Irula snake catchers’ role in pest control and producing anti-venom serum – Tamil Nadu

Armed with a crowbar, a sabre and a cotton bag, the group sets out at 5.30 a.m. from Vadanemmeli on East Coast Road. Taking the first bus to Mambakkam village on the Kelambakkam – Vandalur Road, the five-member team goes to a paddy field in the nearby Kolathur village. This is the daily routine of … Read more

Tip | Voices from the Periphery: A multidisciplinary book “reversing the gaze”: Questioning the fringes of India’s mainstream society

“It is wrong and does not help the tribal cause either to reduce the image of the Indian tribal society to that of destitute remnants, on the verge of dying out.” – Georg Pfeffer in Voices from the Periphery: Subalternity and Empowerment in India (Routledge India 2012) A rare collection of essays and different from most … Read more

India’s tribal cultural heritage – Meghalaya

In the village of Nongtraw in Meghalaya, one of the world’s wettest region, honey is quite sought after by the Khasi indigenous community who go to the forest to collect it. When they reach a beehive, they introduce themselves to the bee, “informing the bees” that they will only take what is required. This legacy … Read more

India’s tribal cultural heritage – West Bengal

“The smart boy or clever girl who is deprived of the opportunity of schooling, or who goes to a school with dismal facilities (not to mention the high incidence of absentee teachers), not only loses the opportunities he or she could have had, but also adds to the massive waste of talent that is a … Read more

Mahatma Gandhi on industrialism and his appeal to capitalists of India to become “trustees to the welfare of the masses” – Young India 1928

GOD FORBID that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West. The economic imperialism of a single tiny island kingdom (England) is today keeping the world in chains. If an entire nation of 300 millions took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts. Unless the capitalists … Read more