Tribal movements in India v.2

The Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) conducted a survey of ongoing Kiribal movements in different parts of the country in 1976 and organised a Seminar in September that year to evaluate its findings. Among those who presented papers were anthropologists and other scholars who included historians, sociologists, political scientists and administrators. Besides there were tribal scholars who provided the insiders' views and also social workers. All these papers were divided into two volumes: The first volume contains tweny-four papers on the north east and the present volume has twenty five papers on movements elsewhere in the country.

The ASI survey identified movements seeking political autonomy and formation of a state, agrarian and forest-based movements, socio-religious movements and movements based on script and language. The best organised of the movements of the first type is the Jharkhand Movement which is discussed in terms of its historical development, ideology, structure and regional dimensions. While few agrarian struggles were reported from the northern and southern parts of India, as many as five agrarian and forest-based struggles; which are closely linked, were reported from central India, However, it was socio-cultural movements that held sway in this area. Five Bhagat type movements were reported, which higlighted some aspects of the Sanskritisation processes. More important was the set of four cultural movements based on script, language and religion seeking to assert and define tribal identity, Down south and in the islands, the tribes are too primitive, isolated and numerically small to organise movements on their own; however incipient processes of political mobilisation were found at work among some of them.