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Adivasi of India
India is a settler state, like Australia, the United States, South Africa,
Israel, Canada, Taiwan, and many other states where the indigenous population
was displaced by later migrations. The difference is that the initial migrations
which displaced India’s native populations happened in prehistoric times.
With so many thousands of years of history you would think there would be
little left of India’s indigenous population, usually referred to as
“Tribals” or “Adivasis” (which means indigenous people); to the contrary,
Adivasis remain 8.14% of India’s population, or 85 million people
(according to the 2001 Census). These communities were squeezed by
migrations both from the North and from the South, creating what is
called the “Tribal Belt” across central India, from Gujarat and
Maharastra in the West, all the way across to Arunachal Pradesh in
the far Northeast. |
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Adivasi in India
Within these states they account for a sizable
portion of the population: 15% in Gujarat, 24% in Madhya Pradesh,
and between 60 and 90 percent in many North-eastern states.
Some new states, such as Uttaranchal (where I am now) were
formed in part to give greater political voice to Adivasis
by making them a majority within their state. Altogether, the space occupied by India’s Adivasi communities takes up about 15% of the total. These figures are taken from the book Adivasis: Legal Provisions, Languages, Locations put out by the Adivasi Academy and Bhasha Research & Publication Centre in Baroda (aka Vadodara).
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The book has this to say about the economic conditions of Adivasis:
Whether it is maternal and child mortality, size of agricultural holdings or access to drinking
water and electricity, tribal communities lag far behind the general population. While their
percentage which is Below Poverty Line is unacceptably high (52%), what is staggering is that
a full 54% have no access to economic assets related to communication and transport.
The Adivasi literacy rate (29.6% in 2001) is far below that of the country as a whole (52.2%),
with female literacy a stunningly low 18.2%. There are 14 official languages in India, and it is
against the law to teach any of the other 1500 languages in schools.
Adivasi India
Despite their marginal position, Adivasis have contributed greatly to Indian history and society. Over time,
many Adivasi traditions were incorporated into Hinduism and Buddhism. In various parts of India
Adivasis were incorporated into local states. In some cases they became the ruling families, in others
the untouchable lower castes. Some were hired to fight wars for Indian kings, and under British rule they
offered some of the fiercest resistance.
As soon as the British took over Eastern India tribal revolts broke out to challenge alien rule.
In the early years of colonization, no other community in India offered such heroic resistance to
British rule or faced such tragic consequences as did the numerous Adivasi communities of now Jharkhand,
Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Bengal. In 1772, the Paharia revolt broke out which was followed by a five year
uprising led by Tilka Manjhi who was hanged in Bhagalpur in 1785. The Tamar and Munda revolts followed.
In the next two decades, revolts took place in Singhbhum, Gumla, Birbhum, Bankura, Manbhoom and Palamau,
followed by the great Kol Risings of 1832 and the Khewar and Bhumij revolts (1832-34). In 1855, the Santhals
waged war against the permanent settlement of Lord Cornwallis, and a year later, numerous adivasi leaders played
key roles in the 1857 war of independence.
But the defeat of 1858 only intensified British exploitation of national wealth and resources. A forest regulation passed in 1865 empowered the British government to declare any land covered with trees or brushwood as government forest and to make rules to manage it under terms of it’s own choosing. The act made no provision regarding the rights of the Adivasi users. A more comprehensive Indian Forest Act was passed in 1878, which imposed severe restrictions upon Adivasi rights over forest land and produce in the protected and reserved forests. The act radically changed the nature of the traditional common property of the Adivasi communities and made it state property.
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