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

Tribal customs, homes and ornaments in South India: Videos and photographs

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The Halakki people are scattered across several Taluks of Uttara Kannada district namely Karwar, Ankola, Kumta, Gokarna and Honnavar. Despite exposure to people from the world over some characteristics of their traditional ways are still evident. Contact: +91-9741216491youmailvicky@gmail.comhttps://www.facebook.com/vicky.lakshmanan

“We are nothing without the forest, and the forest is nothing without us”: Kattunayakans in the Nilgiris, one of the last few remaining honey gathering communities of the world – Tamil Nadu

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Living in the Nilgiris, the Kattunayakans are one of the last few remaining honey gathering communities of the world. Over many generations they have mastered the skills required to tap honey and they take great pride in their knowledge and expertise. For the tribal community, honey gathering is of social, cultural, economic and spiritual relevance. … Read more

Wild food festivals & Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN): The world’s most important food movement

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Enjoy A Feast in The Forest In MaharashtraA few summers ago, I visited Vanvadi forest for the first time. I had just met the environmentalist Bharat Mansata, who asked me to help him photo-document the wild edible plants that grow there. A wise and endearing Thakur Adivasi [Thakar Adivasi] tribal from these parts, Bua, accompanied us; he … Read more

The “participatory guarantee system” (PGS Organic Council): A renewed effort to sustain the lives and cultures of indigenous communities – Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

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Rich Forests: Making a living under the canopy […] PGS has been received enthusiastically in India and elsewhere. The PGS Organic Council was registered in Goa, India, in April 2011. Since then, the Government of India – under the national project on organic farming – has officially launched the participatory guarantee system (PGS India) for organic produce. In India … Read more

Resources for the classroom: Learning from and about India’s tribal communities, their culture and knowledge systems

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“[I]t is some of the basic values and ideology imbibed in the traditional tribal socio-cultural milieus that should have been emulated and promoted amongst the non-tribal mainstream, not, as has been going on, the other way round.” – Arup Maharatna (Professor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune), in Who Is Civilised?’: In Praise of Tribal … Read more