Elusive India: tribes

Voyeurism

2012-02-07T19:37:00.002Z

The post below shows a group of Bonda women on the way totheir Haat or weekly market. That wasin 1999 when I was with a guide who had lived with them and could speak some oftheir language. Recently the Observer newspaper has been running articles aboutsome tour operators promoting ‘human safaris’ to see these people and threefirms have been charged with selling such tours ‘in an obscene manner’.

Ten years later I was shocked by the large numberof intrusive tourists, many of whom had no respect for these people, and snapped freely. TheBonda people I have met have been very friendly and talked about their livessince we had met before. There is much to learn about the egalitarianway in which tribal people live.

My book was intended partly to inform and to encourage those who visit to do so ‘with greaterawareness and some sensitivity’. So I am very pleased that the Observer isreaching a wider audience including the State of Orissa. Hopefully the Statewill not have to resort to more laws and banning cameras.

The Book - some copies available

2012-01-28T01:41:00.000Z

Copies of this book Elusive India: tribes - Chhattisgarh and Orissa are still available. It is a limited edition - a collector's item and mainly consists of photographs with informative text. Here are a few examples.

The book is a quality production with 48 hand sewn pages and 48 B/W photographs. The cover price is 20GBP (plus p&p - 2.50GBP in UK or 5.00GBP overseas). It is NOT available from Amazon and other worldwide sellers. It is ONLY available from Pipal Press. If you would like a copy or further details please click on the red link above and send an email.

Michael Palin's comments

2012-01-27T16:02:00.000Z

Michael Palin has sent comments about the book:

"I found it fascinating with short, sharp, sympathetic comments on the people in Orissa. I particularly liked the fact that your comments were so unsensational and balanced, and the photos were equally clear and direct!

It is important to have books like yours to help us understand what is going on in the Niyamgiri Hills and indeed other parts of Orissa. It will be interesting to see whether the current wave of interest around Vedanta will be able to save the Dongria Kondh villages."

Vedanta – it’s not over yet

2011-08-13T22:51:00.003+01:00

Vedanta has appealed to the Supreme Court on two counts so that it can mine bauxite from the Niyamgiri Hills. The hearing is in progress and the issues are:
- Environmental Clearance which was granted in 2009 but rescinded recently by Minister Jairam Ramesh.

- Forestry Clearance which was refused in a landmark decision in August 2010.

Vedanta built a refinery in nearby Lanjigarh about 8 years ago and sought permission to expand it recently. This was rejected but Vedanta has submitted a fresh application. The State of Orissa is firmly behind the whole mining project and in preference to its statutory duty to the Dongria Kondh; this warranted severe criticism of both the State and Vedanta in the Saxena Report last year. If Vedanta wins it asserts that the Dongria Kondh will benefit. In fact only 5% of the promised revenue would go to the State and the chances of that benefitting the tribal people is minimal.

Now the robust Mr Ramesh has been moved to Rural Development and from July Jayanthi Natarajan is in charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests; her views are not yet clear. You can make representations to the Indian Government through http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7525.

News

2011-04-15T20:41:00.004+01:00

Michael Thomas has been admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

पीपल - Pipal

2011-04-01T18:00:00.000+01:00

Pipal Press
Some people have asked about the logo. It is a stylised version of the sacred Pipal (pronounced and sometimes spelt ‘peepal’) tree (ficus religiosa) taken from this pot, which was made during the Indus Valley Civilisation around 3000 BC.

The Buddha is said to have sat under a pipal tree while seeking enlightenment. This tree is often seen in villages alongside the equally sacred Banyan tree (ficus benghalensis) with its aerial roots.

Dhemsa dancers - Orissa

2011-03-26T18:23:00.002Z

Another photograph that wasn't in the book.

These Gadaba girls were getting ready to do their traditional dance in this clearing under the banyan tree at Sankhai village.

Indian tribes – a definition

2011-03-05T23:52:00.005Z

Forget clans, ethnic migrants, the ‘tribals’, a rather demeaning word much used by travel companies. The Indian Government has no definition for the word ‘tribe’ thus the convenient term Adivasi is used as an umbrella title. Anthropologists continue to disagree as to what defines an Indian tribe. This then is my personal observation.

Distinctive facts about tribal people are that they are indigenous to India, who began to colonise India over 30,000 years ago and their descendants live in remote areas such as forests. They are usually animists, caste-less, egalitarian in nature and have their unique language roots. Their economy is community based on simple agriculture and they survive close to or below the poverty line. In Orissa the predominant tribes are of Australoid origin with Austro-Asiatic language yet others from the same group have a Dravidian language root. One can understand the problem facing anthropologists.

Tribes are not to be confused with Ethnic people, who are generally much more recent migrants that have brought their own culture and customs. Examples are the Rabari [Hindu] and Jat [Muslim] in Kutch, Gujarat. These are both ethnic communities within the caste system yet Wikipedia describes both as ‘tribal groups’.

