Commentary

“Unless we affirm our culture and right and language, we won’t live. Our colour is good, our language is good, our art is good, our way of living is good. If we can respect your religion and your practices, why can’t you respect ours?” – G. Thenadikulam from Wayanad District (Survival International, accessed 21 September 2022)
http://notprimitive.in/not-primitive-info
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=22274

Diversity, plurality and tolerance are “core values of our civilisation”: President Pranab Mukherjee’s statement at Rashtrapati Bhavan – New Delhi

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Source: “Take the cue from the President” – The Hindu, October 16, 2015Address: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/take-the-cue-from-the-president/article7766516.eceDate visited: 24 November 2020 [I]t was by reading and speaking to Tagore that these founders of modern India, Gandhi and Nehru, developed a theory of nationalism that was inclusive rather than exclusive. Tagore’s [collected lectures on the subject of] Nationalism should … Read more

“Many tribal peoples have an encyclopaedic knowledge of native animals, plants and herbs”: Ingenious skills of tribal peoples

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Click on the image to view the slideshow and read more Many tribal peoples have an encyclopaedic knowledge of native animals, plants and herbs; the Yanomami, for example, use around 500 species of plants on a daily basis. The Yali people of West Papua excel as ecologists, and recognize at least 49 varieties of the … Read more

“Who is Indian, and what makes a person an Indian?”: Questions debated among members of 565 recognized American Indian tribes

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My answer? There are many definitions of who is an Indian. As a starting point, “Indian” is a misguided label that spread through Europe after 1492. Native people have always associated themselves with their tribe(s) and referenced their tribal names in their tribal languages. Explorers and colonists from Spain, France, England, the Netherlands, and Russia, … Read more

“Not a lack of knowledge but loss of land”: How forced dependence on distribution system shatters self-sustained communities – Kerala

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The tribes in Attappady are classified into three categories; Kurumba, Irula and Muduga. Kurumbas live deep inside the forests in 19 settlements of Pudur. Whereas, most of the Irula and Muduga populations live on revenue lands of Pudur, Agaly and Sholayur. A few among the settlements of Irula and Muduga are in forest lands. […]  There are 149 … Read more

“We have a special responsibility to document, monitor and conserve our most precious asset”: Biodiversity for sustaining their livelihoods – Survey of the Environment

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India may be the only large country with huge scientific capability to lack a serious programme to monitor the state of its ecosystems. Because the major drivers of habitat loss or change are rooted in political, economic and social factors, India needs to develop a monitoring programme that is focused not only on biodiversity, but … Read more