The incidence of premarital sex among Jharkhand youths, particularly in tribal areas, is higher than the national average, says a study that also points to low condom use and little awareness of AIDS in this section.

According to the survey, 17 percent of young men and seven percent of young women indulge in pre-marital sex while the national average is around 15 percent and three percent respectively.

The study titled `Youth in India, Situation and Needs`, which was conducted in six states, including Jharkhand, was released on Tuesday. It was carried out by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, and the Population Council, New Delhi.

`The national pre-marital sex ratio among male youths is around 15 to 16 percent and three to five percent among female youths. The pre-marital sex ratio is a little higher in tribal society mainly because of the fact that tribal communities allow men and women to stay together before marriage,` Usha Ram, an associate professor at IIPS, said.

It says around 19 percent of rural and 10 percent of urban male youths indulge in pre-marital sex. Eight percent of rural female youths indulge in pre-marital sex as compared to two percent urban female youths.

The survey says many of the sexual experiences of the young people were risky. Among those who had sex, one-quarter of young men and one-third of women reported pre-marital sex with more than one partner, and only seven percent of men and two percent of women reported condom use.

The survey report is based on the interviews of 8,814 youths, comprising unmarried women, men and married women between 15 and 24 years, and married men up to 29 years.

The awareness level of youths regarding HIV and AIDS is much below the national average. Only 27 percent of young men and 17 percent of young women had in-depth awareness of HIV/AIDS against the national average of 50 percent.

`The findings confirm the need for sex education,` said Ram.

Just one in 10 young men and one in 20 young women had attended family planning or sex education programmes. `Youth, nevertheless, were overwhelmingly in favour of the provision of family planning or sex education to young people,` she said.

The findings of the study show that young men and women have limited awareness of sexual and reproductive matters such as how pregnancy occurs, HIV and safe sex practices and contraception.

Only one-third of youth (35-36 percent) were aware that a woman can get pregnant while having sex for the first time. Around 36 percent of young men and 47 percent of young women did not know that 18 years is the legal minimum age at marriage for women.

The study noted that early marriage was followed by early pregnancy – 63 percent of the women had their first pregnancy before they were aged 18. The first pregnancy occurred within six months of marriage for 39 percent of young women.

`Early pregnancy – before the girl's body is fully developed and prepared for pregnancy – can have major repercussions for young girls` health and also for the health of the baby they carry. Appropriate measures should be adopted to postpone marriage and postpone pregnancy among girls getting married at an early age,` said Shireen Jejeebhoy, senior Associate of Population Council of India.

IANS / 2009-07-31

In a shocking incident, a teacher allegedly removed upper clothes of eight Adivasi girl students of fifth standard of a government school near Tyonda in Vidisha on the pretext of taking measurements for their uniforms.

The shameful act of the teacher has now forced the eight girls of Ganjbasoda's Nurpur Education Guarantee Scheme School to discontinue their studies.

The incident that took place on July 24 about five km from Tyonda came to light when the girls complained to their parents about it, District Education Officer Manish Verma said in Vidisha on Wednesday.

He said the parents in a complaint alleged that the Guruji (teacher), Sanjeev Sharma, had allegedly removed the upper clothes of eight Adivasi girl students on the pretext of taking measurements for their uniforms in a closed classroom after calling two students at a time.

Once he made them to remove their upper clothes, he took the measurement with his fingers, instead of an inch-tape, Verma said. The students also alleged that the teacher had misbehaved with them when they were half-naked in the closed classroom, the DEO said.

The angry villagers went to the school but by then, Sharma had left after locking the premises following which they complained about the matter to the DEO.

Indian Express / Agencies / Jul 29, 2009

The Supreme Court, while partly upholding the Kerala Restriction on Transfer by and Restoration of Lands to the Scheduled Tribes Act, 1999, has said the legislation is more beneficial to the tribal people than the 1975 law that was repealed.

A Bench of Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Mukundakam Sharma partly allowed the appeals filed by the Kerala government against a judgment of the Kerala High Court dated August 24, 2000, to the extent that the 1999 Act repealed the 1975 law relating to agriculture land. However, the Bench held that the State admittedly had no legislative competence to enact legislation in relation to non-agriculture land. While enacting the 1999 Act, the State could not have disadvantaged the persons who held non-agriculture land, having enacted the 1975 Act, and thus could not have repealed a portion thereof. “We, therefore, are of the opinion that to that extent the 1975 Act would continue to be applied.”

Writing the judgment, Justice Sinha said: “The 1999 Act, if given a holistic view, is more beneficial to the members of the Scheduled Tribes than the 1975 Act. If the State contemplated a legislative policy for grant of more benefits to a vast section of people, taking care of not only restoration of land but also those who have not transferred any land at all or otherwise landless, the statute by no stretch of imagination can be treated to be an arbitrary and an unreasonable one.”

“Furthermore, we have noticed that the members of the Scheduled Tribes are educated and we can safely presume that most of them are serving various institutions. We are satisfied that the Legislature of Kerala kept in view the necessity of protecting the interest of the small landholders who were in possession and enjoyment of property which had belonged to the tribal community and at the same time ensured that the tribal people are not thrown out of their land and rendered homeless.”

The Bench said: “Keeping in view the promises made by the 1999 Act, it is obligatory on the part of the State to provide the land meant for the members of the Scheduled Tribes. If they do not have sufficient land, they may have to take recourse to the acquisition proceedings, but we are clear that the State will fulfil its legislative promise failing which the persons aggrieved will be entitled to take recourse to such remedies which are available to them in law.”

1. Housing (state scheme)

   The scheme aims at providing financial assistance of Rs.70,000 to Scheduled Tribes in three stages for the construction of houses. Beneficiaries are selected by Oorukoottam.(Tribal groups) application form 

2. Primitive Tribes Housing (art 275(I)), (75%CSS)

   Primitive tribes are the most vulnerable tribal communities in the state. As most of them are living in forest areas and are houseless, they have to be provided with houses on a priority basis. As per a survey done by the ST Dev. Dept in 1996-97 there were 19 % houseless and 42 % with dilapidated houses among the primitive tribes. The total families of primitive tribes being 4406.

