Promoting social enterprises based on value addition of local, natural resources, especially bamboo, the “green gold”: A Wayanad-based NGO Uravu – Kerala

URAVU is a non-government organization working with people, governments and businesses to implement programs for sustainable employment and income generation in rural areas. Uravu is a non-profit trust, established in 1996, registered under the Indian Trusts Act. Uravu promotes social enterprises based on value addition of local, natural resources, especially bamboo, the “green gold”. Uravu implements integrated, … Read more

Guda: A film by KJ Baby in the tribal language of the Kattunaikkars – Kerala

`Guda’ ready for screening The shooting of the `Guda’, perhaps the first film in the tribal language of the `Kattunaikkars’, has been completed and the film is all set for screening by the middle of December. K.J. Baby, the director and scriptwriter of `Guda’, said that the film would screened before an invited audience, most … Read more

Vacationing in a responsible and compassionate manner: Wayanad – Kerala

For the tribes The Priyadarshini Tea Estate was begun as a cooperative society in 1985 to provide a means of livelihood for the Adivasis who were released from bonded labour. I was told the proceeds of our stay at the estate would go towards the welfare of the 120 Adivasi families living in the estate. … Read more

“A book that fills a gaping hole in the literature on Adivasis”: A Rogue and Peasant Slave by Shashank Kela

The Nine Per CentBy Stan Thekaekara An incisive account of adivasi survival, from colonial risings to contemporary insurgencies IS IT an anthropological study by an academic, a textbook by a historian, a political polemic by an activist or a novel? Shashank Kela’s A Rogue and Peasant Slave is all of this and more. In his … Read more

Rock Art Studies (Asiatic Society Kolkata): Continuum of the art tradition “evident among pre-literate and indigenous ethnic entities” – Central India & Kerala

Rock art studies in India is not only restricted to the Palaeolithic period, it extends even beyond it. In the Indian subcontinent the caves and rock shelters were inhabited and used by people over many periods, throughout which the rock walls were used as a convenient canvas to visually express and transmit their idea, ethos, aspirations … Read more