Scheduled Tribes – Kerala

What we are telling to the outer world is that no conservation would be possible without cooperation of the local community, especially the aborigines [Adivasis]. Integrating their traditional wisdom with modern-day scientific approach would definitely yield results. Source: KH Amitha Bachan (researcher and consultant to Kerala Forest Department and the World Wildlife Fund-India Ecological Monitoring … Read more

“Dance is an integral part of all festivities of the Santal community”: Celebrating the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore – West Bengal

Dance is an integral part of all festivities of the Santhal community. It is not only a performing art, but a way of life for them. To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Sangeet Natak Akademi organized Enek Sereng Parab, a three-day festival of Santhali dance and music at Daronda village, Birbhum, between … Read more

Santal community-based organisations – West Bengal

Our fate in our hands India’s indigenous Adivasi tribes are among the most disadvantaged people south of the Himalayan mountains. To improve their lot, some have begun to set up community-based organisations. […] We have experienced that the shift from tradition to modernity is loaded with difficulties. It can easily take several generations. We do … Read more

Video | “They don’t know our stories”: Understanding Warli art – Western region

The distinctive paintings were originally the preserve of Warlis, an Adivasi community living on both sides of the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. In Maharashtra, they mainly live in Dhule, Nashik and Palghar districts, and in Gujarat, primarily in Valsad. | Learn more >> Video: Jivya Soma Mashe and his son Sadashiv speak of their art and its … Read more