3. Implementation of Kerala State Restriction in Transfer of Lands and Restoration of alienated Land Act,1999.

   The outlay proposed under the scheme will be utilised for the restoration of lands and rehabilitation of tribal families who lost their lands through alienation.

4. Food Support Programme

   The outlay proposed is to continue the food support programme during 2004-2005 also.The scheme will be continued in all needy tribal areas of all Districts in the State. While implementing the programme emphasis will be given to land based activities for the increasing the food production. The Food Support Programme is proposed to be linked to the Re-settlement and Development Activities of the Tribal Mission by selecting the landless and poor tribal families identified by the Mission as beneficiaries of the programme.

5. Package Programmes for Adiyans, Paniyans, and Primitive Tribal Groups

   Adiyans, Paniyans and the Primitive Tribal Groups are the most backward tribal people compared to other tribal communities. Therefore, need based and location specific package programmes for the benefit of these groups are to be formulated and implemented with special emphasis on education, health and economic development programmes.

6. Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY )[css]

   The provision of Rs 30 Iakh is towards 25% State share for TSP Sector of this Scheme proposed to be implemented in the state in 2004- 2005. Since Government of India makes the 75% Central assistance available directly to DRDAs, the amount towards Central share need not be included in State budget.

7. Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) / SGRY )[css]

Under the scheme durable community assets are created with the main aim of employment generation. It is proposed to generate 0.75 lakh mandays of wage employment for the rural poor in the TSP sector during the period 2004-05 under this programme. The above amount proposed is towards the 25 % State share portion of this programme under TSP.

8.Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)[css]

   IAY is found to be the most useful shelter providing scheme for the rural houseless poor. It is expected to construct 1291 houses under this scheme for ST beneficiaries below poverty line during the plan period, for which 75% central assistance is anticipated. Since the Central share of fund is given directly to DRDAs, Central share of TSP need not be shown in the budget.

9. Corpus Fund for Project Based Activities

   The pooling of funds under Tribal Sub Plan introduced in 1996-97 has not proved successful due to the absence of Project based approach in sanction and implementation of schemes and lack of reallocation of resources to needy areas. The new approach will ensure human resources development of SCs/STs including their education and training etc. A Corpus Fund would be set up to fund projects received from the Districts with emphasis to the following elements –

 1. Self Employment

2. Skill Development

3. Provision of Water supply and sanitation

4. Improving communication facilities to inaccessible areas including bridle paths and foot bridges.

5. Technology transfer

6. Improvement of Education and health.

10. Resettlement of Landless Tribals

   A policy decision has been taken by Government to provide at least one acre of land per family to landless tribals subject to a ceiling of 5 acres per family. Tribal families having less than one acre are also eligible to get the required extent of land to make their holdings at least one acre extend. For this objective a Tribal Mission has been formed to undertake rehabilitation activities based on Master Plan. The key components of the resettlement plan are.-

1. Development of Minimum needs infrastructure including housing.

2. Land Development including irrigation and raising of crops.

3. Self employment programmes

4. Provision of health care

5. Skill development

   Resettlement will be done on a project basis through which emphasis on planning and implementation through Oorukootams.

11. MAJOR TRIBAL PROJECTS

(Common Head of Account for the three projects – Priyadarshini Tea Estate, Attappady Co-operative Farming Society, Vattulukki Girijan Co-operative Farming Society). Some amount is proposed during 2004-05 for the running of the three projects viz Priyadarshini Tea Estate, Attappady Co-operative Farming Society and Vattulukki Girijan Co-operative Farming Society

12. Drinking Water Supply to Tribal Areas of Wayanad (100%ACA)

   Wayanad District is a hill district with relatively poor infrastructure facilities. Nearly 1/3 rd of the total population of Kerala lives in Wayanad. Most of the tribal families who live in settlements are poor and vulnerable to various diseases particularly water borne diseases. A total sanitation project is essential for wayanad under CRSP. The sanitation project would become infructuous without a simultaneous programme to provide safe drinking water. The work is executed through commonly constructing and not less than 5% of the capital cost is obtained as contribution from the participatory families.

13. Enhancement of Facilities in Tribal acres. (100% ACA) 

   During 2002-03 GOI has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 9 crore as additional SCA to Kerala for the Enhancement of Facilities in the tribal areas of Kerala. The amount released for infrastructure development has to be used for programmes which would ensure acceptable standards of infrastructure and other facilities in schools and hospitals in the most backward tribal areas. This is to ensure that tribals get an assured level of service from the hospitals and quality education from the schools. It is proposed to upgrade the facilities of schools where at least 20% of the students belong to tribal communities and also for enhancing the facilities of tribal hostels serving these schools 

14.Provision of Basic Needs to Primitive Tribals. 

   Kerala has five Primitive tribal groups namely Chola Naickans, Kattu Naickans, Kadars, Koragas and Kurumbas. There are nearly 5000 primitive Tribal families who live in inaccessible areas under conditions of extreme deprivation. A basic needs package consisting of shelter, Sanitation, Water Supply and lighting is proposed to be provided to the families of Primitive Tribal Groups.

15. Land and Agricultural Development Activities In Selected Settlement wise Population

The Scheduled Tribes Development Department had undertaken a Watershed based development study of tribal hamlets in 5 southern districts in cooperation with CESS, KAU, etc. and the study has been completed and a lot of data has been generated. As part of the study development project in one hamlet in each of the 5 districts was started in August 2003 as a pilot project. The Department proposes to extend the scheme to all the hamlets where sufficient land is available in a phase manner. In the first phase 45 settlement/hamlet shall be taken up and the scheme shall be implemented within a period of 2 years.

Food Support Programme

The outlay proposed is to continue the food support programme during 2004-2005 also.The scheme will be continued in all needy tribal areas of all Districts in the State. While implementing the programme emphasis will be given to land based activities for the increasing the food production. The Food Support Programme is proposed to be linked to the Re-settlement and Development Activities of the Tribal Mission by selecting the landless and poor tribal families identified by the Mission as beneficiaries of the programme.

