Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India.[1][2][3] They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India. The same term Adivasi is used for the ethnic minorities of Bangladesh and the native Vedda people of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ආදී වාස).[4] The word is also used in the same sense in Nepal as is another word janajati (Nepali: जनजाति; janajāti), although the political context differed historically under the Shah and Rana dynasties. Adivasi societies are particularly present in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and some north-eastern states, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Many smaller tribal groups are quite sensitive to ecological degradation caused by modernisation. Both commercial forestry and intensive agriculture have proved destructive to the forests that had endured swidden agriculture for many centuries.[5]
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 06:40:32 +0000