal museum coming up at Timmapuram in the city would be named after legendary freedom fighter and leader of Rampa Rebellion Alluri Sitarama Raju. Cottages too would be built in the vicinity of the museum to enable tourists to stay there and enjoy the ambience of tribal habitation.

The Alluri Sitarama Raju Memorial Tribal Museum coming up on a 4-acre land located on the sea-facing side of a hill has been conceptualised by city-based artist Venkat in such a way that it looks like a tribal ‘tudum’ or drum with traditional tribal shacks spread over the rest of the area to provide space for workshops. […]

This would also be alienated to the Tribal Welfare Department to locate tourist cottages, Minister for Tribal Welfare Ravela Kishore Babu said after laying the foundation stone for the project here on Friday. “The museum will be a reality in about one year and Rs. 20 crore has been allocated for the purpose. Of the total sum, Rs. 15 crore will be for the buildings and Rs. 5 crore for library,” Director of Tribal Welfare M. Padma said. […]

“It is for the first time that Alluri’s birth anniversary is being celebrated and his contribution acknowledged,” the Minister said.

HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Visakha North MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju, District Collector N. Yuvaraj, PO of Paderu ITDA Harinarayanan, Engineer-in-Chief of the Tribal Welfare Department and other officials were present. The Ministers also inaugurated a hostel building for tribal students at Madhurawada earlier.

Source: “Tribal museum to be named after Alluri”, The Hindu, 4 July 2015
Address: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/tribal-museum-to-be-named-after-alluri/article7385778.ece
Date Visited: 27 October 2021

Panchayat Raj Minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu paid floral tributes at the ‘samadhi’ of revolutionary Alluri Sitarama Raju at K.D. Peta on his 92nd death anniversary.

Tributes were also paid to Gamu Gantam Dora, a tribal and close associate of Raju in the uprising against the British in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts.

His samadhi is next to that of Alluri Sitarama Raju.

The Minister inspected the ongoing works at the park being developed at the samadhi. While construction of pagoda-shaped shelters for tourists has been completed, work on building for a museum is still going on. […]

Dr. Ahmed said the State and Central governments should provide the necessary funds and install the statue honouring the great revolutionary who took on the might of the British and fought them in the Agency area of the district.

Sitarama Raju was born at Pandrangi in the district in 1897.

Source: “Glowing tributes paid to Alluri” – The Hindu, 8 May 8 2016
Address: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/glowing-tributes-paid-to-alluri/article8571487.ece
Date Visited: 27 October 2021

The total population of Andhra Pradesh, as per the 2001 Census, is 76,210,007. Of which, 5,024,104 (6.6 per cent) are Scheduled Tribes (STs). The ST population constitutes 6 per cent of the country’s ST population. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 have notified 33 STs in the state. Out of the 33 STs, five namely, Goudu, Malis, Nayaks, Thoti and Valmiki have been notified with an area restriction. Goudu, Nayaks and Valmiki have been notified in the Agency tracts area, which comprises Srikakulum, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari and Khammam districts. Malis have been notified in the state excluding Adilabad, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Warangal districts. Thoti have been notified in the Adilabad, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Warangal districts. 

2. Twelve tribes namely, Bodo Gadaba, Gutob Gadaba,Bondo Poraja, Khond Poroja, Parangiperja, Chenchu, Dongaria Khonds, Kuttiya Kondhs, Kolam, Kondareddis, Konda Savaras, and Thoti have been recognized as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). 

Except Kondareddis and Thoti, population on other PTGs are not available separately as these are notified as sub-groups/sections of main communities. The population of Kondareddis and Thoti is 83,096 and 2,074 respectively, as per the 2001 Census. 

3. The growth rate of ST population in the decade 1991-2001 at 19.6 per cent hasbeen higher if compared to the overall growth rate of 14.6 per cent of the statepopulation as a whole. Among the numerically major STs, highest growth rate of 36 percent has been recorded in the case of Sugalis, followed by Koya (24.4 per cent), Gond (18.9 per cent), Yenadis (16.8 per cent) and Yerukulas (12.8 per cent).

Source: Microsoft Word – AP-ST 29.1.07.doc – dh_st_andhra.pdf
Address: https://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_andhra.pdf
Date Visited: 27 October 2021

[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]

Among the tribal populations of India there is none which rivals in numerical strength and historical importance the group of tribes known as Gonds. In the late 1970s, numbering well over four million, Gonds extend over a large part of the Deccan and constitute a prominent element in the complex ethnic pattern of the zone where Dravidian and Indo-Aryan populations overlap and dovetail. | Table of Contents >>

Source: “The Gonds of Andhra Pradesh Tradition and Change in an Indian Tribe” By Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Elizabeth von Fürer-Haimendorf” (Routledge, December 2021)
URL: https://www.routledge.com/The-Gonds-of-Andhra-Pradesh-Tradition-and-Change-in-an-Indian-Tribe/Furer-Haimendorf-Furer-Haimendorf/p/book/9781032156484
Date Visited: 7 November 2021

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