Watershed studies with emphasis on tribal settlements (70% CSS)

As part of the 2 nd phase of the programme ” Watershed Development Programme in the Tribal settlements of Northern Kerala” begins on 2003-04 is operated in the tribal settlements of Kozhikode and Thrissur Districts

In India the term ‘Adivasi’ has gained immense popularity in the last few decades to identify the tribes. This term is more commonly brought to use by the NGO circles and activists of the ‘mainstream’ or ‘mainland’ India. The term has also gained currency amongst the tribes mainly belonging to central India. In Kerala too the tribes of late prefer to be identified as ‘Adivasi’. In Hindi the term ‘Adivasi’ means original settlers.

The term Adivasi is not portrayed just for literary reasons. It has a political underpinning. It has often been used to convey the position of exclusion of the tribes (Kumar: 2001: 4052-4054) and their subaltern status (Ekka: 2000-2001: 4610-4612) The term Adivasi has been even used to focus the tribal rights (Dietrich: 2000), their resistance (Pati: 2001), protests (Viswanath: 1997), assertions (Hardiman: 1988, Rahul: 1998), struggles (Raman: 2002) and movements. (Bijoy and Raman: 2003) The term in a way conveys a sense of ‘empowerment’ of the tribes. This empowerment is being asserted by linking with the global indigenous people’s movement.

Bijoy (2003) writes:

The 67.7 million people belonging to ‘Scheduled Tribe’ in India are generally considered to be ‘Adivasi’, literally meaning ‘Indigenous People’ or original inhabitants, though the term ‘Scheduled Tribe’ (ST) is not coterminous with the term ‘Adivasi’. Scheduled Tribe is an administrative term used for the purpose of ‘administering’ certain specific constitutional privileges, protection and benefits for specific section of peoples historically considered disadvantaged and ‘backward’. However, this administrative term does not exactly match all the peoples called ‘Adivasi’. Out of the 5653 distinct communities in India, 635 are considered to be ‘tribes’ or ‘Adivasis’. In comparison, one finds that estimated number of STs varies from 250 to 593.

It must, however, be stated that the Indian Constitution does not use the term ‘Adivasi’ and instead refers to the STs as ‘Anusuchit Jana Jati’. Traditionally ‘Jana’ was the more popular term to refer to the tribes in the Hindi heartland. (Ray: 1972)

One of the prime factors for claiming aboriginal or indigenous status for the tribes is to enable them to gain territorial, land rights and control over natural resources. There are, however, vicious forces in the country who are overtly active in not conceding these rights. The Hindutva forces term the tribes as ‘Vanvasi’. This term not only conveys a sense of primitiveness but also tries to deny the territorial rights. The Gandhians too were not very far from it and they considered the tribes more from a culturological position and referred to them as ‘Vanyajati’.

It is disconcerting that most of the anthropologists and sociologists have either remained indifferent to such developments or have passively supported the ‘Adivasi’ terminology and thus jeopardised the legitimate rights and interests of the tribes dwelling in the regions beyond the Hindi heartland. At the outset it needs to be realised that a nation-state like India is not a cultural but political entity which was borne due to a quirk of history. Imposing Hindi as a national and official State language over all the regions is not a very civilised act—it smacks of North Indian chauvinism. Secondly, it is also not true that the tribes in all quarters of the country are aboriginals of the regions where they inhabit at present. While the famous historian Kosambi (1956) viewed that the tribes had migrated to the plain areas at a much later date only after the vegetation had thinned out and wild animals became less numerous—making the area less dangerous for human habitation and fit for settled cultivation, Archana Prasad (2003), the young scholar from Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, feels that the tribes practising settled cultivation in the plains were pushed to the hills and forests by the profligate Aryan invaders and later Hindu settled cultivators and the outside traders. Either way the tribes are not autochthons of the spaces occupied by them at present. In 1980s Andre Betteille` had similarly expressed about the inapplicability of the concept of aborigine to the tribesmen in India. (Personal communication)

The autochthon status of the tribes in their present habitats in different parts of the country can be easily contested. The Kukis in Manipur or the Luseis of Mizoram have migrated to their present areas of dominance from South China and Chin Hills only a couple of centuries back. The Kukis were settled by the British in the Naga predominant areas so as to create a buffer between the Nagas and the Vaishnavite Meiteis. The Sailo chiefs belonging to the Lusei tribe were encouraged by the British to operate as labour contractors for constructing roads in the remote areas of Mizoram. The aboriginal tribes of the State who were pushed to the western borders along Tripura are now known as Tuikuk. In Tripura the tribal king had as a policy invited many Reangs and Chakmas to settle in the State so as to augment the production of cotton through jhum cultivation and ensure forward linkage to the cotton mills. Even the Bodos, believed to be a secondary formation, had migrated in waves from the Bhutan hills to settle in their present domains in Assam. The Toto tribe of Totopara on the borders of North Bengal and Bhutan is too a secondary formation as it evolved as a constellation out of a number of migrant criminal clans who were pushed out by the Bhutan kingdom. The matrilineal Khasis of Meghalaya who belong to the Mon-Khmer linguistic group are believed to have migrated from the Kampuchea region. The Denzong Bhutias, the royal Sikkimese tribe, too on record have migrated from Tibet, in the historical past. The Santhals of Rajmahal Hills or Santhal Parganas in Jharkhand had similarly migrated from the plains of Birbhum and Midnapur, West Bengal, in historical times.

Thirdly, it is important to note that the tribes in India are not the only group to claim indigenous status. Even many of the Dalit intellectuals have made similar assertions. (Massey: 1994) Next, the Government of India itself refuses to grant indigenous status to the tribes. One of the important reasons for this is that a few Brahmin and Rajput communities like the Jaunsari in Uttarakhand or the Kanaura in Himachal Pradesh have been enlisted as Scheduled Tribe. More importantly, the term ‘Adivasi’ is popularly used in North Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura to refer to the tea plantation labourers—the tribes like Santhal, Munda, Oraon and Ho who had migrated to the region during the British colonial period. The local tribes in these States find it humiliating to identify themselves as ‘Adivasi’. The indigenous Rabha, Mech and Rajbansi tribes/ethnic groups in North Bengal prefer to identify themselves by their own names and not as ‘Adivasi’. The Sikkimese tribesmen too identify the migrant plantation labourers from Chotanagpur as ‘Adivasi’ and not by their specific tribal names. The Santhal, Oraon, Munda and Ho migrant tribes in the Sunderbans of West Bengal, working as agricultural labourers or cultivating small farms, are collectively referred to as ‘Adivasi’ by the local Bengali settlers, a majority of whom are Scheduled Castes. The term ‘Adivasi’ therefore, remains a generic name in East and North-East India for identifying the migrant tribal labourers and small peasants from central India.

