History and tourism: A homeland for “tribals who had dreamed of a separate state for a long time” – Jharkhand

History and Geography Jharkhand which came into being on 15 November 2000 as the 28th State of the Union is the homeland of the tribals who had dreamed of a separate state for a long time. According to legend, Raja Jai Singh Deo of Odisha had declared himself the ruler of Jharkhand in the 13th … Read more

“Seats of rural knowledge”: Training centres for tribal youth in crafts design, agriculture and plantations (Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra & Gram Gyanpeeth) – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Chhattisgarh

Twenty years back, in June 1995, newly-wedded couple Sunil and Nirupama Deshpande picked up a remote village, Lavada in Melghat region as their home. “We wanted to live in a place where people needed us,” says Nirupama, a former MHADA employee and MSW from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The two wanted to work … Read more

Understanding the lifestyle, rituals and social customs of seven indigenous tribes: “India’s first live tribal museum” – Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum

As per the last news reports, India’s first live Tribal Museum has registered a marked increase in tourist footfall this year. And if data is to be analysed, the footfall of domestic and international tourists has considerably increased since it has been inaugurated on a year-on-year basis. | Read the full report on Times Travel … Read more

“Our hunting, our economy and even our festivities were interlinked to iron smelting”: The Asur community’s last custodians of a traditional technique – Jharkhand

Laldeo Asur passes his days basking in the mellow winter sun, his 70-year-old body now too frail for the rigours of village life. But it is not his advancing age he is too concerned about but the advance of modernity on his tribe, the Asurs. Laldeo knows that after him there will be none to … Read more

“Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Ethics” – The Kaani (Kani) community of Tamil Nadu and Kerala

By Davidson Sargunam Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups native to a land or region. Usually they have a close relation to the land and live in consonance with nature. They believe that land and people are inseparable and interdependent. It is this aspect of their lifestyle-the intertwining of their lives with their natural surrounding that are a subject of fascination to modern man.  Today … Read more