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JUNE 2020

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CONTENTS

PAPER -1

PHYSICAL, EVOLUTIONARY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL

ANTHROPOLOGY

1. Prehistoric human footprints reveal a rare snapshot of ancient

human group behaviour

2. Similar to humans, chimpanzees develop slowly

3. Modern biomechanical techniques used to explore ergonomic

design of earliest human tools

4. Skull features among Asian and Asian-derived groups differ

significantly

5. Unexpected mammal provides insight into the lives of ancient

hominins

6. The Pandemic: Indigenous Perspectives on Survival, Adaptation,

Rebuilding, and Preparedness.

7. Study in twins finds our sensitivity is partly in our genes.


SOCIO-CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

8. Reexamining the origins of human fatherhood

9. Cultivating cooperation through kinship

10. Scientists have discovered an earlier origin to the human

language pathway in the brain, pushing back its evolutionary origin

by at least 20 million years

PAPER - 2

INDIAN & TRIBAL ANTHROPOLOGY

11. Tribal affairs ministry constitutes committee on CFR guidelines

under FRA

12.Maharashtra Governor modifies law on forest rights

13. A 'fillip' to land grab: Sitharaman's Rs 6,000 crore offer for

compensatory afforestation

14. How The Impact Covid-19 Has Reached Tribal Communities In

India


15. Modi’s Van Dhan Yojana to tribal economy’s rescue; high MSP

helps tribals earn Rs 2,000 cr amid lockdown

16. Tribals in 3 states against Centre’s decision to auction coal

mines, say it would displace them

17. Axone - A Tribal Identity - Ethnic Cuisine of Nagas

18. Educational Complexes for Tribal Students: Odisha

19. Dynamic IAS Officer Has a Village Named in Her Honour.

Here’s Why!

20. How COVID-19 made forest rights battle tough for Tharu

women

21. e-Marketing of tribal produce a shot in their arm.

PHYSICAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

1. Prehistoric human footprints reveal a rare snapshot of ancient

human group behaviour


A research group —documented astonishing 408 total human

footprints of 20 prehistoric modern humans walked through a

volcanic mudflow, still active in Engare Sero, Tanzania, Using two

different dating techniques that measure radioactive decay in the

material that preserved the footprints, dated the footprints to between

6,000 and 19,000 years ago. In this time period, modern humans were

likely the only hominin species left in Africa, and had already spread

to many other parts of the globe.

Prehistoric footprints are a remarkable and precious source of

evidence for the behavior and biology of ancient organisms, capturing

a snapshot of their lives in deep time. It’s the most abundant

assemblage of ancient human footprints currently known from Africa

and suggests this ancient community had a division of labour

between the adult females and males.

Footprints fill in the story

While they cannot tell you too much about how an animal looked,

they can be surprisingly useful for reconstructing many other aspects

of their biology. Footprints can tell you how fast an animal was

running, where it was going and sometimes even if the animal was

solitary or moved in herds.

For the human lineage, footprint sites have been especially important

in furthering scientists’ understanding of our own evolutionary

journey. The iconic 3.66-million-year-old paleontological site of

Laetoli in Tanzania, for instance, provided some of the earliest

definitive evidence of upright walking in our ancient ancestors.


While Engare Sero is much younger than Laetoli, it provides a

fascinating snapshot of a time period when our own species, Homo

sapiens, was on the rise.

What the prints describe

size, spacings and directions of the footprints, determined that 17 of

the footprint tracks were created by a single group of individuals

walking at the same time in a southwesterly direction. Based on a

sophisticated statistical analysis using a vast comparative dataset of

modern foot dimensions, this group likely consisted of mainly 14

adult females, with two adult males and one younger male.

Modern foragers such as the Hadza in Tanzania and the Ache in

Paraguay often include groups of adult females cooperatively

gathering food together, with occasional visits from or

accompaniment by adult males. This scenario seems a plausible fit for

the group structure and patterns of movements we inferred at Engare

Sero.

The footprints may indicate cooperative and sexually divided

foraging in this ancient human community.

While we don’t know what the community of people who made these

prints was specifically like, we know that hominins in Africa at this

time were engaging in complex behaviors, and that they were

members of our own species, Homo sapiens. They may have been

foraging along a lake shore, looking for plants or shellfish to eat.

They may have been carrying bows and arrows to hunt animals like

the antelopes, zebra or buffalo who left other footprints nearby. There


are also six other footprint tracks heading in an almost perfectly

opposite direction, to the northeast. Most of the people who made

these footprints were walking at different speeds and at least one was

running, suggesting that these tracks were not created by a single

group traveling together.

Preserving Engare Sero for the future

Several of the human footprint tracks lead to a nearby sand dune to

the north. We’ve purposefully left any footprints preserved under the

sand dune unexcavated for now, until we can work with the

Tanzanian government to develop a conservation plan to track and

limit erosion of the footprints.The hardened ash is remarkably

resilient to erosion from water and wind. Still, thanks to the

Smithsonian’s 3D Digitization Program, we have meticulously

captured three-dimensional data for each of the footprints so we can

trace any natural destruction of the prints over time.

2. Similar to humans, chimpanzees develop slowly

Similar to humans, chimpanzees require more than five years to reach

key developmental milestones.


Few species develop as slowly as humans, both in terms of

developing adult skills and brain development. Human infants are

born so underdeveloped that they cannot survive without adult care

and feeding for some years after birth. Children still need to learn

fundamental skills such as walking, eating, talking, using tools and

much more. The timing of these developmental milestones is used by

doctors to determine if a child and the child's brain are developing

normally. However, we know little about the timing of motor and

social developmental milestones in other long-lived, closely related

species such as chimpanzees, nor what they indicate for brain

development. For example, when do chimpanzees start to walk, feed

themselves, groom others and use tools? Fully charting development

milestones in wild chimpanzees and other species can shed light on

the evolutionary basis of such extended developmental periods.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary

Anthropology in Leipzig have now systematically mapped a wide


array of behavioural skills and determined at which point during

development these skills emerge in wild chimpanzees. For this study,

the researchers observed 19 chimpanzee infants (eight females and 11

males) from the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, from the first month

after they were born until five years of age. The results showed that

gross motor skills begin to emerge at around four months,

communication traits at 12 months, social interaction skills at 14

months and fine motor skills at 15 months. "Not only the time frame,

but also the order of emergence of the different skills is very similar to

what we see in humans, reflecting a shared evolutionary history," says

first author Aisha Bründl. "Our findings are in line with the delayed

benefits hypothesis, which states that extended development is

necessary for acquiring adult skills."

