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… Continue reading…
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,… Continue reading…
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,… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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… Continue reading…
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…. Continue reading…
The Chief Minister of India’s Jharkhand state celebrated the 91st birthday of a prominent leader of his political party, the BJP, by calling attention to the needs of the Birhor people.
Birhor who violate social rules are sentenced by village elders to pay fines, which consist of bottles of their favorite local beverage, a rice beer called “haria.” According to a study of haria published in 2014, it is a beverage made from low grade rice that is popular among low… Continue reading…
When Ratni Birhor starved to death in her hut in September 2011, the story made headlines due to allegations of government neglect of the Birhor people. Last week, the Hindustan Times, a major English language daily newspaper in India, provided an update to the story. An investigation in 2011 shortly… Continue reading…
Concern in India for the Birhor jumped dramatically six years ago, though sympathy for this peaceful society has apparently waned as memories of a tragedy in October 2008 grow dim. A news story last week implies that official interest in the Birhor people has nearly evaporated. The Birhor experience presents… Continue reading…
