Customs

“We have a song for every situation. We feel money takes away from the enjoyment of life. But to earn a livelihood, people have to learn other languages.” – Santal teacher Pada Murmu interviewed by Nandini Nair (OPEN Magazine, 13 January 2017)
https://openthemagazine.com/features/dispatch/santali-talking-time/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=21581

Role models for members of “hill-tribes” forcibly brought down to the plains: Irulas in pursuit of higher education – Tamil Nadu

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How Tamil Nadu’s Irula students are struggling to pursue higher education | To read the full story in the New Indian Express, click here >> As [the correspondent] travels across the northern districts of Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Vellore, and Tiruvannamalai, it becomes clear that hundreds of Irula students, like Dhanalakshmi, have been struggling without a community … Read more

Toda embroidery: an ancient art thriving in the Nilgiris – Tamil Nadu

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The ancient Toda community people are the residents of Nilgiris that means ‘Blue Mountains’, popularly known as Ooty. Nilgiris is the abode of many interesting tribes and prominent among them are Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Irulas, Mullukurumbas and Paniyans. These Todas are said to be of pastoral community and speak Toda language, belonging to Dravidian family … Read more

Tribal communities without social bias against women: Attitudes to female children according to census data – Government of India

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Despite having lower literacy rates than “others”, scheduled caste households have higher sex ratios, and tribals the highest of all, newly released Census data shows. While census data is not yet available by religious group, the primary data of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes was made available by the office of the Registrar General of … Read more

Members of the Kaani (Kani) community “guardian angels” of the Karamana river (Western Ghats) – Kerala

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Achuthsankar S. Nair | To read the full story, click here >> Unlike city residents who pollute the water, tribal communities upstream revere the river History is often the story of kings, ministers, chieftains and landlords. The story of ordinary human beings who also lived around them at the same time is very often not … Read more

Creativity based on tribal tradition, “one of the pillars of Indian culture”: Tribal sammelan at Hampi Kannada University – Karnataka

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Writer and former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi Kannada University Chandrashekhar Kambar said on Saturday that the Government should take help from sympathetic scholars belonging to tribal communities in understanding the needs and problems of tribal people. He was presiding over the inauguration of the two-day second tribal sammelan, organised by the Hampi Kannada University, District Administration … Read more