Nilgiri Biosphere

“Despite the restitution of community rights under the Forest Rights Act of 2006, the Adivasis are not able to supplement their diet with resources gathered from the forest as they did before.” – Priti David in “In the Nilgiris, an inheritance of malnutrition” ( People’s Archive of Rural India, 1 May 2020)
https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/in-the-nilgiris-an-inheritance-of-malnutrition/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=30029

The Paniyas, Kattunayakans, Mullukurumbas and Bettakurumbas of the Gudalur valley – Tamil Nadu

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The Gudalur valley in the Nilgiris is home to four distinct indigenous communities – Paniyas, Kattunayakans, Mullukurumbas and Bettakurumbas. | Read more >> Source: Cultural Diversity | At the Edge of ExistenceAddress : https://cultureandconservation.wordpress.com/test/Date Visited: 15 February 2022 […] In the old days each hill had one Karnavar (traditional elder). If there was no fire for … Read more

Tip | Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia

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This encyclopedia addresses the religions of a category of South Asians known as tribals, Ādivāsīs (“First Inhabitants”; or Janajātis, lit. “Class of People”; see also below), and, more recently, indigenous peoples. The three terms, “tribal,” “Ādivāsī,” and “indigenous peoples” are related, but have their own trajectories; they have come into use at different times and … Read more

Diversity, plurality and tolerance are “core values of our civilisation”: President Pranab Mukherjee’s statement at Rashtrapati Bhavan – New Delhi

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Source: “Take the cue from the President” – The Hindu, October 16, 2015Address: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/take-the-cue-from-the-president/article7766516.eceDate visited: 24 November 2020 [I]t was by reading and speaking to Tagore that these founders of modern India, Gandhi and Nehru, developed a theory of nationalism that was inclusive rather than exclusive. Tagore’s [collected lectures on the subject of] Nationalism should … Read more

Learning from the Kattunayakan community: How to live with elephants? – Tamil Nadu

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Elephant conservation: Can elephants and humans live together?   Berserk beasts, trashed crops, vengeful villagers: tales of ‘conflict’ come thick and fast as humans and elephants are forced into closer contact. But does it have to be war? Across Asia and Africa, there are hints of how we might live in peace | To view more photos … Read more

What Adivasis themselves have to say: Reflections on life, religion, politics, the past, the present, and the world around them – Tamil Nadu

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Reams have been written about adivasis by so-called experts. Much of it is subjective interpretation, an exercise I have always been wary of indulging in. For this issue, therefore, my husband Stan and I recorded reflections of different adivasis on how they view life, their religion, politics, the past, the present and the world around … Read more