INTACH’s report “Tribes in Transition: The Changing Identity of the Kandhas and Gadabas of Odisha” was released at the Tribal Museum at Koraput in the presence of Padma Shri Kamala Pujari, Prof SK Palita, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Odisha, and Dr Biswajit Mohanty.
The Odisha Chapter of INTACH had decided to take up a project on documenting the intangible tribal heritage of the State in 2018. An approximate 22.85% of Odisha’s population, as per the 2011 Census, constituted Scheduled Tribes. With 62 different indigenous tribes, having different lifestyles, customs and outlooks, two tribes, the Kandhas and Gadabas of Koraput, were chosen for study. The INTACH Koraput Chapter undertook the study under the guidance of Sanjib Hota. Dr Prafulla Chandra Mahapatra, Dr Jagabandhu Samal and Anil Dhir made a number of field visits to study the changing world of the Gadabas and the Kandhas. The findings are an in-depth analysis of the fast-changing and metamorphosing lifestyle of the two tribes. According to Dhir, who compiled the study of the Dongria and the Kutia Kandhas, even after seven decades of independence, tribal communities have been striving for their basic rights and entitlements. What are happening in the tribal hinterland are not cataclysmic events that hog mainstream media attention but a slow insidious cancer that has been eating into the vitals for over a century and continues unabated. It is the story of displacement, dispossession and theft of what belongs to the tribal people. In Odisha, the phenomenon is more severe and acute; it has remained obscured from the main historical current of development.
Industrialisation and mining operations have led to the uprooting of tribal villages, forcing them to live like industrial nomads.
They have lost their traditional occupations, agricultural lands and houses. Despite several development programmes, pro-poor laws, the tribals are still among the poorest communities.
Dr Biswajit Mohanty stressed the need for abolishing all programmes in the name of tribal development as these programmes ruin the tribal lives and many tribes are on the verge of extinction. He expressed his concern over the dwindling of tribal population in Odisha. Dr Palita said tribal families are forced into distress migration and evicted from their homes of centuries and tribal habitats.
Regions of plenty and abundance are slowly moving towards environmental disasters due to overexploitation and misuse of resources.
Even though the tribals are slowly but surely becoming aware of and assimilating some of the modern values while continuing their traditions and conventions, the changes in culture are clearly visible in their language, dress, ornaments, food, health, education, religion and rituals.
Policy planning, implementation and delivery efficacy should be properly audited under academic guidance.