Portraits of a society part 2

Adivasis are the indigenous population of India; i.e.the original inhabitants of the land.  They form a substantial minority of the Indian population at around 8% of the total population (around 68 million people) and around 50% of the Koraput district population. The Indian Constitution uses the term Scheduled Tribes as an administrative term to 'administer constitutional privileges, protection and benefits for peoples considered historically disadvantaged and backward'.  Not all Adivisis are classified as Scheduled Tribes.  The Constitution offers great protection and privelages to all the people of India but sadly the practice of administering people's rights is not so good.

In 1793 the British introduced the "Zamindari system that conferred control over vast territories, including Adivasi territories, to designated feudal lords for the purpose of revenue collection by the British. This drastically commenced the forced restructuring of the relationship of Adivasis to their territories as well as the power relationship between Adivasis and 'others'. The predominant external caste-based religion sanctioned and practiced a rigid and highly discriminatory hierarchical ordering with a strong cultural mooring". (A History of Discrimination, Conflict, and Resistance by C.R. Bijoy, Core Committee of the All India Coordinating Forum of Adivasis/Indigenous Peoples  

http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Dalit-tribal/2003/adivasi.htm).  

Historically, the Adivasi people did not own land individually but had territorial land that was used by many generations of the tribal community which ensured that the land remained in the control of the tribe rather than individuals.  The introduction of the Zamandiri system meant that the land that they lived on and from was taken out of their control and they lost their means to survive, leaving them low in the social hiearchy.  Subsequent developments such as the creation of large dams to form reservoirs resulted in further displacement of these people and disruption of their irrigations sytems, building large factories (that offer little employment to local people) on huge plots of land, mining bauxite (which not only displaces people but removes a valuable land resource as bauxite acts like a sponge, soaking up water during monsoon season for retention and life-support system for plants during the dry months) have added to the problems faced by many of the Adivisi communities.  

This is not a political or activist blog but I could write pages and pages about the problems and discrimination that are faced by these people.  They have huge problems that I am only just starting to comprehend.  There are many activists and NGOs such as SPREAD are trying to address their problems but it takes time and resources to get anywhere.  There are many very good blogs posted by activists who know far more about the Adivasi people and the problems they face than I do if you are interested and want to find out more.

There were loads of kids at the Tribal Convention - none of this leaving them at home for someone else to look after nonsense so often seen in many other countries.  They form a valued part of the society and seem to be welcomed everywhere.