“Absence of a concept of ownership”: Karkala Conference on tribal communities – Karnataka

The Hindu, Karkala (Udupi District), April 18, 2010

Writer and former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi Kannada University Chandrashekhar Kambar said on Saturday that the Government should take help from sympathetic scholars belonging to tribal communities in understanding the needs and problems of tribal people.

He was presiding over the inauguration of the two-day second tribal sammelan, organised by the Hampi Kannada University, District Administration and Federation of Koraga Development Associations at the Sri Bhuvanendra College here.

Dr. Kambar, who is also the sammelan president, said that officers should be given proper orientation in dealing with the tribal people. Officials should stop harassing tribal people. They should step in to helping the tribal people only after consulting tribal scholars. It was essential to take the tribal people into confidence in this regard, he said.

The Government should change its rigid attitude towards the tribal community. Tribal communities had their own unique culture and a different legal system. They did not know the concept of ownership.

When officials of Forest Department asked them for title deeds, they were puzzled. They find it difficult to live outside the forests. The decision to move them out of forests should be re-considered.

Tribals had a deep attachment for trees and animals. But politicians and officials were ruthlessly felling trees in forests for monetary considerations.Tribals had a rich oral tradition, which was one of the pillars of Indian culture. The death of oral tradition could lead to lack of creativity. By saving the tribals, the oral tradition would be saved. It was necessary to document the epic poetry of the tribal community, Dr. Kambar said.

Inaugurating the sammelan, president of Alva’s Education Foundation Mohan Alava said the Koraga population in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts had come down to 16,925. No Koraga person had done MBBS. The community had only two engineers, three nurses, one advocate and four teachers. Education, health insurance coverage and basic amenities should be provided to this community, he said. […]

Source: Stop harassing tribal people, officials told – The Hindu
Address : http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article402569.ece
Date Visited: Sat Nov 09 2013 19:37:52 GMT+0100 (CET)

Deccan Herald, Udupi, April 16

The Tribal Study Centre, Kannada University, Hampi, in association with Sri Bhuvanendra College Karkala, Karnataka and Kerala Union for Koraga Development Associations, Zilla Panchayat and Scheduled Tribes Development programme, Udupi, is organising a two-day tribal conference on April 17 and 18 at Bhuvanendra Collage Karkala. […]

Two sessions will be held during the two-day convention. The session will be on ‘Koraga charitre mattu vartamana.’ The second session will be on ‘DK, Udupi jilleya budakattugalu mattu vartamana’. Discussions will also be held on the Forest Rights Act, special economic zones, tribal movements, NGOs and tribal communities.

The second day conference will be presided over by Mangalore University Registrar Prof Chenappa Gowda. ‘Culture and history of Koragas’ by Babu Pangala, ‘The present conditions of Koragas’ by Mattadi, ‘Development programmes and Koaragas’ by Susheela Nada, ‘Koraga and modernisation’ by Mohan, ‘Special Economic Zones and tribes’ by Dr Mohan Krishna Rai, ‘Self service organisations and tribal community’ by Dr Jakkaparthasarathy, ‘Tribals and present fears’ by Mahendra Kumar, ‘Adivasi movements’ by Gauri Kenjoor are the issues on which talks will be held in the sessions. […]

Source: Karkala to host tribal conference from today
Address : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/64205/karkala-host-tribal-conference-today.html
Date Visited: Tue May 01 2012 09:28:32 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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