"Such developmental milestones may shed light on the maturation of

the brain," says senior author Catherine Crockford, a co-leader of the

Evolution of Brain Connectivity (EBC) project of the Max Planck

Society. "Our findings suggest that some parts of the chimpanzee

brain may develop slowly, like in humans."

This remains to be investigated as part of this new EBC project, a

collaboration between the Max Planck institutes for Evolutionary

Anthropology and for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in the

context of which researchers collect, scan and analyse post-mortem

brains of great apes and relate these findings to ape behaviour.

In addition, the researchers found that more complex skills, like tool

use and social interactions, emerge later, with larger differences

between individual chimpanzees in developmental timing than for

less-complex skills. "This variation may be caused by underlying

differences in the social environment a chimpanzee is growing up in,

but also other factors, such as nutrition, and remains to be

investigated further," explains co-author Patrick Tkaczynski.

https://phys.org/tags/wild+chimpanzees/

https://phys.org/tags/evolutionary+history/

https://phys.org/tags/brain/

https://phys.org/tags/chimpanzees/


"Such a developmental study requires long-term data, since

chimpanzees have a similarly slow life history compared to humans,"

Roman Wittig, another senior author on the study and director of the

Taï Chimpanzee Project points out. "We are lucky to have 40 years of

observations on the same wild chimpanzees." Overall, this study is the

most extensive description of developmental milestones in

chimpanzees to date and further illuminates shared developmental

pathways of great ape species.

3. Modern biomechanical techniques used to explore ergonomic

design of earliest human tools

Kent's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences (SSES) and School of

Anthropology and Conservation (SAC) have collaborated on a

research project to investigate the design of Lower and Middle

Palaeolithic stone tools from a modern ergonomic perspective.


Using surface electromyography, a biomechanical technique capable

of recording electrical activity in muscles, researchers explored how

the use of different stone tools from the Palaeolithic period affected

muscle activation in arms. The electrical activity is associated with

muscle contraction, allowing professionals to tell which muscles are

being used, how much they have contracted and how they are co-

ordinated.

The research team examined nine muscles across the hand, forearm

and shoulder during the use of four different stone tools types from

the Lomekwian, Oldowan, Acheulean and Mousterian periods. They

hoped to discover whether later tool types required lower levels of

muscle activity, and were therefore more ergonomic to use. This

would have helped explain why they replaced earlier technologies. It

was discovered that technological changes did not always coincide


with ergonomic improvements to the tools, meaning that ease-of-use

cannot explain why these new tool types were invented.

Dr. Alastair Key, a Palaeolithic archaeologist at SAC, worked with Dr.

Samantha Winter and Ph.D. students Ian Farr and Rob Hunter,

biomechanics experts at SSES, to run this research. The combined

effort from the researchers made the project possible, with expertise

and equipment from both schools contributing to the study.

Dr. Key said: 'There's huge potential for techniques and methods that

have become commonplace in sports science to contribute to our

understanding of early human behaviour. I can only hope that this

research will lead to others undertaking similar projects in the future.

It's not just the investigation of muscle contraction levels, but elements

of the whole musculoskeletal system are routinely investigated in

detail by sports scientists, and yet archaeologists rarely utilise these

techniques to shed light on early human behaviour'.

Dr. Winter said: 'We usually use electromyography in our labs on

athletes such as cyclists, footballers and wheelchair athletes to

understand what limits their performance or how to improve their

sporting skills. It was fascinating to see how these methods could help

us understand something about what life was like millions of years

ago and how the use and design of these tools developed.'

Their research paper 'Muscle recruitment and stone tool use

ergonomics across three million years of Palaeolithic technological

transitions' has been published in The Journal of Human Evolution.

4. Skull features among Asian and Asian-derived groups differ


significantly

Forensic anthropologists have now discovered that several skull

features in Asian and Asian-derived groups differ significantly with

regard to shape, such that they can be distinguished using statistical

analyses. These findings highlight the future potential for developing

more nuanced statistical methods that can potentially differentiate

between groups that comprise the broad "Asian" ancestral category in

forensic casework.

Ancestry is typically estimated using metric (using measurements) or

non metric (using morphology, or shape) techniques that can be

applied to the cranial skeleton. In forensic anthropology, ancestral

affiliation is traditionally conceptualized into three broad groups—

African, European and Asian. "However, it was our goal to

determine if more fine-tuned ancestry estimations could be made

beyond these broad categories, using a statistical framework,"

explained corresponding author Megan Atkinson, a graduate student

in the MS Program in Forensic Anthropology in the Department of

Anatomy and Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine

(BUSM).

Atkinson and her colleague collected cranial and mandibular

nonmetric (shape) data on 450 individuals including: pre-contact

Southwest Native American individuals housed in a skeletal

collection at the American Museum of Natural History; modern

Japanese individuals from Jikei University in Tokyo; and modern Thai

individuals from Khon Kaen University in Khon Kaen, Thailand. They


then analyzed the shape differences that occur in features of the skull

among the samples.

"Our study documents morphological (shape) variation within cranial

features found in East Asian and Southeast Asian groups, which is

important since skeletal biology studies concerning Asian populations

are limited. In mass disaster contexts, this type of information is

pertinent because it can be used to create population-specific

methods, similar to the models developed in the present study, for

estimating elements of the biological profile, which ultimately aids the

victim identification process," added coauthor Sean Tallman, Ph.D.,

RPA, assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology at BUSM.

5. Unexpected mammal provides insight into the lives of ancient

hominins

For decades, anthropologists have attempted to solve the mystery of

what hominins early ancestors of humans ate to survive. The answer

to this question can be found etched into the bones and teeth of

hominins, but the conclusion is not always obvious.

