Thinker and cultural activist Dr. Ganesh N. Devy (b. 1950) (https://gndevy.in) , is the force behind the People’s Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) conducted in 2010. According to the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre website (https://www.bhasharesearch.org/plsi), the PLSI is a “right based movement for carrying out a nationwide survey to identify, document and understand the state of Indian languages, especially languages of fragile nomadic, coastal, island and forest communities.”
Who constitutes these “fragile communities” in the Indian context? How have these groups of people been defined both by the British colonial system and in the legal frameworks of the Government of India? What if any are the differences between indigenous people, adivasis, nomads, denotified tribes, marginalised groups within the caste hierarchy, as well as minorities outside of the caste system? How does this fragility intersect with food security, land rights, education, legal rights, and employment opportunities?
Dr. Devy shared learnings from his four decades of experience - including setting up the Adivasis Academy at Tejgadh (Gujarat), as well as his work with the Denotified Tribes (DNT)-Rights Action Group. At the opening session of the online lecture series titled “Knowledge and Education: For/of/by whom? - Adivasi and Other perspectives”, organised by the Barefoot Philosophers in association with Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Dr. Devy outlined different definitions of the “Adivasi”.
i) Prehistoric- before the advent of written records. This is a chronology based definition. Here adivasis are described as the “original inhabitants”- through a literal translation of the Sanskrit word Adi (original/ beginning) and vasi (inhabitants). They were the hunter-gatherers and pastoral nomads who have continued to exist from before the time of the “agricultural settlers”.
ii) Outside of “Jati” (outside the Caste System). According to Devy, during one his interviews, an Adivasi remarked that there are only two categories of people in India - “jati” (based on caste) or “tribal” (outside of caste). This is a definition by exclusion. Devy shared how in certain Adivasi communities of Maharashtra, the two great epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata do not form a part of their traditions and celebrations. However, the lines between jati and tribal are at times blurred. Devy said that Supreme Court judges recognised that members of denotified tribes often faced ‘caste discrimination’ within prisons. Through this declaration, the tribes have been brought into the caste hierarchy by the legal system in India.
iii) Forests and colonial definition. With the advent of European colonisation in India, local populations were indiscriminately grouped as “natives”. From the late 18th century, British interests began creating “native contracts” in order to control land. If a king owned land, then it was easy for the British to enter into an agreement with the king. However with many adivasis - they either had “common lands”, were not land-owners, were nomads, or lived in forests. These people could not be controlled through land-based agreements.
Therefore the British “criminalised” these tribes and they became “notified tribes”. Moreover the British set up the Forest Department in 1864 and passed the Forest Act of 1865, thereby taking control of the “fragile lands” and by extension the people who had been living on them.
iv) Born into communal lands. Devy shared that post Indian independence, certain “commons” or community ownership of land was recognised by the government. Examples include villages in Lahaul, Uttarakhand and Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. According to the government, anybody born in these communities immediately becomes a “tribal”.
Given the complex landscape of adivasi and tribal definitions, Devy urged us to think of different types of Adivasis, and different types of knowledge and education systems.
Image Credit: Photo by Parij Photography: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-face-tattooed-wearing-violet-shirt-and-blue-scarf-3646394/
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