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Draupadi Murmu’s candidacy for president is a major development. If you ask what she did regarding PESA and what she would do about it as president, then you also need to answer why the country never got an Adivasi president or prime minister in the 74 years since Independence, writes Ravi Prakash

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If we think of the Adivasi way of life in terms of values, especially democratic values, then there is no reason for it to be a relic of the past rather than the wave of the future. The rich tradition of democratic living in Adivasi societies is a useful source of hope and inspiration, writes Jean Drèze

With smart policymaking, the Indian government can improve the quality of life of Adivasis – for example, giving them more autonomy in governance by extending the provision of Autonomous District Councils to Fifth Schedule Areas too, writes Chhotelal Kumar

The five-page reply to an RTI query, received on 3 February 2022, makes for shocking reading: The state with the largest Adivasi population did not invite suggestions and objections from the public before deciding on an important measure related to the Adivasis. That is not all. The government did not deem it necessary to discuss the matter with the elected representatives, writes Manish Bhatt Manu

‘The Hindustani society is divided into two distinct classes – the exploiters and the exploited. The Harijans, Adivasis, Muslims and the Backward Classes are the exploited. The upper castes are the exploiters. The exploited are 90 out of 100; the exploiters are 10 out of 100. Their interests are mutually contradictory and there is no scope for any compromise between them,’ said Jagdeo Prasad in his historic speech in the Bihar Assembly on 2 April 1970

Under Section 35 of the Madhya Pradesh PESA Rules 2021, the Gram Sabha has been invested with powers over the natural resources, agriculture and land only within the jurisdiction of the Gram Panchayat whereas in the Adivasi tradition, these powers extend up to the boundaries of the area inhabited by the community, says Manish Bhatt Manu

Today, the Adivasis of India have been reduced to such a state that they are no longer asking for anything from the government. They only want the government to be kind enough not to deprive them of what they have. But the government is not ready to concede even that, writes Himanshu Kumar

The brahmanical scriptures gloat how the Rakshasas had to flee in the face of the attack by the Devas, how their women suffered miscarriage, how their villages were burnt down and how and every single one of them was killed. The fact of the matter is that this is the description of the battles between the invaders and the indigenous inhabitants of India, writes Himanshu Kumar

Made in Tamil Nadu, the land of Periyar, ‘Jai Bhim’ is the latest in the series of films like ‘Karnan’, ‘Jallikattu’, ‘Asuran’ and ‘Kala’. These films mark the grand inauguration of a Bahujan era in the Indian film industry. The reception they have got is proof that there is a significant Bahujan audience for such films all over the country, writes Siddharth