CT image of Tapirus bairidii without a saggital crest


CT image of Tapirus terrestris with a pronounced saggital crest

According to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports,

led by Larisa DeSantis, paleontologist and associate professor of

biological sciences at Vanderbilt, the answer to early hominin diets

may lie in an unrelated group of large herbivorous mammals tapirs.

Some species of tapirs have large sagittal crests bony ridges on the

top of their skulls where large jaw muscles attach which are similar to

certain hominins. DeSantis' team of researchers used finite element

analysis and dental microwear texture analysis, methods typically

used by engineers, to assess the stress and strain that chewing a

variety of food textures inflects on different skull structures.

"Sometimes you have to think completely out of the box and rethink

relationships between skull shape and function," said DeSantis. "Our

research aimed to examine if tapirs' large sagittal crests are required

for eating hard food or have other functions. We found that sagittal

crests allowed for prolonged chewing of tough foods like leaves, and

are not present in tapir species that eat the hardest foods."


This study has important implications for reevaluating relationships

between form and function in mammals. It reaffirms the importance

of reviewing a wide spectrum of organisms when searching for clues

about the behavior of extinct animals.

The research builds on published analysis of Paranthropus boisei, an

early hominin often referred to as "nutcracker man." Our ancient

relatives were thought to chew and eat hard foods based on their

specialized skull shape, but a microscopic look at teeth textures and

chemical signatures in the teeth indicate that P. boisei did not eat hard

foods like nuts, rather soft or tough food like grasses or strong, fibrous

leaves and stems.

"In paleobiology, we never know where our next insights will come

from," said Mark Teaford, vice chair of the Department of Basic

Science at Touro University and an author of the aforementioned

analysis of P. boisei. "This study is a perfect case in point. By using

state-of-the-art techniques but looking outside the usual cast of

characters as models for early human ancestors, it reaffirms some

ideas and provides new perspectives as well."

The group imaged modern tapirs with known diets and a variety of

tapir fossils from throughout the southeastern U.S. including the

Gray Fossil Site in east Tennessee, the location of the world's most

abundant tapir fossil assemblage. The research team's analysis found

that the South America-dwelling lowland tapir with the largest

sagittal crest experiences significant strain from its high-crest skull

form and eats tough foods like leaves. In contrast, Baird's tapir a

species that lives in Latin America lacks a sagittal crest and sports the

highest bite efficiencies, eating the hardest foods including palm

seeds. These results demonstrate that sagittal crests in tapirs are

beneficial for processing lots of tough foods and are not a


requirement of hard-food eating. The research team suggests that

sagittal crests in some ancient hominins may have yielded similar

benefits. In particular, P. boisei may have benefited from increased

muscle volume to process significant amounts of vegetation with less

muscle fatigue.

"This research is particularly exciting because it involves very careful

experimental observations on the feeding behavior and mechanics of

the skull of a mammal that takes us beyond the limits of the familiar

higher primate models that dominate studies of early fossil

hominins," noted Frederick Grine, professor and chair of the

Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, and the

paper's co-author. "By using the tapir an animal much more closely

related to rhinos than humans this team has opened their research

into a realm that is rich with possibilities and unique insights into the

dietary adaptations of our extinct cousins, the australopiths."

"This is an incredibly imaginative and innovative study.

Anthropologists have hit a bit of a stalemate in trying to understand

the behavior of robust australopiths. Part of the problem is that there

are no living primates with the full range of distinctive adaptations

observed in this group," said Mary Silcox, professor of anthropology

at the University of Toronto Scarborough who was not connected to

the study. "Looking for modern analogs in other groups is an

inspired approach. The results are broadly in line with current ideas

about what robust australopiths are eating. It seems increasingly

likely that a skull we used to refer to as 'nutcracker man' might be

better called 'tough chewing man'! Not quite as evocative. But more

likely to be true! The DeSantis lab stands out for its imaginative

research program, and engagement with the most recent, and robust,


methods for dietary reconstruction."

Looking to other mammals for hints is essential to understanding the

lives of hominins. As large sagittal crests provide room for large

temporalis muscle attachments that help with chewing and jaw

movement, their presence in carnivores like hyenas is often

correlated with bone-crushing behavior. These large sagittal crests

are also present in herbivores like giant panda bears, which primarily

crack open and consume bamboo. In primates, large sagittal crests

occur in apes like gorillas and orangutans, which eat a mixture of

hard and tough foods and are pronounced in the largest males.

Because of many complicating factors including body size, there are

no perfect primate models for inferring ancient hominin diets.

6. The Pandemic: Indigenous Perspectives on Survival, Adaptation,

Rebuilding, and Preparedness.

Amerindian/Indigenous peoples are closely connected to Mother

Earth and all the life she sustains. Of benefit to the modern world are

the Caribbean Indigenous lessons on listening to and learning from

the natural environment; revising our relationships with animals; and

building self-sustaining local agriculture.

Part of this pandemic appears to stem from an imbalance between

humans and other animals. We cannot afford to continue viewing the

natural environment with contempt, or as something to be devoured.

The “Medicine Man or Woman” is very important in our culture, with

knowledge of the healing herbs and minerals which are gifted to us in

the natural environment.


The Caribbean Amerindian/Indigenous relationship with the natural,

animal world was intensely intimate. It was not just a matter of living

in a “harmonious relationship” with nature—it is about being one and

the same with nature, inseparable, indivisible, and indistinguishable.

On the mainland Amerindian ancestor communities in places such as

Guyana, heralded themselves as members of the “Jaguar clan” or the

“Eagle clan”—this was not just a matter of empty symbolism. They

firmly believed that their ultimate ancestor was a jaguar, or an eagle,

and so on. We need to reinstitute that relationship of respect,

knowing our limits as human beings, and being attentive to the

realities of where we live.

Instead of being constantly and repeatedly exposed to destruction

from recurring phenomena, we must learn lessons from the past, and

implement changes. A hurricane will flatten one of our Caribbean

neighbours, razing as many as 90% of all structures. So what do they

do? They rebuild the same sort of structures that are vulnerable to

destruction from hurricanes—square or rectangular houses, with

jagged rooftops. The best structure is the Amerindian/Indigenous

one, which is conical, and at the very worst is easy to rebuild.