¨

In most places in North Bengal and North-East India, the adivasis are considered to be encroachers or intruders. During the Naxalite uprisal at Naxalbari in the late 1960s the Rajbansis en-block resisted the onslaught of the adivasi landgrabbers. Ethnic clashes between the indigenous Bodos and adivasi encroachers in the Bodoland Territorial Council areas are endemic. In one such clash a few years back hundreds of Santhals were killed by the Bodo militants. The Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) is contemplating to move the Supreme Court against the recommendations of the 2006 Tribes and Forest Dwellers Act, which stipulates regularising lands encroached in government forests prior to December 13, 2005. Almost 40 per cent of the forests in the Bodo areas have been encroached upon and majority of the encroachers is outside migrants (many of them are adivasis). The interests of the Bodos and adivasis do not match at all and the former had infact, opposed the formation of autonomus Bodo Territorial Council. They had even led several rallies in Guwahati, the State capital of Assam.

The tribes of Arunachal Pradesh are extremely peeved by the presence of Chakma refugees who claim an indigenous status in the international forums. The tribal students of the state led a protracted movement against the Chakmas. The All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) comprising of various tribal organisations, including Bodo, Karbi, Dimasa and Tiwa student organisations are opposing the Adivasi demand for ST status, alleging if granted, it would affect the interests of tribals of Assam. According to AATS, the Adivasis did not fulfill the requisite criteria of their inclusion in the ST list as they are not originally from Assam. (Internet: Indopia)

It needs to be reiterated that it would be a gross mistake to consider the term ‘Adivasi’ to be equivalent to the term ‘Tribe’ in India. This could only reinforce the anti-Indian feelings among many of the tribes inhabiting, North Bengal, Sikkim and other North-Eastern States. The term will be considered pejorative and humiliating to most of them. It must be realised that the term tribe itself is a colonial construct and ‘aboriginal’ ‘autochthon’ percepts are outcome of colonial conquests. The so-called ‘friends of tribes’ in India have been amateurishly trying to romanticise the term in the name of radical empowerment. The tribal situation in India is extremely heterogeneous and a unified approach may not do justice to all the communities. It must also be understood that the definition of ‘Indigenous Peoples’ as projected by the UN Working Group for Indigenous Peoples has an European bias as it states,

Indigenous peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with their pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of societies, now prevailing in those territories or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generation their ancestral territories and their ethnic identity as the basis of their continuous existence as peoples in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system.

The tribes residing in territories not externally colonised are not deemed to be indigenous as a consequence. This leaves out the scope of around 120 tribal communities in Europe from being declared as indigenous peoples (Griggs: 1993). Their rights of self-determination too are denied as a result. The Basques of Spain and Portugal, Skanians in Sweden, Cornish, Welsh and Shetlanders in the UK are consequently denied of several rights and privileges enjoyed by indigenous people in other parts of the world. It is similarly feared that the use of the term ‘Adivasi’ in an unqualified manner may fail to ensure legitimate rights of many of the authentic indigenous tribes/ peoples in India. In the name of ‘Adivasi’ pressures are put on the Indian government by the western sources to ensure all types of rights for them. In India some of the tribal NGOs linked to Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Delhi which have intimate links with the European Indigenous People’s Movement groups are mainly responsible for trying to popularise the ‘Adivasi’ concept in the last few decades. They too are trying prop up the ‘Adivasi’ movements in North-East India. In many areas this is leading to serious ethnic conflicts with the indigenous tribes.

Kar and Sharma (1990) have elaborated the imminent dangers of this:

Most local tribes are opposed to the adivasis being included in the list of Scheduled Tribe. They are estimated to be around 20 per cent of the Assam population, that is, more than 40 lakhs, while the Bodos are a little over 27 lakhs. The total number of tribes in the northeast being a little over 80 lakhs, if the adivasis are included in the schedule, the number of tribals in the northeast will rise by 50 per cent and they would be a third of the total. Many tribal groups are afraid that it will lead to competition for the few jobs available and for the depleted natural resources. As a result, most tribal of the region oppose their inclusion. Moreover, the adivasis are considered outsiders since they were brought by the British from Jharkhand as plantation labourers. The British appropriated the land of the local populations through unjust means. Since the adivasis worked on this land as indentured labour, the resentment of the local people at losing their land to the colonialist (partners) is not surprising.

To conclude, the term ‘indigenous peoples’ itself appears to be contentious in the Indian context as there are many claimants to it; these include the Dalits (claiming their Dravidian antecedence), the Vaishnavite Meiteis of Manipur and the caste Hindus of Assam. It will perhaps be always better to avoid using the popular NGO nomenclature ‘Adivasi’ in the tenors of serious academic discourse when dealing with the notion of indigenous groups in the Indian context.

J.J. Roy Burman

By Philip Gain

Dashami Mree (20), a Mandi (Garo) girl from Modhupur, has chosen to become a professional beautician. Currently she works at Shahi’s Beauty Parlor at Salimullah Road in Mohammadpur area. A Mandi family from Chunia,  a Mandi village in the Modhupur forests, owns the beauty parlor that it bought from a Bengali owner more than five years ago. The parlor is small but nicely decorated with big glasses and a row of front-line Bombay film actresses above the head. Dashami and half a dozen Mandi girls just fit in there. Dashami, compelled to leave her village due to her parents’ inability to meet her school expenses, finds her job as a beautician quite comfortable.

  Dashami and three other Mandi girls working at the same parlor, live with the Mandi family that owns it. They live close to the parlor. They buy groceries themselves, cook meals for the whole family, eat together and socialize with the nearby Mandi families on a regular basis. This makes their social life vibrant and full of fun.

  The beauty parlor was Dashami’s entry gate to Dhaka in 2003. She trained herself for six months [with the help of World Vision, a Christian NGO] in cutting hair, facial massages, plucking eyebrows, and all the other parlor skills. After training for six months she ventured into a few other parlors in Bogra and Sylhet before she came back to Shahi’s in the middle of 2005. With accommodation and food free, she gets a cash of Tk.500 (five hundred) per month. She was offered Tk.2,000 plus free accommodation and food in another parlor in Mirpur. But she chose to stick to a Mandi family even though the amount of cash she gets is small. This makes her stay in Dhaka secure and comfortable for now. She hopes to learn a few other things at Shahi’s and then look for better pay here or elsewhere.