A hidden war

2011-01-10T23:47:00.002Z

Naxalites are far-left radical Communists who support Maoist ideology and are now established in the rural areas of 20 out of India's 28 States. Hardly a week goes by without a killing and in April last year 75 paramilitary personnel were ambushed and killed in a series of attacks. In 2010, 1169 people were killed and 3/4 were civilians. This is a civil war where the Naxals say they support the poor and offer themselves as an alternative system of governance. Meanwhile the Government pursues 'Operation Green Hunt' aimed at defeating the Naxalites militarily. This is a war that permeates Eastern and Central India and is escalating.

I considered making a reference to it in my book. Most activity has happened in areas that are poor and occupied by Adivasis such as Chhattisgarh but there is little apparent benefit for those people that live there. I remain uncertain as to whether the Naxals are helping tribal people or using them as a vehicle for their political objectives. What is certain is that Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence forms no part of this civil war.

There is much about this on the Internet and State media. I would welcome comment from those who are better informed than me.

Some tribal people - Orissa (not in the book)

2010-12-02T16:40:00.001Z

Clockwise from top left:
Desia Kondh and wattle fence, pounding rice, Mali women, Ashryapur village

Are these people safe?

2010-09-06T23:07:00.021+01:00

Vedanta must accept the latest decision which will prevent mining in the Niyamgiri Hills, sacred to the Dongria Kondh, unless it can prove that the Minister has exceeded his legal powers which would require an appeal to the Supreme Court.

For now the company is importing bauxite from neighbouring states and abroad to feed its refining plant which can only operate at 80% of its capacity. The Orissan Government has conceded that it cannot guarantee supplies in sufficient quantities. Vedanta has reached agreement with the State of Gujarat on the west coast to mine lower grade ore which would have to be brought by sea to Visakhapatnam on the east coast and then by road to Lanjigarh. There will be other pressures.

Media coverage - a travesty

2010-09-06T22:09:00.012+01:00

Newswatch, an online monitor of the media industry, has produced a study into how the news about the allegations against Vedanta was covered. Editor Subir Ghosh, said recently “The Vedanta/Niyamgiri issue is arguably the most blacked-out story of our times. It is a travesty that among those who had been raising their strident voices against the project, like Survival International and Amnesty International, are not based in India

The ones who are fighting for the Dongria Kondh are primarily local activists and a few concerned civil society members in this country. It is a no-brainer to realise why the media coverage all these days had been a blank, and why it is so Vedanta-centric now”

So what has happened? It seems that the State owned Orissa Mining Corporation had done a deal with Vedanta, that already has several bauxite mines, to supply bauxite reserves for its Lanjigarh plant over 25 years. The Supreme Court approved this subject to assurances on environmental issues. This prompted the highly detailed 122 page Saxena Report published on 16th August. The Committee found that these tribal people would be deprived of their rights in order to benefit a private company. In turn this would “…shake the faith of tribal people in the laws of the land which may have serious consequences for the security and well being of the entire country”

This robust report was put before the Minister of the Environment and Forests who announced his astonishing decision below - see: 25th August entry.

Important news - Vedanta

2010-08-25T23:01:00.002+01:00

Around midmorning yesterday (Tuesday 24th August) India's Environment and Forestry Ministry announced that it had rejected the proposal by Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite (aluminium ore) in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa. According to Jairam Ramesh, the Minister for the Environment and Forests, "There has been a very serious violation of laws. Therefore the project cannot go ahead". In consequence it seems that the culture and lifestyle of the Dongria Kondh people in this district will survive. This is an extraordinary David and Goliath story which emphasises the divergence of values between ancient cultures and present-day materialism.

Vedanta versus Dongria Kondh

2010-08-04T16:09:00.015+01:00

This is the view that the Dongria Kondh from Kajuri village see on the way to their weekly haat or market. These animist people are descendants from the first inhabitants of India some 40,000 years ago so it is easy to understand why they regard these dramatic hills as sacred. When I first went in 1999 I was almost ignored and the villagers were much more concerned with mouth ulcers. Last February access was denied, probably because all Westerners are seen as a threat and this has much to do with Vedanta's proposals to mine bauxite from the Niyamgiri Hills on a colossal scale.

When I wrote the book last summer my aim was to increase awareness of tribal people in India as I had found that many people in the UK did not know that they existed. I have used my black and white photographs as these give a strong impression of the character of the forests and the way people live. However I had to write something about the many issues which these remarkable people face. So I gave an outline of the mining situation then using the conflict between Vedanta and the Dongria Kondh as a prime example.

In less than a year this issue has been widely promoted through international organisations that care for minority groups, national broadsheets and more recently prominent celebrities and TV.

This has to be good as the Dongria Kondh are entitled at the very least to be well informed and have a powerful say in their own destiny.