#scheduled tribes

[diemelusine]

A Gond woman (1928) by M. V. Dhurandhar.

[indizombie]

BR Ambedkar, India's first law minister, had rightfully said, "Caste system is not merely a division of labour. It is also a division of labourers." The one space where Muslim, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes communities find themselves overrepresented is the informal economy which employs over eighty percent of the work force. This implies that the most socially oppressed are, as a majority, doomed to work in the most precarious jobs in the country while decision-making for their communities around resource allocation and policy happens in their absence. There is a need to critically examine how the development sector and the civil society allow systemic inequalities to persist in its design and foundation. The lack of scrutiny has led to the misconception that some uniqueness exists in the sector. Organisations are able to avoid addressing these issues by issuing tired banalities such as "we do not see caste and religion." In reality, this is a refusal to acknowledge their existence, preventing us from imagining a more equal system of relations.

Aiman Haque, ‘Charitable Charade’, Caravan

[aritheartist]

Digital Illustration:

Mir Girl

Girl from Mir tribe, Gujarat, India. Photographed by Jimmy Nelson . Artwork by myself (one of my first digital portraits from early 2021) using Adobe Photoshop.

I was really drawn to the different motifs and varied textural quality of the original photograph, and found it to be a great reference to practice my skill in digital illustrations! I certainly messed up in several areas, but am still quite happy with the end result.

My IG: ari._.the._.artist

[indizombie]

The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (MDM Scheme), launched in August 1995 emphasises on the provision of cooked meals with a minimum of 450 – 700 calories and 8-12 grams of proteins and was further converted by the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 into a legal right upto Class 8. Over 94% of the children in government and government aided schools come from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes and minority communities. For a majority of children in government schools who are from marginalised communities and malnourished, garlic, onion and eggs form an important part of their diets, limited only by the factor of affordability. Eggs have been denied to children as part of the mid-day meals in schools for several years. Described as the ‘menstrual discharge’ of the hen, eggs are labelled as ‘sinful’, ‘violent’, and agitating the senses, with egg eaters deserving to be ‘destroyed’. If, instead of this unscientific propaganda, the nutritional value of eggs had been the primary deciding factor, children would have been given eggs as part of the mid-day meal scheme on 5 days of the week.

Dr Sylvia Karpagam, ‘A critical look at Indian healthcare‘, Aura

[indizombie]

Let us remember India is a signatory to the above UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Hence, India is morally bound to honour these resolutions. The fact of the matter is rather different. “There are no indigenous people in India,” says the Government of India. This is a clear plot in the actions of the government. It is evident from the fact that on one hand, the government liberally signs the resolutions of UN Conventions and on the other hand, it keeps denying that there are indigenous peoples in the country. As such it feels it is not obliged to abide by the decisions taken in the UN. It is a denial of the very existence of about 10 crore Adivasi people. Instead, they have been put in the conveniently created Scheduled Tribes category and some bits and bobs are thrown at them, most of which are eaten up on the way by middlemen and government bureaucrats; and hence, do not reach the deprived and deserving among them. Consequently, poverty is deepening among Adivasis.

'I am not a Silent Spectator', Stan Swamy

[indizombie]

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on prisons show that Dalits and Tribals continue to be jailed in numbers disproportionate to their share of the population, unlike OBCs and those belonging to the general category. According to the National Crime Record Bureau report titled ‘Prison Statistics India 2021’, around 30 per cent of all the convicts, 29.54 per cent of undertrials and 37 per cent of detenues in Tamil Nadu’s prison are Dalits who constitute 21 per cent of the state’s population. At the end of 2019, tribals made up 3.20 per cent of all convicts in jails across the country. The share of Scheduled Tribes among undertrials languishing in jails stood at 2.97 per cent. The 2011 census put the tribal population in the state at 1.10 per cent.

‘Dalits, tribals in prison disproportionate to their population’, Justice News

[indizombie]

The prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, or IITs, come under the government mandated quota of 27% reservation for OBCs and 15% and 7.5% for SCs and STs, respectively. But this does not necessarily ensure diversity at these elite institutions. In December 2020, in response to a Right To Information application filed by student organization Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle, IIT Bombay said 11 departments – including four engineering departments – at the institute did not admit a single student belonging to Scheduled Tribes between 2015 and 2019. Two departments did not admit any SC students at all.

Raksha Kumar, ‘India’s tech sector has a caste problem’, Rest of World

[iyemarathichiyenagari1971]

आदिवासी समाजाच्या अंतर्मनाचा वेध घेणारे पुस्तक

या पुस्तकाची निर्मिती करण्यापूर्वी गायकवाड द्वयींनी आदिवासींचे जीवन जाणून घेतले. त्यांच्या जीवनावर प्रकाश टाकला पाहिजे असे त्यांना वाटले. त्यांच्या जीवनातील समस्या आणि उपाय जगासमोर मांडले पाहिजेत या विचारधारेतून त्यांनी हा प्रयत्न केलेला दिसतो. स्वातंत्र्याच्या एवढ्या दिवसानंतरही आदिवासी जमात आज भारताच्या नकाशावर कुठे आहे? कशी जगते याचे परीक्षण व्हायला हवे असे त्यांना वाटले. त्याच चिंतनातून अतिशय…

आदिवासी समाजाच्या अंतर्मनाचा वेध घेणारे पुस्तक