  Dashami is one of around 1,200 Mandi girls who work at some 400 beauty parlors in Dhaka city. An owner of a beauty parlor aims at employing a maximum number of Mandi girls. The biggest of all the beauty parlors in Dhaka is Persona employing a few hundred Mandi girls in its two parlors.

  The Mandi girls come from scores of Mandi villages from different districts in the north-central plains of Bangladesh. There is hardly any girl from any other Adivasi community such as the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, and Hajong among others to be found in any beauty parlor. To the Mandi girls, who enjoy equal status with men in their matrilineal society, work in a beauty parlor is quite acceptable. According to Ranjit Ruga who runs Shahi’s, a skilled Mandi girl earns up to Tk.20,000 (twenty thousand) a month.

  The Mandi girls work in beauty parlors by their choice and without any sense of moral degeneration. Some of them have married Bengali owners at work place and are doing fine in their business. They are really straight in their business. They travel in the capital city with an air of freedom that most other women don’t enjoy. Not that they have no fear, but they look into your eyes without hesitation. They treat men as their equals. Mandi girls working in beauty parlors or elsewhere in the city do not go unnoticed. Despite their distress back in the villages that bring them to cities to become beauticians, they are confident and enterprising.

  As I was visiting Shahi’s to see Dashami’s work environment, I met with Kashuri Chisim, aged 38. She was paying a casual visit to the beauty parlor. It is typical of the Mandis in villages, in Dhaka city or elsewhere that they socialize with each other frequently and without notice, a trait of their kinship. Kashuri is a housemaid working in different houses of foreigners who come to Dhaka to work in foreign missions or international NGOs. As I exchanged a few words with her at Shahi’s, I got interested in visiting her home; she was actually heading for it. I was joined by Ranjit Ruga and his wife Tuli, owners of Shahi’s Beauty Parlor.

  We walked to Kashuri’s house. Kashuri has husband and three daughters. The elderly two daughters go to Holy Cross School—one in class eight and the other in class three. Kashuri’s husband Suman Marak (50) was sitting in the drawing room of their two-room quarter. The drawing room was filled with smoke from his cigarette. The smoke that I did not like eventually subsided. We had a warm conversation. The family of Kashuri and Suman, who come from Askipara in Haluaghat, have been living in Dhaka for 15 years now. During this period Kashuri spent two years in Saudi Arabia with her employer who took her there from Dhaka. Now Kashuri works in four houses and all her employers are foreigners. She works part-time in all these houses—two to three hours in a maximum of two houses a day, which means she works four to five hours a day. She earns around Tk.10,000 a month. Her husband, also working in houses, earns about that much. This family likes work like that. Then they have plenty of time to take care of their children. They can drop and pick up their daughters from school themselves.

  “In the houses of the foreigners, it is primarily the Mandis who work as housemaids. The foreigners trust them very much. You will hardly see Bengali women in the houses of the foreigners,” says Kashuri. While women work as housemaids in the houses of foreigners, many Mandi men work as guards in the houses, diplomatic missions and offices. There are also a big number of Mandi men and women working in the houses of Bengalis. In Dhaka, many people would prefer a Mandi housemaid to others. They are trusted and reliable.

  There are, of course, girls and women from other ethnic communities such as the Santal and Oraon who work in houses. But one will hardly find a Chakma, Tripura, Monipuri or Khasi who would be interested in household work.

  The presence of the Mandis in Dhaka is unique. Thanks largely to Christianity, back in the villages, the literacy rate among them could be high as 90%. Universal literacy among them certainly makes it easier for them to step out of the villages in search of fortune in Dhaka and other nearby cities. However, dispossession of local resources, deprivation and unemployment are some of the obvious underlying factors for their migration to cities.

  Not only for work, the Mandi youths have a strong urge to come to Dhaka for higher education. “I prefer Dhaka to Mymensingh or Modhupur for my higher education. I understand what life is like in Dhaka city. In Dhaka I have a greater chance to learn many things,” says Tutul Mree, a Mandi girl from Modhupur who is studying BA at Eden College. According to Tutul, there are some 50 Adivasi girls at Eden College and half of them are Mandis.

  It is not just the Mandis, the other major ethnic communities of Bangladesh such as the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Monipuri, Khasi, Santal, and Oraon also look towards Dhaka for higher education and exposure to the outside world.

  Mandis in Dhaka are also seen in other areas such as hospitals, physiotherapy centers, garments, driving, Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ), NGOs, church enterprises, and mechanical workshops. One striking thing about the Mandis and members of other major ethnic communities in Dhaka is that they are hardly seen as rickshaw-pullers, salesmen at shops, kulis (porter) or vendors in a market place, and in other similar jobs. One special feature of the Mandis and Adivasis in Dhaka is that they neither belong to the upper income class, nor the very low level. They stay in the middle and always opt for a decent life, though not economically very prosperous.

  The largest number of individuals from an Adivasi community in the capital city is obviously the Mandis. There exists no reliable data. But what can be figured from different estimates is that their number in Dhaka city and its outskirts would vary between 10,000 and 12,000. While the Mandis are seen everywhere in Dhaka city, their main concentration is in Kalachanpur with about fifty percent of them living there.

  The second largest ethnic community in Dhaka city and its outskirts must be the Chakmas with distinct characteristics. Like the Mandis there is also no reliable data on the number of Chakmas and members of other ethnic communities from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Different sources mention different figures. What is made out from these numbers is that the Chakmas in Dhaka city, DEPZ in Savar and Kanchpur would range between five and six thousand. According to a source, the number of Marmas would be some 500 and the Tripuras 200. The numbers of Tanchangya, Lushai, Pangkhua and other smaller ethnic communities are very small.

  The job market and professions of the Chakmas in the capital and its industrial zones are strikingly different from those of the Mandis and other ethnic communities. In contrast to the Mandis, a big percentage of them are industrial workers with main concentration in DEPZ area in Savar. According to Dilip Chakma (24), a worker at DEPZ, in Savar alone, there are some 3,500 Chakmas, most of them industrial workers and more than half of them women. Very few are in the higher ranks. In the export processing zone, the Chakmas live together in different houses and locations.

