'Mining destroying tribal culture'

He was speaking at national seminar on ‘Tribes and Analogous People in India: Contemporary Issues’ on the occasion of International Day of World’s Indigenous People. The seminar was  jointly organised by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) and Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI).

Certain people are looting the natural resources in forests. However, with this daylight robbery continuing unabated, scheduled tribes who are the conservators of forests are leaving for urban areas.

He also said that scheduled tribes have their own unique art and culture. But atrocities are being committed against them, and there are no constitutional provisions for their protection, he observed.

Dr Sudarshan observed that access to primary health care centres is very difficult for tribes. There have been no genuine attempts to integrate modern medicine with traditional medicine, he remarked. He stressed on the need for increasing the number of health centres in tribal areas.

Last year, employment under the MGNREGS was a source of livelihood for many tribals. However due to corruption, that has been stopped this year. Explaining the plight of tribes due to the naxal menace, he said that Scheduled Tribes are caught in between the police and naxals. He said that utmost commitment is needed to solve the problem.

Commending the Chief Minister’s initiative in providing ownership of land to tribes, he said that a programme is organised at the end of this month to distribute the title deeds for the beneficiaries.

AnSI director, Prof K K Basa, IGRMS director, Prof K K Misra, University of Mysore Vice Chancellor, Prof V G Talawar, Former Vice Chancellor of Barkatulla University Prof I S Chauhan and Head of AnSI, Mysore, Dr B Francis Kulirani were present.