“India is home to nearly 20 Cr. [200 million] traditional forest-dwelling Adivasis and OTFDs [other forest dwelling communities], who derive their subsistence and livelihoods from forest and forest resources over several generations and thousands of years.” – Research team (Sayantani Satpathi, Shambhavi Singh & Subhodeep Basu) in “Revisiting the Forest Rights Act: Status of Implementation with respect to Land Tenures and Collection of Minor Forest Produce” (Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation New Delhi, 12 July 2019)
https://www.academia.edu/41756309
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=10151
Rajendra P Kerkar, Times of India, Dec 1, 2016 KERI: The village panchayat of Bhironda in Sattari taluka has become the state’s first local self-governing body to have completed work on the people’s biodiversity register (PBR) in keeping with the Biodiversity Act, 2002. As per the Act, PBRs are to be prepared in consultation with locals … Read more
Santali is one of India’s many Adivasi languages. Today, seven different alphabets are used to write in it. Some argue that this great variety does not help the community’s development. | Read the full article by Boro Baski (3,3 MB) >> Among South Asian Adivasis, we are the largest homogenous group. More than 10 million … Read more
Bhasha is not an acronym. The term ‘bhasha’ means in most Indian languages, ‘language’, ‘speech’, ‘definition’ or ‘voice’. Bhasha Research and Publication Centre was founded in 1996 for study, documentation and conservation of Non Scheduled languages not protected by the Constitution of India. In the initial years, Bhasha focused on languages of Adivasi and Nomadic communities, many … Read more
The Indian Constitution recognizes only 22 languages. Of these only two adivasi languages, Santhali and Bodo are included in the Schedule of Languages. As per the 1991 Census there are 96 other languages having at least 10,000 speakers and 263 languages having even fewer speakers. The Non Scheduled languages being largely oral in nature have … Read more
“Today, bamboo is liberated,” proclaimed Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh at a function here on Wednesday, where he handed over to Mendha’s community leader Devaji Tofa a transit pass that would allow the sale and transportation of bamboo within the community. Ever since bamboo was given the status of a … Read more