  The Chakmas began to come to the DEPZ area in the late nineties. One unique feature of the Chakma industrial workers is that most of them are educated. Dilip Chakma has a Higher Secondary School Certificate from Khagrachhari. He laments his position as just a helper in a cap manufacturing company. He worked for two years at a garments factory in Kanchpur, an industrial area on the outskirts of the city. In Kanchpur, there are some 500 Chakmas, says Dilip. Dilip and workers of his rank earn from Tk.3,000 to Tk.4,000. Dilip and others resent the conversion of their pay from Dollar to Taka. They complain that they get less when their salary is handed down to them in Taka.

  What led to such and influx of Chakmas to the industrial areas in Dhaka? Back in the CHT, particularly in Khagrachhari and Rangamati Hill Districts, there are many educated youths without employment opportunities. Besides, political tension, conflicts among themselves, shrinking access of hill peoples to local resources due to Bengali in-migration in the hill areas, etc. drive the Chakmas and others out of their homes.

  The new entrants to the industrial areas follow the trail of relatives and friends. The tendencies of the Chakmas and others who come from the CHT are different from those of the Mandis in choosing jobs. One will hardly find a Chakma working in a non-Chakma house or a beauty parlor. The values of matrilineality of the Mandis and those of patrilineality of the Chakmas and others are vivid in the selection of jobs and professions in the cities. The kind of freedom that the Mandi girls enjoy is absent in other communities.

  However, the Chakmas are dominant in professions requiring higher education. Civil service, banking, life insurance, teaching, law, medical services, and NGOs (local and international) are the major areas where Chakmas are seen in greater numbers than the members of other ethnic communities. Like the Mandis, the Chakmas are not strongly represented in businesses. It is a common feature among almost all ethnic communities that they give up in competition with their Bengali counterparts. “The Chakmas are very unsuccessful in businesses. They take business initiatives, but do not continue,” says Dipayan Khisha, editor of Maorum, a publication on the CHT issues.

  The urge for higher education among the Chakmas is outstanding, which is reflected in their presence in Dhaka University and other educational institutions. This is perhaps the secret of their success in professions that require academic qualification.

  The political life of the Chakmas in the capital city is, indeed, very significant. Given the political history of the CHT and a strong military presence, democratic practices such as organization of assembly, meetings, protests, and processions are a lot easier to follow in Dhaka than the CHT. Dhaka is also a safe sanctuary for many political activists who find it difficult to move freely in the CHT. There are many factors contributing to this situation. In addition to the tension that originates from the non-implementation of major aspects of the peace accord and Bengali settlements, conflicts between the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) and United Peoples’ Democratic Front (UPDF) that often turn violent, force many political activists from both parties to spend their time in relative peace in Dhaka. No one is at least physically attacked here. Dipayan Khisha puts the feeling of insecurity in the right tone: “I feel comparatively secure and better-placed in Dhaka than in my home in Bandarban. I feel no one will attack me here and I am a free man in Dhaka.”

  The Chakmas also make headlines in politics at the national level. Prominent among those who currently make these headlines include Mr. Jyotirindra Bodhipryia Larma (Shantu Larma), the chairman of interim Regional Council; Mr. Mani Swapan Dewan, MP, deputy minister, Ministry of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs; Raja Devasish Roy (Chief of the Chakma Circle), Mr. Bir Bahadur MP; and Proshit Bikash Khisha (President of UPDF).

  Adivasis, other than the Mandis, Chakmas and those from the CHT, who frequent Dhaka for education and job opportunities include the Santals, Oraons, Malos, etc. of North Bengal; the Monipuris and Khasis of the greater Sylhet district and Rakhaings from the coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Patuakhali and Barguna.

  Like the others, no statistics about the numbers of the Adivasis from North Bengal in Dhaka are available. Different sources suggest there are some 1,000 Adivasis from North Bengal in the capital. Of them the Santals are the largest group, amounting to 600 followed by Oraons (300) and others (100). A significant number of the Adivasis from North Bengal work in technical workshops. Some work in offices, some are students and like Mandis, some of the Santal and Oraon girls work in houses.

  Mr. Paul Charwa Tigga, a highly educated Oraon and a resident of Dhaka, runs Dipshika, a development NGO that works mainly in North Bengal. Mr. Tigga, a long-time observer of the condition of the Adivasis, says, “There is a strong tendency among the Adivasis of North Bengal to come to Dhaka because of unemployment in villages. But in Dhaka their residential problems are massive. Most of them live in messes. They are also not well connected with each other although the Santals are better linked among themselves.” According to Mr. Tigga, there are some six Adivasi families from North Bengal established in Dhaka.

  Combined, the Monipuris and Khasis would not exceed 200 in Dhaka. Members of these two ethnic communities stop by Dhaka mainly for education and business. According to Pidison Pradhan Suchiang, a Khasi leader, there are only two Khasi families in Dhaka. “Khasis are better-placed in their punjis (villages). They are strongly attached to their punjis and the trade of betel leaf. Their deep connection with the land holds them back in their villages,” says Suchiang.

  According to a Monipur source, there are more than one hundred Monupuris including a High Court judge, two lawyers and few businessmen in Dhaka. However, what is now Monipuripara in Dhaka was basically Monipuri village till 1950. The nearby areas were also inhabited by Monipuris. Land acquisition for an agricultural farm gradually led to their exodus from Monipuripara.

  The story of the Rakhaings is similar to that of other ethnic communities. According to Ushit Maung, Chairman of Rakhaing Development Foundation (RDF), there are some 100 Rakhaing families living in Dhaka. There are some 60 Rakhaing students. “Ten to 15 Rakhaing girls work in beauty parlours without much social pressure,” says Maung

  It is logical that like the Bengalis, people of all other ethnic identities take an interest in Dhaka city and seek opportunities here. This tendency comes along urbanization and in-migration of people from rural areas to city centers. For survival it is not bad. But the recent tendencies of migration of the Chakmas to the industrial areas and the choice of jobs as industrial workers in great numbers and the kinds of jobs that are chosen by members of other ethnic communities raise concerns.