The same is true about having an abundance of root crops (ground

provisions), as practised by the Amerindians/Indigenous People.

Ground provisions cannot be destroyed in a hurricane, thus

ensuring that people have a ready supply of food in order to

rebuild.

This pandemic revealed similar frailty. We are fragile by design: it is

an outcome of inappropriate policies, and inadequate planning. Our

dependency on foreign imports of food placed us in a situation of

great insecurity. People were also dependent on going out to buy


food, rather than turning to supplies that could have been provided

by their own gardens—we were over exposed, and for no good

reason.

In rebuilding, there needs to be a dramatic new investment in local

agriculture, and a national plan that includes everyone—not just

career “farmers”. Every yard needs to be planted. There should be an

abundance of cassava flour that renders imported wheat flour too

expensive, and is even a less healthy alternative to cassava flour. We

need to teach our people what they can do with local products, that

they are not currently doing. A national farming system could turn

every household into a unit of production, with excess supply

purchased by the state, and processed into items with a long shelf-life.

National education, through government media programming, could

teach people how they can contribute, or how they can use items such

as cassava flour.

What can we do to make life during the next pandemic more

bearable? How can we act now, to not be like victims in the future?

What must change? How can the Indigenous People of Trinidad &

Tobago offer some vital guidance? Trinidad’s Indigenous People are

prepared to lead in establishing the foundations of a national cassava

industry. We already have the support of the University of Trinidad

and Tobago. The First Peoples Heritage Village, currently under

construction, is well positioned to become the nucleus of an

expanded agricultural enterprise—it will be a true model, to all other

Trinidadians.

7. Study in twins finds our sensitivity is partly in our genes.


Some people are more sensitive than others -- and around half of these

differences can be attributed to our genes, new research has found.

The study, led by Queen Mary University of London, compared pairs

of identical and non-identical 17-year-old twins to see how strongly

they were affected by positive or negative experiences -- their

'sensitivity' level.

The aim was to tease out how much of the differences in sensitivity

could be explained by either genetic or environmental factors during

development: nature or nurture.

Twins who are brought up together will mostly experience the same

environment. But only identical twins share the same genes: non-

identical twins are like any other sibling. If identical twins show no

more similarity in their levels of sensitivity than non-identical twins,

then genes are unlikely to play a role. Using this type of analysis, the

team found that 47 percent of the differences in sensitivity between

individuals were down to genetics, leaving 53 percent accounted for

by environmental factors

Michael Pluess, said: "We are all affected by what we experience --

sensitivity is something we all share as a basic human trait. But we

also differ in how much of an impact our experiences have on us.

Scientists have always thought there was a genetic basis for

sensitivity, but this is the first time we've been able to actually

quantify how much of these differences in sensitivity are explained by

genetic factors."


Over 2800 twins were involved in the study, split between around

1000 identical twins and 1800 non-identical twins, roughly half of

whom were same sex. The twins were asked to fill out a

questionnaire, developed by Professor Pluess, which has been

widely used to test an individual's levels of sensitivity to their

environment This test will be made available online later this month

so anyone can assess their own sensitivity.

The questionnaire is also able to tease out different types of sensitivity

-- whether someone is more sensitive to negative experiences or

positive experiences -- as well as general sensitivity. The analysis by

the team suggested that these different sensitivities also have a genetic

basis.

Co-researcher Dr Elham Assary said: "If a child is more sensitive to

negative experiences, it may be that they become more easily stressed

and anxious in challenging situations. On the other hand, if a child

has a higher sensitivity to positive experiences, it may be that they are

more responsive to good parenting or benefit more from

psychological interventions at school. What our study shows is that

these different aspects of sensitivity all have a genetic basis."

Finally, the team explored how sensitivity to other common and

established personality traits, known as the 'Big Five': openness,

conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism. They

found that there was a shared genetic component between sensitivity,

neuroticism and extraversion, but not with any of the other

personality traits.

Professor Pluess believes the findings could help us in how we

understand and handle sensitivity, in ourselves and others. "We know


from previous research that around a third of people are at the higher

end of the sensitivity spectrum. They are generally more strongly

affected by their experiences," he said.

"This can have both advantages and disadvantages. Because we now

know that this sensitivity is as much due to biology as environment, it

is important for people to accept their sensitivity as an important part

of who they are and consider it as a strength not just as a weakness."

SOCIO-CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

8. Reexamining the origins of human fatherhood

Dads emerged to reap the benefits of partnerships with females

and other males, researchers say

Summary:

The origins of paternal care, a key differentiator between

humans and other primates, have long been tied to ancestral

females trading their own sexual fidelity for food provided by

their mates. A new theory developed by economists and

anthropologists states that ecological changes, beginning

roughly 5-8 million years ago, placed a premium on partnerships

-- both between and within sexes -- and fueled the emergence of

males who provided food for their offspring.


Humans differ from other primates in the types and amounts of care

that males provide for their offspring. The precise timing of the

emergence of human "fatherhood" is unknown, but a new theory

proposes that it emerged from a need for partnership in response to

changing ecological conditions, U.S. and French researchers report in

the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new theory was developed using tools of economists and

knowledge of the economic and reproductive behavior of human

foragers. The theory focuses on the benefits of a "fit" between

exclusive partners that enabled the strengths of males and females to

provide for one another and their offspring, according to researchers

from Boston College, Chapman University, University of New

Mexico, and the University of Toulouse in France.

Scientists have long tried to explain how human fatherhood emerged.

Paternal care -- those investments in offspring made by a biological

father -- is rare among mammals but widespread across modern


human subsistence societies. Much of men's parental investment

consists of provisioning relatively helpless children with food for

prolonged periods of time -- for as long as two decades among

modern hunter-gatherers. This is a sharp break with other great apes,

whose observed mating systems do not encourage paternal

provisioning.

That paternal provisioning arose in humans seems remarkable and

puzzling and has revolved around a discussion about two groups of

males dubbed "Dads" and "Cads."

