Birhor
Advocate for the Birhor
A selfless 63-year old man from a rural village in the Jashpur District of Chhattisgarh has devoted his life to promoting the welfare of the Birhor people. The Hitavada, an English-language daily newspaper from Central India, published an account on July 6th of the work of Jageshwar Ram Yadav, who was recently recognized by the […]
Schooling for Birhor Children
The St. Robert’s High School in Hazaribagh has enrolled 24 Birhor children in a program sponsored by Tata Steel to provide free schooling to youngsters who show a strong interest and aptitude for education. The company covers all the costs of the residential education, such as fees, room and board, so the young Birhor can […]
Birhor Benefit from a Health Center
Photojournalist Tanmoy Bhaduri provided an upbeat assessment last week of an Anganwadi center, located in a Birhor community in a remote corner of India’s Jharkhand State. He met a Birhor woman who is trying to improve the health and nutrition of the women and children in the village, the primary mission of India’s Anganwadi centers. […]
Petty Theft by Some Birhor
The Times of India last Tuesday published a story about some Birhor people that was straight out of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, arguably one of the greatest novels of western literature. Like Jean Valjean, the major character in the novel, five Birhor men are facing lengthy prison sentences for the crime of petty theft. Valjean […]
Birhor Poverty in India [journal article review]
A brief journal article published last month provides a thorough description of the poverty of a Birhor community in India. While not pleasant reading, the report is important because it does summarize the conditions under which the Birhor struggle. Jai Kumar and Rajni Kant Kumar did a careful survey of the 55 Birhor families living […]
Funeral Customs of the Birhor
According to a recent article in the Hindustan Times, some Birhor communities in India’s Jharkhand state do not have proper burial grounds. The reporter wrote that they cannot afford to buy land for their graveyards, so they are seeking assistance from the district government. The Birhor interviewed by Manoj Choudhary, the Hindustan Times reporter, live […]
Birhor Families Endure Poverty
Eight Birhor families live in deplorable, hardship conditions in a village of eastern India and the various welfare schemes of the state and federal governments are not helping. The Times of India published a brief exposé by reporter Pravin Kumar Mishra about the situation that described the village of Piyarkoli, in the Gawan Block of […]
Birhor Baby for Sale
On Sunday last week a Birhor woman gave birth to her fifth child and, desperate about feeding her growing family, she sold the infant to a businessman from a neighboring district. The story was picked up by numerous news services in India, each of which varied a bit from the others in some of the […]
Monkeys, Nets, and Birhor Identity [journal article review]
The Birhor move freely between their identities as foragers, hunters, and active business people, allowing them to survive in a world where they are frequently marginalized by government officials and a Hindu majority. Having studied the Birhor extensively, author Deborah Nadal was intrigued by their ability to fluidly navigate these identities. She explores this aspect […]
Birhor Cope with Changes [journal article review]
The formerly nomadic Birhor are struggling to cope with their forced resettlement into permanent communities, which has had a serious impact on their cultural values. A recent journal article by Deborah Nadal examines these changes in Birhor settlement patterns over the past 50 years and their impact on the people. Nadal did fieldwork in Dingura […]
