Adivasi (a Hindi word that literally means the original inhabitants) is a term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups believed to be the aboriginal population of India. Adivasi societies are present in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and other South Asian nations.
Adivasi is officially recognized by the Indian government as “Scheduled Tribes” in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which is eligible for certain affirmative action measures.
More on the names given to/adopted by Adivasi communities, their distinctive customs and histories: jharkhandi.com website >>
Source: Adivasis.com | Jharkhandi.com | Tribal India Group | Scheduled Tribes (ST) of India
Address : http://jharkhandi.com/Adivasi.aspx
Date Visited: Wed Mar 21 2012 10:55:12 GMT+0100 (CET)
“Adivasi [adibasi] – which is derived from Sanskrit – is applied to the dark-skinned or Austro-Asiatic indigenous groups of India (usually those from Eastern India). It is a commonly-used term in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha. It is also used by the local Mongoloid tribes of North Eastern India for the migrant workers who were brought in as indentured labourers to work in tea plantations during the colonial period. ‘Tribal’ is a very broad term in the English language, as we all know, and includes all the different indigenous groups of India.” – Dr. Ivy Hansdak (email dated 27 March 2020) | “Who are Scheduled Tribes?” (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes) | Demographic Status of Scheduled Tribe Population of India (Census figures 2011) | Classifications in different states >>
A Supreme Court judgment projects the historical thesis that India is largely a country of old immigrants and that pre-Dravidian aborigines, ancestors of the present Adivasis, rather than Dravidians, were the original inhabitants of India. – Comment “India, largely a country of immigrants“ Photo © The Hindu | Learn more >>
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See also
- Adverse inclusion | Casteism | Rural poverty
- Demographic Status of Scheduled Tribe Population of India (Census figures 2011)
- Denotified Tribes, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes – Report and Recommendations (Technical Advisory Group)
- Fact checking | Figures, census and other statistics
- Imprisonment & rehabilitation
- Map | An alphabetical journey across India: from Andaman to West Bengal
- Search tips | Names of tribal communities, regions and states of India
- State wise population of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and their percentage to the total population in the respective states and to the total STs population
- “What are the Rights of Scheduled Tribes?– Government of India (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, NCST)
- “What is the Forest Rights Act about?” – Campaign for Survival and Dignity
- “Who are Scheduled Tribes?” – Government of India (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, NCST)
India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved all-round socio-economic progress since Independence. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.
Source: States and Union Territories – About India
URL: https://knowindia.india.gov.in/states-uts/
Date visited: 4 September 2021
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