“While benefiting from affirmative action in some cases, Adivasis or indigenous people in India also feel the claustrophobic confines of their identity which has been imposed on them by others, be it the colonial administrator, the colonial anthropologist, the missionary or the neo-liberal, neo-imperialist forces that rule global economy today.” – Santali poet, scholar and translator Ivy Imogene Hansdak in “Is tribal identity relevant in today’s world?”, Inaugural Speech, National Conference “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (2017)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=23032
The non-formal Santal school Rolf Schoembs Vidyashram (RSV) was established in 1996. It has educated children of several Santal villages in Birbhum District by using a pioneering and model method of education. The Sanghas of the two Santal villages Ghosladanga and Bishnubati have combined their ideas and idealism to make such a school possible. “The … Read more
Once they were the owners of these lands, All these vast expanses of forests, mountains and valleys belonged to them, and they lived of the fruits of nature without disturbing its harmony. Their rhythm of life was in tandem with the tunes of their environment. A rhythm that echoes in their music. Their music and … Read more
Tip: https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/resources-lc-issue-7-august-2020-multilingual-context.aspx It is a complex issue. Something we have been grappling with over the years. Ideally linguistic diversity must be protected at all costs. But pragmatically, in our increasing globalised world restricting people to their own language when only a few speak the language can be very limiting. This is especially true for tribals. … Read more
When the birds were first created, they were new to the earth and its life. They did not know what to eat, what not to eat, where to live and how to live. They felt free to do as they wished …
The IIT Adivasi’ who became a frontbencher At 4.30pm on July 7, as the shadows lengthened on the freedom memorial, Hijli jail, in Kharagpur, Yama took away a campus favourite. Living alone and quietly in a small apartment outside the IIT campus was a bespectacled, diminutive, 89-year-old professor. He was “The IIT Adivasi”, the only … Read more