At a time of increasing economic inequalities and ecological ruin, the search for alternative development paradigms has increased and an important aspect of these efforts has been to learn more about indigenous and tribal cultures and world-views as a source of guidance. While these efforts can be seen more in a few countries like Bolivia and Ecuador, there have been[Read More…]
Book review : Being Adivasis: Existence, Entitlements, Exclusion edited by Abhay Flavian Xaxa and G. N. Devy, New Delhi, Penguin, 2021, 208 pp., 699 (Hardcover), ISBN 9780670093007 Scholars on the study of Adivasi bring out new book under the title ‘Being[Read More…]
After taking the oath of office of the President of India, Droupadi Murmu said: “My election is proof of the fact that the poor in India can have dreams and fulfil them too.” Her speech at the oath taking ceremony was a moving narrative, recalling her past struggles from humble origins and her daily toil during her childhood. She described [Read More…]
How will you feel if someone promises to remove an injustice you have suffered for years, but in the end leaves you suffering even more than before? Something similar appears to be happening to tribal communities in India in the context of the Forest Rights Act 2006. They were promised by the government that the historic injustice caused to them[Read More…]
Letter to the Prime Minister on the occasion of the Janjatiya Gaurav Divas (national Tribal Day) on November 15, 2021 To Shri Narendra D Modi Prime Minister Dear Shri Modi, Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on November 15, 2021 The Centre and the States should “walk the talk”! I understand (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-to-lead-first-tribal-day-celebrations-7620370/) that you will be leading the first-ever Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on[Read More…]
Thousands of Adivasis involved in the “Pathalgari Movement” were criminalized for fighting for their collective rights to self-determination and protection of their lands, territories, and natural resources in Jharkhand State of India. Forty-six year old Ladu Nag from the Munda Adivasi (Indigenous) community is bound to live alone after her husband Neta Nag, a resident of Kevda village in Khunti[Read More…]
Podu cultivation is a traditional way of “shifting agriculture” in forests being practiced from ages and generation to generation. Lakhs of forest dwellers are solely dependent on this type of agriculture for their livelihood. The plight of lakhs of podu farmers in the state of Telangana is becoming precarious. The dismay and panic faced by them is very miserable. They[Read More…]
In 1996 India took a great step forward in terms of empowering rural tribal communities, a step which moreover was very much in continuity with Gandhian traditions of gram swaraj or village self-rule ( genuine decentralization based on justice and equality) and so India was a particularly good country for introducing such a step. This was in the form of[Read More…]
The population of Tribals (Scheduled Tribes) in Uttar Pradesh is 11.35 lakhs of which 80% are landless. That is why the Forest Rights Act – 2006 and Rules 2008 came into force for the empowerment of Tribals. Under this law, Tribals and non-Tribals living in a Reserve Forest area were to be given a lease of residential and agricultural[Read More…]
Written by K.M. Seethi & Elizabeth Abraham The social landscape and livelihood options in the tribal habitats in Kerala have changed tremendously in the last several decades. This transformation has its impact on the tribal population and their life-world experiences. This is the theme of the ongoing workshop organised as part of the Engaging Human Ecology Series of the Inter[Read More…]
Many commentators on land and forest rights, including former senior government officials, have expressed serious concern at the land alienation suffered by tribal farmers and the dilution of their forest rights. While this has led to a serious livelihood crisis among a large number of tribal households, in addition this has led to immense threats to the rich[Read More…]
Written by Aman Rathi, Ashutosh Rungta and Darpan Jain It was a fine morning, about 4 AM, in a remote village named Beliyapal, in the state of Chhattisgarh. Shiv Kumari, a tribal woman of around 40 years, readied herself to make her way to the jungle. She would walk about 5-6 km deep in the wilderness with a basket ready[Read More…]
