Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

While there are still tribes that practice Animisim the belief that animals, plants, and inanimate objects or phenomena possess a spiritual essence, many others have been culturally assimilated into Hinduism or Christianity.

[Flex Mentallo]

Language does not always give an accurate indicator of tribal or caste status. Tribes cannot always be viewed as people living apart. Especially in regions of mixed population, many tribal groups have lost their original languages and simply speak local or regional languages. Tribal communities in India are the least educationally developed.

[Flex Mentallo]

There is a certain irony that the museum of tribal peoples is located in Araku.

[Flex Mentallo]

One only has to walk out of the museum and onto the main street to encounter the living tribes, looking after the museum grounds;

[Flex Mentallo]

or selling fruit and vegetables in the local market.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

Come as if suddenly to life, with an independent will.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

“You cannot teach democracy to the tribal people, you have to learn democratic ways from them. They are the most democratic people on earth”.

Jaipal Singh Munda

[Flex Mentallo]

Of 33 tribal communities in the south eastern state of Andhra Pradesh, around 20 groups are found in the Araku valley.

[Flex Mentallo]

They include the Valmiki, Bagata, Khond and Kotia tribes, who are renowned for performing the Dhimsa dance at local festivals. (The dance photos arent mine.)

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

While the valley is promoted as an idyllic tourist destination, remote from the stresses of modern urban living, the scheduled tribes see none of the benefits.

[Flex Mentallo]

The tribes living in the Araku Valley are considered among the most disadvantaged in the country.

[Flex Mentallo]

These marginalized communities live in a region characterized by low women’s literacy rates, high infant & maternal mortality & low agricultural productivity.

[Flex Mentallo]

It was severely deforested during the English settlements, generating erosion, soil degradation & poverty. Forests communities lived off have disappeared.

[Flex Mentallo]

Due to lack of potable drinking water, various water-borne diseases are rampant.

[Flex Mentallo]

Hardly 40% of the households have access to proper drinking water.

[Flex Mentallo]

Ailments that affect the tribals mostly comprise malaria, anthrax, viral fevers, skin ailments, dental diseases and tuberculosis.

[Flex Mentallo]

Illegal bauxite mining poisons the water, and the land.

[Flex Mentallo]

City dwellers had come posing as NGO workers, and try to persuade tribal people to sign English-language “petitions” that turned out to be statements consenting to land acquisition.

[Flex Mentallo]

The result has been conflict. There are tales of mining company helicopters being shot by arrows.