Centre plans to document cultures, social practices of indigenous, tribal societies

• The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), along with the Union government, is now pushing for the “re-documentation” of the cultures and social practices of indigenous and tribal societies in India

The proposal

• The plan is to encourage more sociologists, anthropologists and researchers from India’s indigenous and tribal communities to research and document the cultural, social and historical practices of their own communities to replace the colonial-era body of work on this subject

Valuable knowledge

• knowledge of tribal communities needs to be included in the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) that the National Education Policy is now focusing on.

Focus Area

• Ways to treat illnesses
• Ways to make weapons
• Ways of protecting nature
• Ways of passing knowledge through community songs.