“You take us to be poor, but we’re not”: Proud Not Primitive, a campaign on communities that can take care of themselves

The Jarawa of the Andaman Islands enjoy a time of opulence. Their forests gives them more than they need. ANVITA ABBI, PROFESSOR OF LINGUISTICS, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY The Dongria Kondh grow over 100 crops and harvest almost 200 different wild foods, which provide them with year-round, rich nutrition even in times of drought. Over generations, … Read more

Kondh Adivasis farmers known for their sophisticated practices of agro-forestry: Koraput region, “one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots” – Odisha

Bastar art and the Hindu-isation of the tribal myth – Chhattisgarh

Niranjan Mahawar, 75 [in 2012], is a self-taught ethnologist of Chhattisgarh. He spent almost five decades in southern Chhattisgarh to study the life and art of the Bastar tribes. […] Today, Mahawar — who was made famous in a series of interviews by the writer Dom Moraes — is considered an authoritative voice on central … Read more

Video | Sunderbans: the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world – West Bengal

Music has an important role in the lives of the Adivasis of the Sundarbans. Groups such as the Santal, Munda, Oraon and Ho were brought to this region by the British in the 19th century. As indentured labourers, they cleared the forests and barricaded the rivers. Their descendants now speak Bengali after decades of living … Read more