Encyclopedia of Social

Movement Media
Adivasi Movement Media (India)

Contributors: Nishaant Choksi

Editors: John D.H. Downing
Book Title: Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media
Chapter Title: "Adivasi Movement Media (India)"
Pub. Date: 2011
Access Date: September 28, 2013
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks
Print ISBN: 9780761926887
Online ISBN: 9781412979313
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412979313.n4
Print pages: 5-7
This PDF has been generated from SAGE knowledge. Please note that the pagination
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412979313.n4Adivasi
India has about 84 million people considered under the constitutional term scheduled
tribe, about 8% of the general population. Many of these scheduled tribe groups prefer
the political term adivasi, or “original inhabitant.” The largest concentration of adivasis
lie in India's far northeast, followed by the “central tribal belt” in the hilly, forested areas
stretching from Gujarat to West Bengal. Most adivasis survive on subsistence-level
agriculture or migrant labor.

Adivasis have a long history of social struggle, and their media production is almost as
old. The [p. 5 ↓ ] British documented numerous large-scale rebellions such as the 1855
Santal tribe Hul (liberation movement) and the 1895 Birsa movement, each of which
mobilized hundreds of thousands, under adivasi leadership, against British and upper-
caste exploitation. Other large-scale rebellions also took place. Although print was not
widespread then, adivasi authors as early as 1894 began publishing tracts in adivasi
languages to unify their communities along political and cultural lines.

Contemporary Adivasi Movement Media

One particularly influential movement has been the Jharkhand movement, the oldest
autonomy movement in postindependence India. The struggle for Jharkhand, a tribal
majority state carved out from Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh,
began in 1938 with the formation of the Adivasi Mahasabha (the Great Council of
the Adivasis). In the late 1980s the movement merged with left parties such as the
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), which attempted to cast the Jharkhand
movement as much more than an adivasi struggle but a struggle for all oppressed
people, including Dalits (the proper term for so-called untouchable castes). In November
2000, a truncated Jharkhand state was carved out solely from Bihar, to the dismay of
many activists.

The Jharkhand movement inspired many media. In the 1970s and 1980s, left activists
working in Jharkhand began to express a Jharkhandi culture among its various social
sectors, including adivasis and Dalits. Activists such as Ramanika Gupta began a media
foundation that brought together adivasi and Dalit intellectuals from Jharkhand and
elsewhere. Her long-running magazine Yudhrat Aam Admi (The Common Man's War

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Movement Media (India)
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Chariot) maintains the spirit of the Jharkhand movement, translating the writings of
adivasi authors, poets, and commentators into Hindi.

The movement had a huge impact on the burgeoning adivasi language media as
well. Many Santali magazines in the greater Jharkhand area (including West Bengal
and Orissa), such as Nawa Ipil (New Star), have special issues on the Santal Hul.
The imagery in these media is not just commemorative. Through recalling the Hul in
magazines, plays, poetry, and feature films, Santals also reiterate their ongoing desire
for tribal autonomy.

Recent movements such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement),
started in 1989 against building a huge dam on Gujarat's River Narmada, have also
produced a variety of adivasi media. Because most of those affected were adivasi
groups, the movement inspired a number of protest songs and protest literature in local
adivasi languages. These songs were recorded and circulated by the movement in
collections such as Amu Adivasi (We, Adivasis): Tribal Songs From the Narmada Valley
Struggle. These collections featured older adivasi struggle songs as well, illustrating
how the movement attempts to integrate past protest with contemporary agendas.

Finally, adivasi media have often been deployed to link cultural expression and
economic development. The Gujarat-based Bhasha (Language) Center has combined
health care, education, microcredit, and other programs with the production of adivasi-
language magazines. The magazine Dhol (The Drum) allows adivasis to write in their
own languages but also circulates information on development projects. Bhasha also
publishes Bol (Speech), a magazine specifically targeting adivasi children in Gujarat.
Unlike mainstream magazines, it features adivasi artists, popular regional adivasi
stories, and adivasi history. Bhasha also intends to start an adivasi-only radio station in
the area to promote oral education. Bhasha insists economic uplift of Adivasis requires
cultural empowerment.

Although only a few examples of adivasi media are noted here, from diverse institutional
settings and regional contexts, they illustrate a common thread. Social movements
often formulate their claims around universal goals, but for Adivasis they also involve
cultural assertion. Their media allow Adivasis to participate in national and international

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democratic struggles for rights and recognition, while also furthering their unique cultural
contributions.

Nishaant Choksi

http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412979313.n4
See Also:

Further Readings

Baviskar, A. (1995). In the belly of the river: Tribal conflicts over development in the
Narmada Valley . New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.

Bhasha Research and Publication Center : http://www.bhasharesearch.org.in/Site.html-

id=Home

Devy, G. N. (2006). A nomad called thief . Hyderabad, India: Orient Longman.

Gupta, R. (Ed.). (2008). Adivasi sahitya yatra [The literary journey of the Adivasis] . New
Delhi, India: Radhakrishna Publications.

Hembrom, P. (2007). Shaontal shahityer itihash [The history of Santali literature] .

Kolkata, India: Nirmal Publications.

Munda, R. D., ed. , & Mullick, S. B. (Eds.). (2003). The Jharkhand movement:
Indigenous people's struggle for self autonomy in India . Copenhagen, Denmark:
International Workgroup for Indigenous Affairs.

Murmu, N. C., & Hansdah, R. C. (n.d.). A portal for Santals books & magazines . http://
wesanthals.tripod.com/id39.html

Singh, K. S. (Ed.). (1983). Tribal movements in India . New Delhi, India: Manohar
Publications.

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