Regions of India – Tribal heritage & indigenous knowledge

“The Indian subcontinent boasts of a rich and diverse history involving multi-ethnic origins, and this has been established by in-depth scholarship on linguistics, mythology, folklore and anthropology, archaeology, geology, big-history and genetics.” – Ma­nu­raj Shun­mu­ga­sun­daram in “The Dravidian movement and Aryan illusions” (The Hindu, 23 July 2022)
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-dravidian-movement-and-aryan-illusions/article65672119.ece
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=26937

“The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956 […] ‘to develop the habit of cooperative working’ among these States.” –  Government of India in “Zonal Councils” (accessed 3 April 2021)
https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/ZCS-CitiCharter-130710_0.pdf
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?page_id=20801

“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

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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”

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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

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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

eBook | “It is possible to finance tribal health care”: Recommendations by the Expert Committee on Tribal Health – Government of India

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Though it has long been suspected that tribal people have poor health and unmet needs, health care for tribal people remained subsumed in rural health care. It was assumed that tribal people have same health problems, similar needs and hence the uniform national pattern of rural health care would be applicable to them as well, … Read more

Land allocation and alienation: The Kaani tribal community inhabiting the forests of Kanyakumari – Tamil Nadu

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Excerpts from a report by environmental educator Davidson Sargunam (Nagercoil) titled Land Alienation of the tribe: Rich forest lands, poor tribal people. The Kaani tribal community inhabits the forests of Kanyakumari in 48 Settlements in the Western Ghats in Agasthiar Biosphere Reserve. Once a nomadic tribe, they have settled in the deep forests and jungles. They … Read more