“While the danger of extinction looms large over some languages, many other languages have been thriving. For example, Gondi (spoken in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra), Bhili (Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat), Mizo (Mizoram), Garo and Khasi (Meghalaya) and Kokborok (Tripura) are showing an upward trend because educated people in these communities have started using these languages for writing. They publish poems, write plays and perform them. In some of the languages, even films are being made.” – Abhijit Mohanty in “Seven decades after independence, many tribal languages in India face extinction threat” (Down to Earth, 26 August 2020)
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/governance/seven-decades-after-independence-many-tribal-languages-in-india-face-extinction-threat-73071
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=6879
The ancient tribal communities that lived here in the Andaman Islands […] have lived and flourished here for at least 40,000 years., but the end could well be round the corner. […] It definitely began with the British and their policies, which have been kept up with clinical efficiency by modern, independent India [which] was … Read more
The People’s Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) is a comprehensive survey of the living languages of India in present time. The first such survey since George Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India carried out between 1894 and 1928, the PLSI is being carried out by persons who belong to the respective speech communities or have worked closely with them.peopleslinguisticsurvey.org Prof. Ganesh … Read more
Source: Report for the ICSSR-sponsored Two-Day National Conference Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative organised by The Department of English & Outreach Programme Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi, 27-28 February 2017) In the postcolonial scenario of many Third World countries today, religious conversion is frequently perceived as an act of expediency undertaken by … Read more
Source: “Voices Unheard: Tribal Literature from India to Read Now” by Pooja Shankar, Words Without Borders, 29 March 2017URL: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/voices-unheard-tribal-literature-from-india-to-read-nowDate visited: 12 April 2018