With promiscuous mating, a would-be Dad who provides food for a

mate and their joint offspring without seeking additional mates risks

being outcompeted in terms of biological fitness by a Cad, who

focuses only on promiscuous mating instead of investing in offspring.

Such a competitive disadvantage creates a formidable barrier for Dads

to emerge when Cads abound.

An oft-invoked explanation for the evolution of paternal provisioning

in humans is that ancestral females started mating preferentially with

males who provided them with food, in exchange for female sexual

fidelity. This explanation is insufficient for several reasons, the

researchers write.

Instead, the team of anthropologists and economists argues that

ecological change would have sufficed to trigger the spread of Dads,

even in the face of female sexual infidelity, according to the report,

"Paternal provisioning results from ecological change."

The key force in the theory of paternal provisioning is

complementarities -- in essence the cooperation between females and

males, as well as between males. Complementarities are synergistic

effects that increase per-capita benefits, which may arise from


dividing labor and/or pooling resources. The path to

complementarities began roughly five to eight million years ago, with

a gradual drying in Africa, and a progressively greater need to rely on

nutritious, diverse, spatially dispersed and relatively hard-to-obtain

foods, including animal products.

In response to ecological change, ancestral hominins adapted in

various ways, including efficient bipedal locomotion, dietary

flexibility, and an ability to thrive in diverse environments, facilitated

by tool use. Complementarities between males and females would

have resulted from the nutrients that each sex specialized in

acquiring: protein and fat acquired by males paired well with

carbohydrates acquired by females.

Complementarities between males would have resulted from higher

returns from hunting in groups instead of in isolation, and from food

sharing to lower starvation risk. Dietary reliance on animal products

is thus a key feature underlying these complementarities between and

within sexes.

These complementarities would have led to a substantial increase in

the impact of food provided by a Dad on the survival of his mate's

offspring.

Using evolutionary game theory, the authors show that this impact

can lead Dads to gain a fitness advantage over Cads, although Cads

may still co-exist with Dads under certain conditions. If sons inherit

their biological father's traits, then over time Dads will increase in

number in a population. Theoretically connecting the evolution of

paternal provisioning to ecological change allows the authors to make

novel predictions about the paleontological and archeological record.

9. Cultivating cooperation through kinship


While the capability for organisms to work together is by no means

novel, humans possess an unparalleled capacity for cooperation that

seems to contradict Darwinian evolutionary principles. Humans often

exhibit traits such as sympathy, loyalty, courage, and patriotism that

prioritize collective well-being over individual fitness, and often

cooperation occurs among individuals with no shared biological

relation. This behavior, likewise, adapts in response to changing

conditions, demonstrating the flexible nature of human cooperation.

Dance is a form of culturally based cooperation. It is a system of

shared self-expression and meaning in which individuals gain

personal and social benefits through participation while excluding

(i.e., punishing) those who would disrupt the coordination or enaction

of the performance. The experience of the performers and any

audience present acts deep emotional levels through established

cultural symbols and their associated feelings.


In "Identity, Kinship, and the Evolution of Cooperation," published

in Current Anthropology, Burton Voorhees, Dwight Read, and Liane

Gabora argue that humans' tendency toward these cooperative traits

or ultrasociality sets them apart. Voorhees, Read, and Gabora assert

that components of human cooperation especially cooperative

behavior between unrelated individuals are unique, and the authors

suggest that existing theories lack explanations for how this distinctly

human shift to cooperative behavior arose and how cooperation is

maintained within a population.

Expanding upon the current literature, Voorhees, Read and Gabora

https://phys.org/tags/cooperation/

https://phys.org/tags/cooperative+behavior/

https://phys.org/tags/cooperative+behavior/


present a theory that attributes unique elements of human

cooperation to the cultivation of a shared social identity among

members of a group. The authors propose that evolutionary

developments in the brain enabled the acquisition of this shared

identity by providing humans with the capability for reflective self-

consciousness. Reflective self-consciousness allows an individual to

fully recognize their own personhood and point of view. In turn,

recognition of their own experiences aided humans in identifying

similar mental states in others, allowing humans to view themselves

as part of a collective unit.

The authors argue that cultural idea systems such as kinship systems,

provided the necessary framework for cultivating this unique degree

of cooperation among humanity. Unlike culture-gene theories where

group characteristics develop from individual traits, cultural idea

systems provide a top-down, organizational structure that establishes

expectations of behavior among individuals in a group and leads

individuals to view other members as kin. As individuals are

indoctrinated, or enculturated, in these systems, their worldviews are

shaped. They develop an understanding of accepted cultural norms,

how to interpret their environment and their experiences, and how to

interact with one another. In particular, the authors assert that

enculturation fosters feelings of obligation toward cultural kin.

Emphasizing linkages between psychology and behavior, the authors

suggest this obligation deterred individuals from deviating from

accepted behaviors and in turn, sustained cooperative behavior

within the group. A shared social identity provided beneficial

advantages. As a result, the authors propose that an association

developed between an individual's social identity and their survival

https://phys.org/tags/social+identity/

https://phys.org/tags/kinship+systems/


instincts. In kinship systems, emotions are experienced within a

specific cultural context, resulting in culture-laden mental feelings

that prompt behavior. Voorhees, Read, and Gabora likewise argue

that external cues contradicting existing culture-laden mental feelings

can result in emotional reactions. Any behavior that diverges from

cultural norms and threatens an individual's identity could be

physiologically perceived as endangering their survival. Group

members will feel driven to punish defectors in response. This theory

can thus explain why failure to meet group obligations may evoke

guilt in those who deviate from cultural expectations.

10. Scientists have discovered an earlier origin to the human

language pathway in the brain, pushing back its evolutionary origin

by at least 20 million years.

Previously, a precursor of the language pathway was thought by

many scientists to have emerged more recently, about 5 million years

ago, with a common ancestor of both apes and humans. For

neuroscientists, this is comparable to finding a fossil that illuminates

evolutionary history. However, unlike bones, brains did not fossilize.

