Nature & wildlife

“We – forest-dependent communities, supported by others – declare: The natural forests are a nurturing mother to us. Our very identities, cultures and world-views are closely linked to the forests that provide our primary needs. […] Our cultures discourage greed, the root of scarcity, harm and sorrow.” – An appeal for a new consciousness of empathy and wise governance to protect our rich natural heritage, culture, and harmonious collective future by Kavitha (“Forest Foods & Ecology” Festival, December 12 to 14, 2014 at Sri Aurobindo Society, New Delhi)
www.kisanswaraj.in/2014/12/31/forest-foods-and-ecology/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=16371

“The North East Indian region has never been an isolated backwater” – Food production and animal domestication since the Neolithic Revolution

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“Who lived here?”, “when did they live here?”, “what culture did they have?” and “how did their culture change?” are just some of the questions posed by Prehistory and Archaeology of Northeast India, a book that probes the origins of human settlement, culture and ecology in North East India. Written by archaeologist Manjil Hazarika, it … Read more

“Seats of rural knowledge”: Training centres for tribal youth in crafts design, agriculture and plantations (Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra & Gram Gyanpeeth) – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Chhattisgarh

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Twenty years back, in June 1995, newly-wedded couple Sunil and Nirupama Deshpande picked up a remote village, Lavada in Melghat region as their home. “We wanted to live in a place where people needed us,” says Nirupama, a former MHADA employee and MSW from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The two wanted to work … Read more

Video | Right Livelihood Award speech in support of local communities facing environmental threats: India’s “the first line of defense in the world’s largest democracy” – Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)

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Awarded 2021 Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) is an organisation working to protect the environment in India through the creative use of law and legal processes. LIFE works with communities through a grassroots approach: it assists and empowers often vulnerable populations to stand up against powerful interests and have a voice in the … Read more

“Our hunting, our economy and even our festivities were interlinked to iron smelting”: The Asur community’s last custodians of a traditional technique – Jharkhand

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Laldeo Asur passes his days basking in the mellow winter sun, his 70-year-old body now too frail for the rigours of village life. But it is not his advancing age he is too concerned about but the advance of modernity on his tribe, the Asurs. Laldeo knows that after him there will be none to … Read more

Traditional farming practiced by Baiga community: Planting 16 types of seeds every monsoon – Chhattisgarh

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The Baiga tribals in Chhattisgarh have been repeatedly facing displacement from their home and forest-dependant livelihood over the years with more areas being notified as reserve forests in the State […] Old-timers like Sunarin can hardly see and doesn’t know her age, but remembers that she and some of the people in this village have … Read more