A View of Higher Education in India” – public lecture by Prof. Ganesh Devy

The dramatically adverse ratio between India’s rural population and the institutions of higher education relegates the entire rural population to the category of ‘educationally disadvantaged’.  […] In democracies all over the world, electoral politics inevitably envelopes public institutions, and the social or ethical imperatives quickly get subsumed within the political dynamics. The policy of reservations … Read more

Mahasweta Devi – a writer-activist’s literary tribute to the civilizational graces of the adivasis

CELEBRATING WOMEN a symposium on women who made a difference Excerpt from “The adivasi Mahashweta” [Mahasweta] by https:y in 540, August 2004 | Read the full article here >> DO I know Mahashweta Devi ? Perhaps, I do. Perhaps not. […] In the mid-90s, I decided to give up academic life and enter the world of the adivasis. … Read more

”No one wants the forest to disappear”: Dr. Felix Padel on peace, justice, the Forest Rights Act and music

How could peace be brought, with justice? Is there even a movement for peace? How does this war compare with other wars in India, and worldwide? Few have targeted civilian villagers as remorselessly, though Ashoka’s Kalinga war, over 2,000 years ago, that killed 100000 people directly, and many indirectly according to Ashoka’s own inscriptions, presents … Read more

“Woodsmoke and Leafcups”: A book that opens up the full joy of tribal life without romanticisation – Bastar

The natural wealth with which much of tribal India is endowed is also its bane. The erstwhile Bastar district, one of the largest in the country, was first divided into three, and later into seven parts, each with a separate administrative system. In the guise of bringing governance closer to the people – let us, … Read more

More than a question of terminology: ‘Adivasi’, ‘Indigenous Peoples of India’, ‘Vanvasi’, ‘Vanyajati’, and the administration of constitutional privileges for ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (ST)

A Contentious Term to denote Tribes as Indigenous Peoples of India | Full article >> In India the term ‘Adivasi’ has gained immense popularity in the last few decades to identify the tribes. This term is more commonly brought to use by the NGO circles and activists of the ‘mainstream’ or ‘mainland’ India. The term has also … Read more