Instead neuroscientists need to infer what the brains of common

ancestors may have been like by studying brain scans of living

primates and comparing them to humans.

Professor Chris Petkov study lead said: "It is like finding a new fossil

of a long lost ancestor. It is also exciting that there may be an older

origin yet to be discovered still." The international teams of European

and US scientists carried out the brain imaging study and analysis of

auditory regions and brain pathways in humans, apes and monkeys

which is published in Nature Neuroscience.

https://phys.org/tags/behavior/

https://phys.org/tags/cultural+norms/

https://phys.org/tags/identity/


They discovered a segment of this language pathway in the human

brain that interconnects the auditory cortex with frontal lobe regions,

important for processing speech and language. Although speech and

language are unique to humans, the link via the auditory pathway in

other primates suggests an evolutionary basis in auditory cognition

and vocal communication.

Professor Petkov added: "We predicted but could not know for sure

whether the human language pathway may have had an evolutionary

basis in the auditory system of nonhuman primates. I admit we were

astounded to see a similar pathway hiding in plain sight within the

auditory system of nonhuman primates."

Remarkable transformation

The study also illuminates the remarkable transformation of the

human language pathway. A key human unique difference was

found: the human left side of this brain pathway was stronger and the

right side appears to have diverged from the auditory evolutionary

prototype to involve non-auditory parts of the brain.

The study relied on brain scans from openly shared resources by the

global scientific community. It also generated original new brain

scans that are globally shared to inspire further discovery. Also since

the authors predict that the auditory precursor to the human

language pathway may be even older, the work inspires the

neurobiological search for its earliest evolutionary origin -- the next

brain 'fossil' -- to be found in animals more distantly related to

humans.


Professor Timothy Griffiths, notes: "This discovery has tremendous

potential for understanding which aspects of human auditory

cognition and language can be studied with animal models in ways

not possible with humans and apes. The study has already inspired

new research underway including with neurology patients."

INDIAN & TRIBAL ANTHROPOLOGY

11. Tribal affairs ministry constitutes committee on CFR guidelines

under FRA

It was doing this as there had been no progress reported by states in

recognising habitat rights despite its repeated clarifications

The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has brought back the

Model Guidelines for Conservation, Management and sustainable use

of Community Forest Resources (CFR Guideline) under the Forest

Rights Act, 2006 (FRA), four years after it went into cold storage.

The ministry created a committee headed by NC Saxena, former

member of the Planning Commission of India and of the National

Advisory Council, to examine and recommend CFR Guidelines under

FRA on February 21, 2020.

The CFR right under the FRA empowers Gram Sabhas to conserve

and manage their forest.

“Gram Sabhas have rights to protect, regenerate, conserve or manage

any community forest resource that they have been traditionally


protecting and conserving for sustainable use,” according to Section

3(1)(i) of the FRA.The Gram Sabhas also have a monitoring and

controlling role in the conservation and management of community

forest resources so that they can be sustainably used for the benefit of

forest-dwelling communities.

The guidelines, according to the MoTA order constituting the

committee, will provide, “a clear understanding of the concept

pertaining to CFR and also conceptual framework on CFR and

detailed procedural aspects to encourage implementation of the

community forest management and conservation regime in the spirit

of the Act.”In 2016, CFR guidelines were prepared by MoTA, in

consultation with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and

Climate Change (MoEF&CC). However, the guidelines faced criticism

from various tribal organisations for being too technical.

MoTA also created two committees, headed by its former secretary

Hrusikesh Panda along with the committee on CFR guidelines on

February 21.One of the committees will look into the recognition and

vesting process of habitat rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal

Groups (PVTGs) and the second will submit a report on the seasonal

resource access to nomadic and pastoralist communities.

Under the FRA, habitat rights are given to PVTGs and pre-agriculture

communities and it gives them access to the resources in the area

recognised as their habitat. Despite repeated clarifications by the

ministry, there had been no progress reported by states in recognising

habitat rights, the order said.


Therefore, “it is felt that state governments need comprehensive and

specific guidelines on the issue to overcome difficulties faced by them

in the process of recognition of habitat rights as per FRA,” the order

said. All the committees have to submit their reports within three

months.

12. Maharashtra Governor modifies law on forest rights

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has modified the

Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition

of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, allowing rightful claimants of forest rights

to appeal against decisions of the district level committee (DLC).

Governor has modified Section 6 of the Act, in its application to

Scheduled Area of the State of Maharashtra, in exercise of the powers

conferred on him by Schedule V of the Constitution.

The Governor’s office said the notification is important to provide

justice to tribals whose ‘individual or community forest right’ has

been rejected by the DLC, constituted under the Forest Rights Act

(FRA).

The notification applies to areas covered in the Panchayats (Extension

to Scheduled Areas) Act in the State and allows appeal provision

against the DLC’s decision. The notification states that divisional level

committees under the chairmanship of divisional commissioners have

been constituted to hear the appeals against the DLC’s decisions.


In the case of an order passed by the DLC before commencement of

the notification, the application for appeal needs to be made within six

months from the date of issue of notification.

However, if an order has been passed after commencement of the

notification, the application has to be made within 90 days of the date

of communication of the DLC’s order, the notification said.

Despite a large number of applications being rejected, by DLCs,

previously there was no provision in the Act for appeal against the

decision, the notification said.

A tribal farmer will find it difficult to make it to the district

headquarters, said Milind Thatte, of Vayam, which works with tribals

in Palghar district. “How can a divisional office or committee be

accessible to that farmer? I fear that this committee will further delay

implementation of FRA. Delay means denial of justice to genuine

claimants and increased scope for fake claims,” said Mr. Thatte.

The need is for the spirit of the law to be maintained, he said.

“This is not in the Governor’s hands. It is the responsibility of the

State revenue and forests departments.”

Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had assured clearance of all

claims in two months and suspension of DFOs who did not cooperate,

but he did not keep his promise, he said. “And the current

government has not paid any attention at all,” Mr. Thatte said.

