Naxalites
Paliyans Unaware of Welfare
The chief executive of the Dindigul District in India’s Tamil Nadu took a lengthy trek into a remote Paliyan village on January 23 to listen to the people discuss their issues. According to an article in The Hindu, Collector T. G. Vinay hiked nearly 14 kilometers into the village of Moongilpallam in the forested Kodaikanal […]
Naxalite Violence Advances to New Levels
Naxalite sabotage of an Indian express train late last week killed over 100 people and heightened tensions over the treatment of the Birhor and the other tribal peoples of eastern India. Media around the world carried the story of the horrible railway accident, and the increased severity of recent battles between the Naxalite Maoist rebel […]
Cheating Tribal Peoples in India
Prof. B.K. Roy Burman, referred to 10 years ago as the “grand old man of Indian anthropology,” has just published a critical analysis of the roots of the Naxalite movement. His lengthy essay, over 11,000 words, appeared in the October 17th issue of Mainstream, an Indian current affairs weekly. The author has been a member […]
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 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 […]
Naxalites Target the Yanadi
The Maoist guerrillas of India, referred to as “Naxalites,” are still destroying the rural landscape—trapping many indigenous peoples in their crossfire with the police and upending the economy. Reports last year indicated that the Birhor were heavily impacted by the Naxalite depredations; this year the Yanadi are under fire. In Chhattisgarh state on July 17, […]
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 […]
