India

I come from a peasant family, and my forefathers were farmers. I was born and grew up in a hilly jungle hamlet hemmed in by bamboo, ferns, and tall deb daru (conifer) trees that change colors throughout the day.

In the unlikely land of Ladakh, where verdant hamlets bloom in the grip of the Himalayas and monks ride motorcycles, survival is an art form. And Ladakhis proudly exhibit their mastery of it.

Aided by the NGO Lokadrushti, indigenous women in Western Orissa, India, have mobilized
effectively to gain greater access to water to improve livelihoods in their drought-prone villages.

Indigenous peoples living in Aceh province in Indonesia, and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala in India, were among the many victims of the tsunami that devastated the coastlines of 12 Indian Ocean countries wit

Indigenous Activists Tell Cultural Survival What The Decade Meant To Them

Ellen Lutz interviewed Ana Pinto, of the Center for Organization Research and Education in Manipur, India, during July’s session of the U.N.

In many parts of Asia, parks—including sanctuaries, totally protected areas, and heritage sites—are found within indigenous peoples’ traditional territories.

When they open to page 52 of the Indian government’s “brand new” class seven social science textbook later this year, students in Ladakh, a mountainous region of far northern India, will find a number of curious claims about the land they call home. One is that “Ladakh is a vast sandy desert with bare gravel slopes and rocky mountains. Because of the severe cold, vegetation can not survive.” Bemused, they might point out to their teacher that, on their way to school, they passed a vast variety of plants—poplar trees, stinging nettles, wild roses, Artemisia—and very little sand.

I started working in the remote areas of western India in 1981 with the youth organization Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini, a nonpartisan group with a Gandhian philosophy. I still remember the incident that caused me to move from Mumbai (Bombay) to a village in Satara District of western India. Our group had organized a long march in the drought-stricken areas of the western region of Maharashtra. We visited villages, trying to understand the problems, and discussed solutions with the people. One woman reacted: “Why have you come here?

Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley, Editors

Tarcher/Putnam, 2001

ISBN 1 58542 091 3 (Hardcover)

Of India's vast population, 90 million belong to the indigenous communities known as adivasis or tribals. Most of the tribal communities live in central India; some live in the northeastern parts of India. Both areas are rich in timber and minerals. Tribals have developed sophisticated knowledge systems related to the folklore, ecology, agriculture, healthcare, art forms, and craft styles of their regions. Due to the developmental policies India followed during the last 50 years, the forest in the tribal belt is left devastated.

It is Oct. 3, 2000, and a full day since I boarded a jeep to travel nine hours into the jungles of central India. The forests abound with the chattering of monkeys, parrots, and giant gliding squirrels. Eventually, my jeep staggers onto a dirt path leading to Hemalkasa, a village belonging to the Madais..

The economic exploitation of children is one of the most prominent forms of child abuse and neglect in the world today. The phenomenon of child labor is not new. Children have worked throughout history.

These are some of the questions that have framed Mapping Our World, a children's rights and research project which has worked with young people from Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, India, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

The project's intention is to provide a forum where children can speak and adults listen. To provide a structure for this work, Mapping Our World created a five-day workshop process where children (aged 12 to 17) were invited to use drawing, painting, writing, photography and video to "map" their lives.

Chris Walter, the Tibetan Rug Weaving project coordinator, first became involved with Cultural Survival over a decade ago. On his extensive travels to Asia to study the art of rug weaving, Chris made connections with refugee communities all over Central Asia.

A cluster of 306 islands in the Bay of Bengal makes up India's territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Plane loads of tourists come to the airport at Port Blair to see the tropical rain forests and coral reefs in a place that is rapidly becoming the ecotourism hotspot of India. As the tourists disembark they pass pictures showing a historical prison that once housed many Indian freedom fighters. The display evokes a sense of the crucial role this island played in India's colonial history.

During the past few years, the resistance of indigenous and other minority communities to the construction of large dams has intensified and become increasingly better coordinated. In some regions, local resistance has become better organized and more effective. Globally, strengthening transnational ties contribute information, resources, and political leverage to the struggle.

Displacement and Development: Construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam

In April 1998, the Indian Express newspaper published a horrifying story about female infanticide and baby selling in adivasi (tribal) villages in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.