13. A 'fillip' to land grab: Sitharaman's Rs 6,000 crore offer for


compensatory afforestation

The Community Forest Rights - Learning and Advocacy (CFR-LA), a

national advocacy ground, demanding transfer of compensatory

afforestation funds to Gram Sabhas, has said that any plan to transfer

these to state forest departments will allow land grabs for commercial

plantations, even as increasing distress in tribal areas.

Taking strong exception to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

allocation Rs 6,000 crore to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund

Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) as part of the elf-

reliant India economic package, CFR-LA said in a statement that it

would lead massive diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes

without forest dwellers’ consent.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that plans worth

Rs 6,000 crore would be approved under the Compensatory

Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA)*

as part of the Atma Nirbhar or “self-reliant” India economic package

announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The issues of deprivation and lack of healthcare facilities persisting in

tribal areas that may severely limit the capacities to curb the spread of

the disease, tribal migrants stranded in cities, lack of institutional

mechanisms and access for procurement and distribution of minor

forest produce (MFP), forest land diversions, non-implementation of

progressive legislations like Forest Rights Act, 2006 etc. have not been

addressed.


On the contrary, funds have been approved under the CAMPA which

has a potential to destroy the livelihoods and employment of tribals

and cause further displacement and exploitation of the tribal people.

In the past, CAF Act has been opposed by tribal goups, opposition

parties and even government’s own Ministry of Tribal Affairs

(MoTA). In a letter to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and

Climate Change (MoEFCC) written in March 2018, MoTA had argued

that the draft CAF rules dilute the provisions of the Forest Rights Act

(FRA).

This announcement for releasing CAMPA funds to the states for

employment generation ignores the earlier concerns raised by tribal

groups on violation of land and forest rights by CAMPA plantation.

Tribal groups have earlier opposed the Compensatory Afforestation

Fund (CAF) Act and rules which allow for illegal transfer of

Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) to the forest departments.

The compensatory afforestation causes double deprivation of the

communities by Diverting forest land for non-forest purposes without

forest dwellers’ consent. This results in a loss of access to ecosystem

services on which their survival depends.

They derive numerous benefits from forest resources, including their

livelihood and food security, through the gathering of fruits, roots,

tubers and so on. CA activities which are intended to be taken up on

lands not recorded as forests in lieu of the diverted forests. These

lands of various categories like village forest, village commons,

zamindari forests and government/ Panchayat lands all carry certain

rights of access, recorded or unrecorded, legal or customary, for


collecting fuel wood, grazing animals and so on.

Since the time the CAF Act was proposed (in 2016), the tribal groups

have consistently demanded for a democratic management of

CAMPA funds by transferring the funds to the Gram Sabhas and

ensuring that the CA activities are taken up with free prior consent of

Gram Sabhas (GSs) as mandated by FRA and the Provisions of the

Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA).

This demand has been further reiterated in the light of Covid19

outbreak, so that the Gram Sabhas can utilise the already collected

CAMPA funds standing at a massive 57,000 crores today, to

implement FRA and respond to the local needs due to the diversity of

the geographical and regional areas in which many of India’s tribal

communities are located.

Past experience says that over the years the state forest department (s)

have used CA funds to set up plantations (mostly monoculture and

commercial species) in lands cultivated and used by tribal

communities leading to violation of their rights and conflicts.

Economic relief package announced by PM and FM fails to address

the economic distress of tribal communities caused by Covid-19

The monocultures have also destroyed local biodiversity, Non-timber

forest produce (NTFPs) and forest foods used by tribals. Not only that,

massive corruption and irregularities have been reported in

administration of CA funds by the forest department with serious

charges of ghost plantations, replacement of natural forests with

monocultures being reported from across the states. Even the MoTA

has earlier raised concerns about violation of tribal rights due to

CAMPA.


Therefore the announcement of transferring CAMPA funds (Rs 6,000

crore) can further exacerbate the distress situation that tribals are

already facing and is far from providing any relief to them. There are

already reports of forest department carrying out plantation activities

during lockdown period causing hardships to the tribal communities.

There are also reports of eviction taking place during this time.

Overall the economic relief package announced by the Prime Minister

and the Finance Minister fails to address the economic distress of

tribal communities caused due to Covid-19 outbreak and the

unplanned lockdown measures.

Earlier, on May 4, a group of civil society organisations, activists,

researchers and experts working with tribals and forest dwelling

communities submitted a report to MoTA. The report highlights the

socio-economic distress situation in tribal areas arising out of Covid-

19 outbreak and lockdown measures.

The report was also submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forest

and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Rural Development

(MoRD), Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Ministry of Home

Affairs (MoHA), National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST),

Prime Minister’s Office and the Niti Ayog, and to the National

Disaster Mitigation Authority. The report clearly highlighted the need

to come up with a Covid 19 response package for tribals which

included the demand to transfer the CAMPA funds to the Gram

Sabhas.

Compensatory afforestation means the afforestation of plantations of

an equivalent area of non-forest land or of double the area of


degraded notified forest to compensate for the loss of forests diverted

for development activities. The user of this diverted forest is required

to pay its ‘net present value’ to the forest department for this purpose.

On the direction of the Supreme Court, a law has been enacted and

rules framed to manage the money collected for afforestation.

The contents of this legislation and the manner of its enforcement

have, however, led to a severe reduction of the tribals’ access to forest

resources, forcible plantation on their village commons, pastures and

even on patta land, and the relocation of their settlements from

forests, thereby violating their rights in land and forests. It has also led

to severely eroding their means of livelihood besides creating a

perverse incentive for deforestation.

14. How The Impact Covid-19 Has Reached Tribal Communities In

India

India is home to 104 million tribal people in India, concentrated in 10

different states. Spread across 705 tribes, they account for 8.6% of the

country’s population. Tribal people rank the lowest in various health,

educational, societal indicators.

Tribal and other forest-dwelling communities are inevitably getting

affected by COVID-19 and the lockdown. The COVID-19 hotspots

identified by the government include 19 scheduled districts, while

positive cases have been reported from other tribal areas as well.


Key Issues Of Tribal Communities

1. Lack of healthcare facilities, COVID-19 information and testing kits

Lack of information and awareness among the tribals about the

pandemic and required protective measures is a major issue in tribal

areas. Tribal settlements are remotely located, making it particularly

difficult for information to reach these areas. The absence of

healthcare facilities can severely limit the capacity to deal with a major

COVID-19 outbreak in tribal areas, posing a serious threat to the tribal

population.

