Birhor
Birhor Development Projects in Jharkhand
Some teachers and alumni from an urban Jharkhand school have formed a group in order to help develop the living conditions of a Birhor village in a rural area of the state. Their inaugural project was the installation of the first sanitary toilet in the village, which they accomplished on the 60th anniversary of India’s […]
Birhor Life Depicted in Major Calcutta Newspaper
Last week, the Telegraph in Calcutta carried two different articles that featured the Birhor society of Jharkhand state. It appears as if the tragic deaths of numerous Birhor villagers early in October prompted the news organization to focus on a previously obscure group of peaceful people. According to a news story in the paper on […]
October Birhor Tragedy Still Disturbs India
The strange, tragic deaths of numerous Birhor villagers in Jharkhand State on October 2 continue to reverberate in India, particularly since other so-called tribal peoples have also been dying of mysterious causes. Eight people died due to unknown circumstances within a few hours of one another that evening in the village of Hindiakala, and evidently […]
Birhor Roots and Leaves
An ANI reporter visited a Birhor village last week and talked with some of the people to get their perspectives on the tragedy of a few weeks earlier when eight people died suddenly. The reporter was surprised that, in this day and age, people actually went out and foraged “by eating roots and leaves from […]
Tragedy in a Birhor Village
A strange series of contradictory Indian news stories over the past couple weeks have carried confusing reports about the possible causes of a tragic set of deaths in a Birhor village. It is difficult to sort out the truth, but the essence of the issue—that really poor country people don’t matter and can be used […]
Birhors Settle for Growing Crops
Despite the fact that their name for themselves means “men of the forest,” Birhor living in East Singhbhum District of India’s Jharkhand State have started cutting down trees and planting crops. An article released online last Thursday by the Indian environmental biweekly Down to Earth explains that the Birhor and Sabar peoples, who live together […]
Birhor Increasingly Affected by Naxalite Terrorists
Members of so-called “Primitive Tribal Groups” (PTVs) in Bihar State are increasingly shifting their support to the violent Naxalites, according to a recent survey. The study, completed by Prof. S. Narayan, an anthropologist, was described by a story in the Times of India on May 9. Titled “Status of Primitive Tribal Groups of Bihar,” the […]
Birhor Knowledge of Natural Resources
The Calcutta Telegraph reported last Friday that a Birhor village in Jharkhand State has been closely involved with a natural inventory project known as the People’s Bio-diversity Register (PBR). The PBR documents the natural and human ecology of villages in India. It includes the lifestyles of the people, their socio-economic conditions, and the flora and […]
Have the Birhor Vanished?
Apparently the Indian state of Jharkhand has forgotten the existence of the Birhor people. While other states around the world have hassled their peaceful societies, expelled them from their lands, removed them from their villages, and desecrated their sacred places, completely forgetting about them is remarkable. The Telegraph of Calcutta reported last week that Jharkhand’s […]
Birhor Lose Forests to Coal Mines
Coal mining in India’s Jharkhand state threatens to destroy the forests that the Birhor, and other aboriginal groups, depend on. A detailed report in an Indian paper issued on February 23rd explains the background of the mining practices in this area and the ways they affect the tribal peoples. Evidently the Jharia mining district in […]