  “It needs to be examined why the Adivasis migrate to Dhaka and other cities to become industrial workers, beauticians, housemaids, guards, etc. Many come because they are in trouble back home due to the worsening economic condition and dispossession of resources,” says Raja Devasish Roy. Concerned about their work and living condition, the Chakma chief says, “Healthy working and living conditions are imperative for practice of religions, community building and protection of culture.”

  Raja Devasish Roy is also concerned about what the Adivasis take back home from the cities. The kinds of jobs they generally get do not fetch them enough money to settle down in Dhaka. Many come to Dhaka to spend a few years and go back home with some cash. “They can take back good things and bad things with them,” says Roy. “To prevent intrusion of bad things into our society, we need to provide them job opportunities back home.”

  Despite fear and trepidation, the capital city is significant for all citizens of Bangladesh, irrespective of ethnic identities. Like others it is a common ground for all Adivasi groups to raise their voices for rights and show their cultural riches. This is reflected in the observance of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, cultural festivals, Adivasi gatherings organized by different groups, and many other events. In all these events we see beautiful faces and minds and can feel the significance of our ethnic and cultural diversity in which we all can take pride. 

First published in The Daily Star, 10 February 2006

Forests across the state have a significant percentage of adivasi population dependent on natural resources for their livelihood. These diverse communities have had a symbiotic relationship in the past, but are now fragmented and few in number yet strung together culturally. The more than 50 indigenous groups who reside in the forests of Karnataka have lived in these regions for countless years. 

Often, forests mean many things to many people. They are sources of food for some, trove of medicinal plants for others and valuable economic sources of timber for many.

All these are traditional demands that have been met by the forest since life began on earth. There would infact be very few forests that do not provide benefits to either man or animal, in one way or the other. This role of the forest as a mutual agent of assistance is acknowledged by millions countrywide.

Adivasis began using forest resources many centuries ago, as a result of which, their indigenous and ethno-botanical knowledge of their surroundings is immense and diversified.

Numerous instances have been documented wherein the adivasis show precise knowledge with respect to the properties of a particular plant. 

Traditionally, they used to harvest species based on a time tested schedule resulting in minimal harm to the harvested species. Besides,  adivasi paintings and oral tradition continually make a mention of their relations with the forest.

Traditional vaidyas (doctors) are still the mainstay for indigenous people and their services made great use of.

Need to preserve NTFP resources

This reciprocal relationship underscores the importance and need to preserve Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) resources.

They collect NTFPs for trade, honey being one of the major items.

Other items collected for trade are mainly resin, gooseberry, myrobalans, soapnut, eecham grass, wild pepper and nutmeg, etc. The collection is a major source of seasonal livelihood for the people. 

Traditional and cultural uses of the forests are also high for most adivasi  communities. Their deities live in the forests, with the ensuing protection often resulting in large tracts being nurtured as ’sacred groves’. The rules for the use of such forests are strictly governed by the community and punishments meted out to those who violate the unwritten law. 

However, the indigenous tribes of the state find themselves in a piquant position today. From the hitherto generations-old custodians of the forest to being frequently branded as the single biggest reason for resource degradation – most members of the various forest dwelling tribes wonder where are they going to end up in the coming few decades. 

Material poverty

In spite of living in resource rich areas, they suffer from what can be termed material poverty.

Surrounded by relatively prosperous communities of outsiders, indigenous people feel a deep sense of apathy at their present condition and often tend to blindly follow the ways of the dominant and richer communities.

This has had an impact on their culture, food and overall lifestyle. The vicious cycle including factors like loss of tenural rights over forests, lack of food security and a high degree of dependency upon wage labour has led to a breakdown in their community governance systems and to an increase in indebtedness to money lenders. 

Hemmed in by all sides, adivasis continue to languish at the lowest strata of society. Their present skills leave them ill-equipped to work in the normal structure of mainstream society and poor education levels often mean that all they end up with  work as wage labourers.

It is a catch 22 situation and life has gone haywire for most members of these communities. The tenuous links with ancient forests is weakening rapidly, but they are ill at ease with the modern world.

Just as it is necessary to provide a safe refuge to diverse fauna, it is also difficult to ignore the communities who have traditionally lived by the forests and accessed it for their livelihood.

Can they be made partners in forest management and continue to protect its resources, undertaking the least damaging activity of NTFP collection, rather than large scale mutilation of forest regions? These are a few questions that beg serious discourse as involving them in forest protection is seemingly the best way ahead, as opposed to their ever-increasing dependence upon wage labour – a highly exploitative occupation.

The indigenous tribes of the state, if made modern day guardians, will result in them being the pre-eminent defenders of the forest, augmenting the efforts of the solitary forest guard, significantly.  

© Deccan Herald / 22 July 2009

Communities the world over risk losing control over their traditional knowledge because a UN agency insists on using existing intellectual property standards for managing access to the information. This is among the findings of the first detailed comparative study of customary approaches to protecting and sharing traditional knowledge and biological resources, published on 29 June 2009 by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London. (Find the complete paper in attachment of this email).

IIED has done a case-study of the Yanadi community of Chittoor and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh, and suggested immediate recognition for traditional knowledge, ahead of a meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The study was based on participatory research with indigenous and local communities in areas of important biodiversity – including the Lepchas and Limbus in the eastern Himalayas, Yanadi in Andhra Pradesh, and the Adivasi in Chattishgarh (besides in Kenya, Peru, Panama and China).

“Yanadi traditional knowledge is on the verge of extinction. The youth are not interested in learning it, and the status of elders is weakening due to the extension of government control. The rich traditional knowledge of the tribe is on the verge of extinction due to lack of recognition” says the IIED’s study. It argued that the codified systems – Ayurveda, and Unani – in India have relatively more recognition and patronage. But Yanadi traditional health knowledge is not recognized by policy makers and is branded as the “superstitious knowledge of illiterates, making the tribes afraid to come out openly asserting their expertise”.

The researchers identified key components that international policy on traditional knowledge and genetic resources should recognise. These include:

• recognition of collective rights and decision-making;
• means of sharing benefits equitably among communities;
• recognition of customary rights over genetic resources such as crop varieties that communities have developed;
• enabling reciprocal access to genetic resources between users and communities; and
• managing external access to traditional knowledge with community protocols.
• They also stressed that ancestral rights to control knowledge cannot be extinguished, even if knowledge has been shared with others, because of its vital role in survival and identity.

