Birhor
Birhor in Danger of Extinction
Sociologists in India are warning that the Birhor society in the state of Jharkhand may be on the verge of extinction, according to a news report this last weekend. The sociologists particularly criticize the state government of Jharkhand, created five years ago out of a part of Bihar state, for not providing proper resources for […]
Forest Degradation Affects Birhor Society [journal article review]
The degradation and disappearance of the natural forest cover in India has severely affected the economic subsistence of the Birhor. A recent journal article analyzes historical reports about that society, the Indian census records from 1961 through 1991, and field research in 1999 to derive a portrait of the changes in Birhor economic activities over […]
Violence Threatens the Peaceful Societies of North India, Part 1 of a Series, The Naxalites and the Birhor
The royal coup d’etat in Nepal at the beginning of February and the rise of rural violence in India have generated new tensions in South Asia, and isolated “tribal” societies such as the Birhor are being swept into the conflict. On February 1, Nepal’s King Gyanendra dismissed his government and imposed a state of emergency […]
Have the Birhor Been Roped into Social Changes? [book review]
Sudhir Kumar examines what he calls the “tribal geography” of the Birhor society in a new book issued recently in India. Two-thirds of The Birhors of Chotanagpur Region (A Study in Tribal Geography) consists of a review of Birhor society based on the rather extensive literature, which the author cites carefully. He provides the geographical […]