One million animal and plant species face extinction due to human activity, according to the United Nations. Now, think about cultural production—art and literature that we have invested to address the extinction of just a handful of species (passenger pigeon included). Quite a bit actually. The extinction of one million species feels rather abstract, beyond the comprehension of human cultural[Read More…]
In the not-too-distant past, there was a very senior official . He was an official of his own kind, very devoted to the welfare of the poorest people. He led a most simple life, so that he could devote himself single-mindedly to the dearest objective of his life which was to work for the welfare of poor and oppressed people,[Read More…]
Commemorating 25th anniversary of spark ignited in Padmagiri-Pandaripani landmark struggle This week we commemorate 25 years since the launching of the peasant struggle in Padmagiri Pandaripani in Malkangiri in Orissa which was landmark event in history of Indian revolutionary Movement. Such agitations are the turning point in the seeking of liberation of the oppressed from the clutches of exploiter classes.[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr. Anamika Roy, Dr. Chandrima Chatterjee & Dr. Parul Malik The tribal population of India comprises of the indigenous people dwelling in the hinterlands who are sometimes extremely susceptible to high levels of inaccessibility to health resources. The health inequalities which have been faced by these people are an evidence of the fundamental failure of the realization of[Read More…]
MAHILA KISAN ADHIKAAR MANCH (MAKAAM) or Forum for Women Farmers’ Rights condemns and expresses deep concern over the increasing incidence of violence, harassment and atrocities against adivasi and other traditional forest dwellers especially women forest dwellers in Uttarakhand. The Forest Rights Act 2006 proclaims the responsibility of the state to defend and uphold the rights of Adivasis and Other Traditional[Read More…]
by Pranab Doley, Jacinta Kerketta, Deme Oraon, Gladson Dungdung, Sharanya and Rajaraman Sundaresan A recent protest, through a petition endorsed by around 300 Adivasi leaders, academics, activists, environmental groups and people’s movements in India, has brought the issue of decolonization to the forefront by protesting against the decision of IUAES and its member organizations to hold the World Anthropology Congress[Read More…]
The 24th edition of the Kolkata international film festival, held in November 2018, showed a surprisingly large number of films from Australia, which has never been counted among the foremost film-making nations of the world; no less than two dozen in all. It is hard to tell whether the ‘focus’ had anything to do with an increasing interest in Down[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dibyendu Chaudhuri and Parijat Ghosh Deskilling is a process of elimination of skilled labour within an economy. Separation of intelligence from muscle helps ruling class dominating both (Braverman, 1974). Advent of modern agriculture, characterised by hybrid seeds, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc., is considered responsible for deskilling in agriculture. In agriculture, deskilling is understood as a process in[Read More…]
Whereas previously SC affirmed indigenous people’s inalienable rights to their land, it now orders their eviction from their land unilaterally There are three significant SC judgments on the indigenous Adivasi people’s rights over their land and natural resources: 1) In 2011 the SC, hearing a complaint petition by a young Adivasi woman who was raped and paraded naked by[Read More…]
Today, the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a national platform of adivasi and forest dwellers’ organisations, decided on a national Wave of Struggle over the next two weeks against the unjust attack on millions of people whose claims under the Forest Rights Act were rejected. The Supreme Court’s order to evict over one million claimant families is the direct[Read More…]
The Human Rights Forum (HRF) rejects the atrocious February 13 order of the Supreme Court that calls for eviction in a summary and time-bound manner of those whose claims for forest rights under The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA) have been rejected. This amounts to an attack on the rights of adivasis[Read More…]
