Forests beyond our reach: tribal healer (Wayanad) – Kerala

Tribesmen’s freedom to enter the forest to collect herbal plants and other medicinal material should be protected by the law, Achappan Vaidyar, tribal healer from Wayanad, has said. Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a national-level tribal healers’ workshop and an exhibition of tribal medicines on the campus of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training … Read more

The status and spread of Santali in different regions of India: A flourishing language hardly in need of being “revived”

Santali is not a dead language in the first place so it does not need to be “revived”! I have grown up in Santal Parganas where people speak Santali in their homes, in the marketplace, attend church service in Santali (in the Lutheran churches) and sing hymns in Santali. […] Finally, the Santals of Santal … Read more

Video | Khasi musical heritage of Meghalaya – introduction

Watch a series of short videos portraits researched and filmed by Gayatri Indira Vijaysimha and Dev Narayan Chaudhuri (Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai): young and senior members of the Khasi community who enjoy music making for a variety of reasons. What unites them is a commitment, namely to provide future generations with access to … Read more

ePaper | The Kaani (Kani) community’s ethno-botanical knowledge of 300 medicinal herbs: Paper presented at the National Jackfruit Festival 2015 – Kerala

“Jackfruit and its value-added products have started stealing the show at various food festivals, thanks to the collective initiatives of peasants. However, the governments continue their habitual indifference to promoting this tropical fruit with immense nutritional value and market potential,” says Shree Padre, veteran agricultural journalist and editor of the Kannada agricultural magazine, Adike Patrika … Read more