 
–
Regards,

Sudesh Kumar
sudesh.kumar@jharkhand.org.uk

The adivasis of Sundergarh districts have been tormented and subjected to all sorts of discrimination by the same people whom they have welcomed openly into their sacred places . The discrimination against the tribals have been more in the places where the outsiders who have come from the coastal orissa , sarikela etc they are normally called as oriyas .They are quite alien to the cultures of tribals and even a blind can feel a quite difference in status, culture, language, eating habbits etc .

1) The first of the racial discrimination is : In many homes of oriyas even today the adivasis are subjected to untouchability and they are discouraged to visit their houses. They are looked down and treated as outcaste. Even today the non christian tribals who do not practice the sarna dharam are subjected to the discrimination and they are discouraged not prevented to visit the tamples of oriyas (of coure this is another way of preventing)

2) There is a total negligence of govt machinery, the govt is only interested in milking, whatever revenue is collected from sundergarh is spent in cuttack, bhubaneswar etc. There is only a eye wash work done, one can see the percentage of developments in the whole district.

3) The tribal land cannot be bought by the non-tribals except the land should be more than 5 acres, still many non tribals specially oriyas have twisted the rule and have grabbed the lands of the tribals . Now a days the oriyas have started a trend of capturing the govt land called (Anabadi Zamin) and then getting them registered in the tahsil office. Even today many tribals who have encroached the govt land have not got the patta (registered) even they have encroached for more than 30 years.

4) The oriyas have refused to recognise the tribal languages as the official language of orissa except the language santhali ( ol chicki) even though the most of the tribal languages are written in devangiri script instead they have pressed oriya language maximum to the hilt. Some rouge organisation like the nila chakra are quite offensive to the tribal language and hard core in pressing oriya language.

5) One can clearly see the difference in ratios of tribals versus non-tribals in industries, which are in rourkela as well as near rourkela . Take the case of Rourkela steel plant , the majority of oriyas have got jobs no body knows how ?. Majority of tribals here work as contract labours. No body cares what may happen if any accident happens, no trade union of whatever affliction, do not bother as majority have been dominated by the oriyas. This trade unions oppose any sort of tribal recruitment in the executive /non executive posts. Permanent employees also face discrimination in the times of promotion, with the majority of oriyas getting preferences. This is the case in all sectors .

6) Tribals are discriminated in the times of job recriutments, there are many cases that the oriyas have teared off the list of employments where the tribals get recruitment. They fiercely oppose the tribals who are getting /or about to join their jobs. They even destroy their letter of joining.

7) There is also discrimination going on in schools where the schools are dominated by the oriya teachers . The students have faced adaring statements of "you quota people" or "adivasi students" which is clearly a violation of SC/ST atrocity act, but unfortunately the young students do not understand. The internal marks given to students are enjoyed by certain section of students only, after matric (ssc) many students have opted out of C.H.S.E (board of orissa 10+2) due to discriminatory marks given to students .

Atrocity cases filed against non tribals are minimum, one has to check the police records to see the truth. Many cases have come that there was refusel of lodging an F.I.R by the police, no doubt that at least 85% of inmates in the jail are tribals. They stay and hoping to get out miraculously as they have no means to fight the cases with no money. The judges, the police mechanisms, administrtive officers all are handpicked and brought here to carry out their goals.

9) Planned displacement of adivasis by oriyas and pre planned greater rourkela development plan to settle oriyas, plan to deshedule rourkela and to make it a district so that the rights of tribals can be suppressed.

10) The tribal lands have been taken by the govt to make and set up industries.How many people (tribals ) have got jobs in this private industries ? not even 5% ,instead the tribals who protest the pollutions are severely dealt with by the police ,even the childrens are not spared .Pre planned cracking and often terming them as M.C.C sympathisersand putting them behind bars.

11) The media has put a blanket ban on any news regarding the tribals ,and they very well paint a picture that every thing is ok here. Take out any media (paper/ electronic) they mainly praise the achivements of govt

This are some issue which has created a mass of disgrunteled tribals who are frustated and angry about the whole issue. No doubt the region is now sitting on a situation which might explode. This creates a situation where there are alternate routes to channelise their anger, already many have taken this path and this must be checked and prevented before it is too late.

kartik ekka

Young Indian men (rear) and women (front) are paraded before a mass wedding in 2006 in the village of Funda, 30kms from Bhopal.

 But a district magistrate said the tests were simply "clinical examinations" that were initiated after one of the brides gave birth at a previous mass wedding.

In largely-conservative India, pre-marital sex remains a taboo. In fact, sexually explicit scenes on screen in Bollywood and on television sometimes spark controversies.

The alleged tests happened in Madhya Pradesh state which is controlled by conservative Hindu nationalists who are members of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. The controversy is indicative of the row between them and their opponents in the Congress Party, who dominate the federal government.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) said it has also sought a report from the government and police of Madhya Pradesh state, its spokeswoman Kareena B. Thengamam told CNN.

She said the NCW had become aware of reports that some 150 brides-to-be, mostly tribal women, were subject to "virginity tests" before their mass wedding on June 30 as part of a state government scheme.

The watchdog has also formed an inquiry committee of its own. State authorities, however, denied conducting any virginity tests, but insisted they were "just clinical examinations" before the event.

On its part, Madhya Pradesh state insists the "clinical examinations" aimed to keep the event free from any fraudulent entries — like women already married, but wanting to get free wedding goodies.

The state government organizes mass weddings involving economically-backward couples, with support worth $130 for each pair. The support is not in cash, but in the form of household articles.

The district magistrate of Shahdol, where the mass wedding took place, said 13 women were found to be pregnant in the examinations, which he claimed followed "routine" questioning about their age and health.

"Another was found to be minor (underage)," Neeraj Dubey added. None of the 14 was allowed to take part in the mass wedding. District officials introduced clinical examinations on women wanting to get married in the mass weddings after a participant delivered a baby right at the event earlier, he said. "But there is no internal examination; it's only abdomen check and that too after some questioning," he claimed