Vishnu Vardhan

Tribal welfare: GI tag can help ST entrepreneurs thrive At this critical juncture of India’s development journey, where inclusive economic growth has emerged as a new exemplar of development, the empowerment of scheduled tribes (ST), which are largely economically and socially backward, has assumed special significance. And what better way than to help them become […]

A Report on the COVID Lockdown Impact on Tribal Communities in India A preliminary report, based on an ongoing assessment of issues being faced by tribal and other forest dwelling people because of COVID 19 and lockdown measures, is presented here along with some recommendations. A.   KEY ISSUES AND PROBLEMS OF TRIBALS AND FOREST COMMUNITIES:

We Must Bring an End to the Bru Tribe’s Exodus in India The plight of the Bru (Reang) tribe has remained vastly unheard in the Indian subcontinent. It has been almost 23 years since their exodus and no media house has bothered to consider covering this issue of great concern. The Bru are a community

How COVID-19 made forest rights battle tough for Tharu women The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown spelled disaster for and paralysed several communities — the Tharu Adivasi community in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Khiri district near the India-Nepal border was among those affected hard. The Adivasi villagers alleged the forest department prevented people from entering

Van Dhan for Jaan and Jahaan: The Story of Shahapur’s Katkari Tribe What can come out of a group of a few dedicated boys led by an able leader and enabling support from government organisations? A lot, apparently. This has been proved yet again, by “Adivasi Ekatmik Samajik Sanstha” of Shahapur in Thane, which markets

Arunachal’s tribes revive indigenous lockdown rituals. A tribal lockdown ritual has staged a comeback in Arunachal Pradesh, the State geographically closest to China’s Hubei province where the COVID-19 outbreak began. Arr-Rinam is the Galo equivalent of lockdown imposed by consensus for 48 hours whenever an epidemic strikes. The Galos, one of the 26 major tribes

With the Covid-19 pandemic, people from the Northeast are facing a rise in racial attacks across the country. At a time when the world is battling a global health crisis, and state leaders are talking about forming a united front to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, things in India have taken an unpleasant turn. The racial

Whose land is it anyway: Of India’s 703 ongoing conflicts, 25% are in tribal areas.  In India, on average, at least 10,600 people are impacted by each ongoing land conflict. The number crosses 21,300 in the land conflicts involving mining projects, reveals a recent study. The study, titled Locating the Breach and released by the

Relocation of tribal people living around Similipal Tiger Reserve forceful, claim locals.  A hundred families belonging to the Khadia community, a particularly vulnerable tribal group, were relocated from Khejuri village in the buffer area of the Similipal Biosphere Reserve to Saleibeda, about 100 km away. Khejuri has a recognised community forest rights (CFR) area and

Nomadic Tribes and the NPR Process It is unreasonable to expect this historically marginalised and exploited community to produce documents and prove their citizenship. A report by the government of India’s National Commission of Denotified, Nomadic and SemiNomadic Tribes of India affirms this: “Although, many of the denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes are spread among