eBook | The Dhodia community: Celebrating history and legends through songs and storytelling – Gujarat

Dhodia Adivasis are spread across Gujarat and Maharashtra. They have songs for all occasions: birth, death, marriage, harvest and festivals. Their main musical instrument is the Toor. They have a rich repertoire of stories of human, animals and birds, tales of wit and cleverness, historical stories, mythical and magical tales, stories of origin, legends and … Read more

eBook | The Tale of a Mouse (Chaudhari) – A story from Gujarat

Once there lived an old woman. One day the woman sat before the fire, preparing rotlas. A mouse passed by the hedge outside. As it rushed by, a thorn stuck in its legs. The mouse came slowly inside the house to the old woman and said, “Oh Grandmother, a thorn has stuck in my leg … Read more

India’s tribal cultural heritage – Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state of the country but has a small tribal population [namely] five major Scheduled Tribes and about 18 other tribal groups. Source: “An analytical study of socio-economic conditions of tribal farmers in Bijnor district of U.P. State”, PhD thesis by Mohammad Awais, 2013URL: https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/jspui/handle/10603/11218Date Visited: 14 September 2022 “Natpurwa … Read more

Marlavai Training Centre – model for present day education of tribal people – Andhra Pradesh

Marlavai village in Jainoor mandal of Adilabad district was not this sleepy when Austrian anthropologist Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf was at work during the decade of 1940. He had launched his pioneering experiment in education of tribal people at this village. This experiment, christened Gond Education Scheme in Adilabad district, was the first concrete step in tribal … Read more

Sharing valuable rice varieties with farmers: Biodiversity for the sake of “vital nutrients and the ability to withstand flood, drought, salinity or pest infestations” – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha Maharashtra & West Bengal

IN BRIEF India originally possessed some 110,000 landraces of rice with diverse and valuable properties. These include enrichment in vital nutrients and the ability to withstand flood, drought, salinity or pest infestations. The Green Revolution covered fields with a few high-yielding varieties, so that roughly 90 percent of the landraces vanished from farmers’ collections. High-yielding … Read more