The regional centre of the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), Nagpur in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya mounted a special exhibition showcasing the bio-cultural history of the people of India titled as ‘People of India’.
The exhibition has been inaugurated by SB Ota (Regional Director, Archaeological Survey of India and former Director, IGRMS). Delivering the inaugural speech, Director, IGRMS, Prof Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri said, “Anthropological Survey of India started working on ‘People of India’ project in late 1980s and till now has published books on various ethno people of different states. Nation’s two excellent departments have mounted this exhibition that explains socio-cultural diversity of India.”
The chief guest of the inaugural ceremony and eminent archaeologist, Ota said, “This exhibition displays the socio-cultural diversity of contemporary India. If we compare the diversity of present societies to the early men, the diversities has increased multiple fold.”
On this occasion Head of Office of Central regional centre, Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), Nagpur, Ratna Dhar said “The Anthropological Survey of India under the National project -People of India" identified as many as 4693 communities, of which 635 are tribal communities. There are about IJ 750 dialects that can be classified into one of the following three language families: Austro-Asiatic (AA), Dravidian (DR), and Tibeto-Burman (TB).”
Sanjay Shukla, Assistant Keeper of Central regional centre, Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), Nagpur gave detailed information about the exhibition. He said “The present exhibition shovvcases the bio-cultural history of the people of India. A scientific account of the evolution and human variation of communities, their migration, various adaptive strategies created by them, their perceptions of the terrain, flora and fauna, apart from the genetic and archaeological evidences, literary and oral testimonials about creation, domains of knowledge and movement of people are also highlighted.