Figures, census & other statistics

“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

“Irulas are very knowledgeable about medicinal plants”: Interview with Zai Whitaker, Director of the Irula Tribal Women’s Welfare Society – Tamil Nadu

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The ITWWS is a women’s community-based development organization established in 1986. It was founded with the aim of protecting natural resources, empowering Irula women and using the Irula tribal knowledge of forest resources for economic prosperity. The organization started with five villages and now covers an area of over 100 villages in 4 districts. Because … Read more

Schooling of Scheduled Tribes in India: Lessons from the indigenous people of Brazil – Odisha

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Amarendra Das and I have visited a set of schools in the tribal villages of the Gajapati district of Odisha state (in India) early this year. Since these tribal communities speak a different language (namely Soura) (and they don’t speak the main language of the state – Oriya), schools here practice bilingual education in 1-4 … Read more

Strengthening the livelihood of tribal households in remote and hilly terrains: The “Wadi” project – Rajasthan

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MOHAMMED IQBAL, The Hindu, JAIPUR, February 4, 2012 An ambitious project sponsored by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 15 villages of the tribal-dominated Anandpuri block in Banswara district of Rajasthan has strengthened the rural livelihood scenario by successfully connecting missing links of resource management in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, pasture, medicinal products … Read more

Time for an apology to the world’s Indigenous peoples: Residential schools, exploitation of natural resources and ill treatment in the name of “progress”

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One of many broken agreements was that children were to be educated “whenever the Indians of the reserve shall desire it” in schools on the reserves. But rather than instruction being optional for those bands who desired it, as agreed, the state abducted Indigenous children and forcibly confined them in residential schools far from their … Read more

Sacred forests and groves in the West Ghats – Goa, Karnataka & Kerala

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Forests have been the lifeline for tribals and other forest dwelling communities since distant past. Communities have been setting aside certain patches of land or forest dedicated to a deity or village God, protected and worshipped called Devachirai in Goa. […] Address : http://mohan-pai.blogspot.com/Date Visited: Sat Aug 27 2011 11:39:13 GMT+0200 (CEST) Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic … Read more