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Original inhabitants

Sir, — This has reference to Joseph Mathew's letter "Land for tribals" (Feb. 26). The adivasis have a living lineage of 20,000 years and, as their name suggests, are the original inhabitants of the forests. They fought bravely against the British though this has never been acknowledged. From the Bihar uprising of 1778 to Lakshman Naik's revolt in Orissa in 1942, the adivasis of India repeatedly rebelled against the British rule. The British created the issue of a separate tribal identity by inventing categories such as tribal and non-tribal, criminal and non-criminal tribes, included or excluded territories to isolate rural Indian communities from one another. They also legislated the "Crown's Control over Indian Forests" in 1865 to loot the forest wealth besides annexing the adivasi land to establish plantations. Of course, the cheap labour came from among the tribals.

Equality in adivasi society is not some distant dream or goal to be achieved — it is an integral part of how their society is structured. Instead of learning from them how to live lightly off the earth, we are driving them against the wall. The State Government could do well if it implemented the "Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act 1996" and revived the "Kerala Scheduled Tribes Act 1975" if it really wanted to match rhetoric with action.

Pradeep Kumar,
Kozhikode, Kerala

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• A cautious budget
• Preventing killings
• Godhra, a year later
• Original inhabitants
• Derailed promises
• Outdated customs
• Not on a par
• A collective effort

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