“Archery is the traditional game of Chhattisgarh”: Youngsters who excel – Jharkhand & Chhattisgarh

Tribal village Siwatarai emerges as archery hub RAIPUR: In the midst of forests, a tiny village in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh has emerged as a hub of archers [that up to 2017] produced more than 50 national players who have secured 122 odd medals in national and state level championships. The archers of Siwatarai village … Read more

Tip | Understanding India’s legislation known as Forest Rights Act and its relevance for tribal communities

The FRA was enacted in 2006 with the aim of protecting the claims of tribal communities over tracts of land or forests they have inhabited and cultivated for generations. It has the potential to democratise forest governance by recognising community forest resource rights over an estimated 85.6 million acres, thereby empowering over 200 million forest … Read more

“Tribal communities have proven that they are the best guardians of the forest and die-hard conservationists”: Illegal mining destroys the life and culture of the conservators of forests

Source: “Odisha’s Tribal Communities Are Reeling Under a Land Grab Project Masquerading as ‘Afforestation’” by Abhijit Mohanty (The Wire, 23 July 2020)URL: https://thewire.in/rights/odisha-kandhamal-forest-rights-tribalsDate Visited: 26 February 2022 Illegal mining in forests is destroying the life and culture of schedule tribes, opined Dr H Sudarshan, director of Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra. He was speaking at national … Read more

eBook | Preserving the variety of modern India’s communities and cultures in the making of the nation: Nehru’s empathy for “a people who sing and dance”

Nehru is not only opposed to muting the tribal into submission but is also opposed to majoritarian Hindu chauvinism that aims at creating a homogenized national community. […] For Nehru, the key is to preserve the variety of communities and cultures in the making of the nation. […] His empathy for a people who sing … Read more

Cultural invisibility – India’s 600 potentially endangered languages

According to UNESCO, any language that is spoken by less than 10,000 people is potentially endangered. In India, after the 1971 census, the government decided that any language spoken by less than 10,000 people need not be included in the official list of languages. In India, therefore, all the languages that are spoken by less … Read more