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra has ordered eviction of Adivasis and other forest dwelling communities from the ‘forest’ regions whose claims for entitlement have been rejected by the Forest department. The written copy of the order was made available on February 20th, 2019 which makes things unambiguous and the intent. The court order says : “The[Read More…]
Supreme Court Order for Eviction of a million forest dwellers in more than 16 states perpetuates ‘Historical Injustice’ ! BJP-led Union government jeopardizes the interests of country’s forest dependent people and adivasis: State governments fail in implementing FRA in true spirit Centre must issue Ordinance to stop evictions as per SC Order 21st Feb, 2019: National Alliance of People’s Movements[Read More…]
Today we celebrate World Indigeneous people’s day but in the backyard of the biggest democracy of the world is the systematic isolation and displacement of millions of adivasis in the name of development. A veteran activist is fighting for the rights of the aadivasis on the Narmada valley but the government is determined to ‘develop’ the state even when it[Read More…]
Not many people may have witnessed the beauty of forests, but it is certainly something that everyone knows something about. In the narrative of climate change and the destruction wrought on nature by man, the declining forest cover and the thinning canopy take on poetic notes. The forest becomes a singular identity, existing majestically, independent of animals and people. Thus[Read More…]
One does not have to read Marx to understand how debt-based money in the form of credit to corporations, – chosen by banks on the basis of their ability to make profit, – leads to an accumulation of money in the hands of those few who create the money and are given the credit. Profiteering, in short, capitalism, is incompatible[Read More…]
Eight Reasons Why Now is a Good Time for a Ukraine Ceasefire and Peace Talks 
Julian Assange and Albanese’s Intervention 
‘Deliberate Ambiguity’: Israel’s Nuclear Weapons Are Greatest Threat to Middle East 
The Mega Rich Have It Made!! 
Kurdistan and Kosovo 
Health, Environment and Livelihoods in Somalia Have Suffered Much From Dumping of Toxic Wastes from Europe 
Dalit agricultural Workers lathi charged outside Punjab CM’s residence in Sangrur 
NATO summit vows to continue troop surge to Russia’s borders 
40th anniversary of ‘Gandhi’ movie by Richard Attenborough 
Russian Oil Keeps Flowing 
Sustainable Consumption, Sustainability in Value Chain 
Is Russia Really the Reason Why Mali Continues to Push France Away? 
Puerto Rico: FEMA corruption sabotages aid for islanders 
Somalia’s Long Journey from Prosperity to Hunger Deaths 
The MAGAfication of America 
Postpone Enforcement Of CPTPP 
“I can’t invent a history for those who have none!” — P. Sainath 
As UK premier polishes his “Brand Rishi” image, the country slides into recession 
The farmers braved the barricade 
The Constitution belongs to ‘We, the People!’ 
Montreal Biodiversity COP15 December 2022 
Tuvalu, Climate Change and the Metaverse 
Populist Climate Action Requires Thinking About Freedom From Specific Oppressors—Not Just Species Survival 
The Global Push for Population Growth Shows We’re Not Grappling With the Climate Crisis 
New York Times, Guardian And 3 More Media Outlets Call To End Prosecution Of Assange: Publishing Is Not A Crime 
Could China Help Brazil to Overcome Its Economic Crisis? 
10 Suggestions for Lula, New President of Brazil 
Chinese Authorities Should Have Been Much More Sensitive to Adverse Impacts of Prolonged Lockdowns 
Football, the global binder 
The Madness of German Autobahnism 
Delhi state Anganwadi Workers and helpers union stage campaign against AAP and BJP 
India’s hypocrisy towards Ambedkar exposed once more 
The initiative of the Vaagdhara organization to preserve coarse grains 
‘Veer’ Savarkar, the Master of Mercy Petitions 
Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India 
China Experiences Anti-Lockdown Protests, Restrictions Being Lifted 
Narendra Modi’s new found love for Tamil 
Supreme Court’s Widely- Praised Bail for Anand Teltumbde should be Followed by Wider Justice in Elgar Case 
Jagdish Tirodkar: The departure of a gentle socialist 
What If the U.S. and China Really Cooperated on Climate Change? 
Havoc and misery caused by recent floods in Bengaluru, Pakistan and Assam are not only natural disasters but are man made and due to climate change. Over exploitation of urban land and water resources by greedy private real estate developers perhaps the chief cause of floods. Media relentlessly focused on flooded upscale villas, their swanky automobiles of super rich in[Read More…]
