“A group of citizens who are the special responsibility of the President of India”: The meaning of Adivasi, Tribe and Aborigines for administrators and anthropologists – Government of India

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Definition of Tribe

The word ‘tribe’ conveys a neutral sense, a primary aggregate of people claiming descent from a common ancestor. The word ‘tribe’ has been a technical administrative term to denote aborigines. Tribes are regarded as the indigenous or autochthonous population of Indian subcontinent.

Modern usage of this term suggests that it is a small-scale social grouping that displays some form of cultural unity. The members recognize a close affinity towards one another.

A tribe is large enough to be a visible group and small enough to be mobilized for common action. Being cut off from the main stream of Indian life, they usually live in forests and hills and develop a different world view suited to their particular ecology. Eminent Sociologist [G.A. Mitchell (1979)] described ‘tribe’ as a ‘socially cohesive unit, associated with a territory, the members of which regard themselves as politically autonomous.

To an administrator, the term ‘tribe’ means a group of citizens who are the special responsibility of the President of India. To an anthropologist, it means a special field for a study of a social phenomenon. These tribal groups are presumed to form the oldest ethnological sect [sic] and therefore they are called ‘Adhivasis’ [Adivasi]. But the Constitution of India designates them as “Scheduled Tribe”.

A tribe has a sense of identify based on common language and culture. A tribe shows no system of writing and lacks the specialized division of labour. A tribe is associated with a definite territory and possesses a well-defined political boundary.

Source: Thulasi Brinda in “IRULA TRIBE OF DENKANIKOTTAI FOREST OF KRISHNAGIRI DISTRICT IN TAMIL NADU”, “Museum’s Journal”, Chennai Museum (October 2003 – September 2004), pp. 143
Find the print edition here or on Worldcat.org >>
URL: http://www.e-books-chennaimuseum.tn.gov.in/chennaimuseum/images/108/files/basic-html/page143.html
Date visited: 8 September 2020

“We shall first have to give up this hubris of considering tribes backward. Every tribe has a rich and living cultural tradition and we must respect them.” – Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on the constitutional obligation to respect the cultural traditions of India’s tribal communities

Gandhiji at Prayer Time, Parnakuti, Poona (1944) by Chittaprosad, the great advocate of the rights of workers and revolutionary artists. | Learn more in “Gandhi, Secularism, and Cultural Democracy” by Vinay Lal >>
Gandhian social movement | Constitution | Adverse inclusion >>

“Air is free to all but if it is polluted it harms our health… Next comes water… From now on we must take up the effort to secure water. Councillors are servants of the people and we have a right to question them.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ahmedabad address on 1 January 1918; quoted by his grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, in “On another New Year’s Day: Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘khorak’ a 100 years ago” (The Hindu, 1 January 2018)

“The world has enough for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi quoted by Medha Patkar and Baba Amte (Narmada Bachao Andolan)

[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” – Eleanor Roosevelt quoted by the United Nations in Human Rights Day 10 December | Learn more >>

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Search tips: in the search field seen below, combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community; add keywords of special interest (health, nutrition endangered language, illegal mining, sacred grove); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the Forest Rights Act (FRA); and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, women’s rights, and children’s right to education; specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, effective measures to prevent rural poverty, bonded labour, and human trafficking).

For a list of websites included in a single search, click here. To search Indian periodicals, magazines, web portals and other sources safely, click here. To find an Indian PhD thesis on a particular tribal community, region and related issues, click here >>

Learn more about Jawaharlal Nehru’s “five principles” for the policy to be pursued vis-a-vis the tribals >>
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“Since the Indian Constitution uses the term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ or ‘tribals’ to refer to indigenous communities in India and the colloquial reference used by several indigenous communities themselves is ‘adivasis’ these two terms shall be used interchangeably.” – Rebecca S . David in “An analysis of the impact of the Forest Rights Act (2006) in three states of India” (MPhil University of Cambridge, UK, 2014), p. 1 | Learn more | Classifications in different states >>

A Nomad Called Thief: Reflections on Adivasi Silence and Voice by
Ganesh Devy | Publications >>

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