Governor SC Jamir on Sunday said tribal people should be allowed to live in harmony with nature and not left with struggling to live and earn their livelihood as they are the real custodians of forest produce and wealth. “Importance of forests and forest products for tribals’ survival, sustenance and livelihood is indisputable. If they are allowed to live in harmony with nature, it will contribute greatly to the development and bringing transformations in the lives of tribals,” Dr Jamir said while inaugurating the two-day Indian Anthropology Congress here.
The congress is being co-hosted by the Department of Anthropology, Utkal University and the SC and ST Research and Training Institute, Bhubaneswar under the auspices of the Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists (INCAA) at the Vani Vihar. Stating that the Forest Rights Act is a significant step towards recognising the pre-eminent rights of tribals on forest land, Dr Jamir stressed the need to make tribals more informed about the development schemes and to make them equal partners in development process too.
He made these views while speaking on the theme ‘Tribal transformations in contemporary India-issues and challenges’. Governor suggested to developing a complete separate cadre of officers for the Scheduled Areas, who would help combat tribals’ basic problems like poverty and indebtedness, illiteracy and malnutrition. “To grapple with the changing situations of contemporary tribal life, it has become necessary to utilise contemporary social anthropological thinking into practice. For anthropologists, this is a moment to take up the broad challenges - to redefine the field of inquiry and research in relation to tribal upliftment,” Jamir said.