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Session 2: Examining Adivasi-Indigenous discourse
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Jyothsna
11:51
Hello and welcome to Session 2 of the colloquium on 'Understanding caste' featuring Dr. Maroona Murmu, Professor, Jadavpur University and Akash Poyam, Member of Faculty, Asian College of Journalism. The session is moderated by Prof. Mohan Ramamoorthy, Associate Dean, ACJ.
11:54
Prof. Mohan Ramamoorthy begins by stressing on the acute need to be self-aware about concepts about our own ideas and stereotypes surrounding caste and tribes and understanding complexities in caste.
11:55
Prof. Mohan introduces Dr. Maroona Murmu, Professor, Jadavpur University.
11:57
Dr. Maroona begins by shedding light on Article 342 of the Constitution, which looks at the classification of Scheduled Tribes (STs) in culture and language.
11:59
She notes that there are nearly 705 ST groups, among which 75 of them belong to vulnerable tribal groups. Dr. Maroona adds that there are no homogenous definitions for understanding Adivasis. She says that mainstream frameworks of society views Adivasis as the 'other.'
12:02
Dr. Maroona delves into the notion that although the feature of the struggles of Adivasis vary, they are united by a lack of desire to be a part of the paradigm of development. She says, "as a 'Santhal' and an Adivasi, let me tell you about what not to look for, in an Adivasi."
12:08
She cites the example of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), which supposedly has the largest number of students from tribal communities, but are often denounced by Adivasi scholars and their peers. She takes the instance of a former student of KISS, who said: "only gods understood Sanskrit and we forgot our language."
12:11
Dr. Maroona points out the 'crisis of democracy' which she notes was inevitable as it failed to provide representation to the tribal communities, owing to the  Hindu Varna System, from which they have been pushed away from.
Dr. Maroona Murmu at the Asian College of Journalism
12:15
Throwing light on the principles of social justice, Dr. Maroona notes that there are policies in place which stress on the need for traditional, self-governed institutions like gram panchayats. She contends that gram sabhas aid with water, resource and land management, where the government of India can interfere in 'Adivasi-ordained areas'.
12:17
She further notes that the 'gram sabha policy' aimed to decentralize power and empowered them with the development of areas of STs.
12:22
Is national development more important than tribal development?
Yes (66.7% | 2 votes)
 
No (33.3% | 1 vote)
 
Total Votes: 3
Dr. Maroona moves on to point out that back in 2018,  forest dwellers were left unprotected, with several of them being evicted as "illegal" forest dwellers and nearly 2 million tribal groups were on the verge of losing their livelihood.
12:24
She argues that it falls upon the state government to record stats of the tribal population in the areas assigned to them.
              Dr. Murmu on caste atrocities in West Bengal.
"Adivasis become collateral damage for the state governments during development projects", says Dr. Maroona.
12:27
Dr. Maroona throws light on how coal mining projects and the development of dams have led to large-scale displacement among tribal communities, and they receive little to no monetary compensation from the government, in the process.
12:29
She also stresses on a gender disparity with respect to the allocation of compensation, where men assumed to be "heads of the household" avail compensation as opposed to women.
12:31
Dalit representation in Lok Sabha
12:32
Dr. Maroona moves on to look into the depictions of the Panchsheel Dam launched by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru in Sunil Dutt's "Hum hain Hindustani"
12:33
Dr Maroona: "The core of 'nayi kahaani' rested on development and modernization. The 15-year-old Adivasi at the dam had become a non-Santhal, because she had garlanded Nehru."
12:34
12:37
Reflecting on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Odisha government and steel plant POSCO India, Dr. Maroona notes that a protest ensued, initiated by tribal communities across Odisha.
12:40
She adds that as part of a land-acquisition deal between the state government and a Japanese corporation agency 3.5 million trees in areas that tribal communities relied on for their livelihood, were felled.
12:42
Pointing out that the BJP-led government passed a law to utilise lands belonging to the tribal communities for commercial purposes, Dr. Maroona adds that it sparked protests among tribal communities under the slogan, "Ghar, jungle aur zameen" (House, forest, and land.). Over 10,000 members were booked under the Sedition law.
12:46
Dr. Maroona notes that Adivasi communities often fall prey to exploitative labour, as they don't focus on wealth accumulation.
12:47
Dr. Murmu talks about casteism and identity in the context of abuse faced by her by upper caste students.
12:49
Delving into an incident from 25th Aug 2021, where the United Nations issued a warning draft that the Nicobar Islands development project would alienate indigenous lands from tribals and eradicate them from their spaces.
12:53
Delving into the exploitative nature of the Bengali 'bhadralok' caste group, Dr. Maroona delves into the  academic exclusion of tribal communities citing the example of the suicide of Chunni Kottal, a post-graduate student of Vidyasagar University, as her professor deemed her as a "member of a criminal tribe."
12:55
Dr. Maroona: "I am the 'other' of Bhadralok. Back in JNU, my ethnicity was a negative factor and I was made to know that I did not belong there."
12:57
She notes that academic spaces still continue to believe that Dalits and Adivasi communities bear no merit, hence they don't belong there.
12:58
She concludes that the idea of 'social distancing' that stemmed after the Covid-19 crisis still remains a gruesome reality for members of marginalized groups, like herself.
12:59
Prof. Mohan introduces the next speaker Akash Poyam, Faculty, ACJ.
1:02
Akash begins by reflecting on an incident last year in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, where one tree was cut down by the Central Reserve Police Force, and nearly 5000 people from Adivasi communities gathered there.
1:03
Akash: "This shows that Adivasi communities have spiritual connections with the environment; among indigenous people, land is not separate, it’s a part of their cosmology."
1:07
He explores the concept of "Sanskritization" brought forth by M.N. Srinivasan, that deems Adivasis as "backward Hindus" as stated by G.S. Ghure during the 20th century. Akash notes that the concept of the "Hindu Adivasi" emerged, as these narratives sprung up.
1:09
Akash on the concept of Sanskritisation in the context of Adivasi-indigenous discourse.
1:10
Noting that narratives were formed to include Hinduism in Adivasi discourses, Akash throws light on the myth of "a Mahatma", who appears before an Adivasi and renders them "unclean".
1:11
He points out that the "Mahatma" becomes a metaphor for Gandhi and that these narratives were spun to back the political ideologies of the Indian National Congress.
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