It is a well-known fact that COVID-19 impacts people with

compromised health conditions and low immunity. This further

increases the risk of widespread infection to tribal population, many

of whom are living in deprivation. Allocation and monitoring of

testing equipment in tribal areas is a major challenge, as testing is

mostly limited in tribal areas.

2. Food Insecurity, Loss of livelihood and Unemployment

Food insecurity, accompanied by malnutrition and micronutrient

deficiencies, is a major cause of concern. Access to Public Distribution

System (PDS) is poor as the tribals and OTFD (Other Tribal Forest

Dwellers) reside remotely. Even if they are able to reach their nearby

PDS centers, they are denied their share of the food material as they

are not registered under the PDS center, or don’t have ration cards or

Aadhaar cards.


However, the story doesn’t end here. The much publicised ‘Direct

Benefit Transfer’ scheme of the government doesn’t cover this

community. Most of the tribal people either don’t have a bank account

or, due to their remote location, their bank accounts are not accessible

to them, making the situation all the more difficult for them.

3. Loss of livelihoods from Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Non

Timber Forest Produce (NTFP)

The MFP collection season begins from April and lasts uptil June,

accounting for 60% of the annual collection. Unfortunately, this time,

it has coincided with the lockdown period, affecting collection and the

sale of these products. Research suggests that approximately 100

million forest dwellers and tribals depend on MFP for food, shelter,

medicines and sustainable income. Unfortunately, the lockdown will

result in ripple effects on the general health of women forest dwellers

and resilience of their family members who are actively involved in

collection and sale of NTFP products including bamboo, cane, fodder,

leaves, gums and waxes.

The condition of Mahua flower collectors in the Odisha is an example

of tribals lurch in the lockdown. Trading of these flowers during the

summer season is a major source of livelihood for some tribal

communities in Odissha. The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the trade

and disrupted the tribal economy as there are no flower buyers and

markets are closed too.

4. Tenurial insecurity and non recognition of forest rights


Due to a lack of awareness, education and resources, most of the

tribals and forest dwellers don’t have recorded legal rights over forest

land and resources. The tenure security of tribals and forest dwellers

is key to ensuring their livelihoods and food security. The Forest

Rights Act has the potential to secure forest rights of at least 20 crore

tribals and other traditional forest dwellers over 40 million ha (50% of

India’s forest land), covering 177,000 villages.

There are now several examples of empowered Gram Sabhas with

Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights under the Forest Right Act,

who have improved the productivity of their r espective CFRs and are

sustainably managing them. Many of these Gram Sabhas, working in

the Vidharba region of Maharashtra, have generated higher revenue

from the collection and sale of NTFPs, benefiting tribal collectors,

while also retaining some funds for village development activities.

These funds are now being utilised in a number of cases to deal with

the situation created by the lockdown.

Focal Points Of Action For Tribal Communities

A COVID-19 response plan for the tribal community must be

designed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Comprehensive guidelines

must be framed by the central and State governments to address the

issues of this section of population. These guidelines must converge

the benefits of PDS and Direst Benefit Tranfer scheme for the tribals.

With the help of mobile health units and vans, adequate testing and

healthcare facilities must be ensured. COVID-19 care centres must be

set up in tribal locations. Both the central and State governments must


devise strategies to engage with forest produce traders to ensure

purchase of MFPs. The tribal community collectors must connected

with online buyers and sellers for their products.

To prevent the violation of rights of tribal communities and forest

dwellers, the environment ministry must withdraw the forest

clearance decision and other such guidelines issued during the

lockdown .

Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning

Authority (CAMPA) should release funds to Gram Sabhas established

with the tribal community for management of forest resources and

livelihood activities to address the economic crisis due to COVID-19

lockdown. Post the lockdown, CAMPA should release job

opportunities for tribal community members. Effective

implementation needs of the Forest Right Act needs to be in place to

ensure tenurial security and recognition of forest rights of tribal

people.

15. Modi’s Van Dhan Yojana to tribal economy’s rescue; high MSP

helps tribals earn Rs 2,000 cr amid lockdown

The government and private traders procured large quantities of

minor forest produce during the nationwide lockdown, which led to

the infusion of over Rs 2,000 crores into the tribal communities.

With an aim to boost the sagging tribal economy, the government

raised the minimum support prices (MSP) of minor forest produces by


up to 90% on May 1, providing higher incomes for the tribal gatherers.

In a major boost to India’s tribal economy, the government and

private traders procured large quantities of minor forest produce

during the nationwide lockdown, which led to the infusion of over Rs

2,000 crores into the tribal communities. With an aim to boost the

sagging tribal economy, the government raised the minimum support

prices (MSP) of minor forest produces by up to 90 per cent on May 1,

2020, providing higher incomes for the tribal gatherers, said a

statement by the ministry of tribal affairs.

The implementation of the Van Dhan Yojana is believed to be a

catalyst behind the large scale benefits to the tribal economy.

The Van DhanYojana has proved to be successful within a year of its

implementation, with the establishment of 1,205 tribal enterprises and

providing employment opportunities to 3.6 lakh tribal gatherers and

18,000 self-help groups in 22 States, the government added. Through

the Van Dhan scheme, the government aims at improving tribal

incomes through value addition of tribal products and the economic

development of tribals by helping them in optimum utilisation of

natural resources.

In an effort to support the tribal economy, the government constituted

Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, provided skill up-gradation and capacity

building training, and set up primary processing and value addition

facilities in the tribal regions.

In a media briefing webinar, Pravir Krishna, Managing Director,

TRIFED, said that the unprecedented circumstances caused by the

ongoing coronavirus pandemic threw up challenges and resulted in a


severe crisis among the tribal population. During the peak

procurement months of April-June, it was evident that without

government intervention and procurement, it would have been

disastrous for the tribals, he added. Meanwhile, the coronavirus

pandemic and the consequent nationwide lockdown led to massive

unemployment and reverse migration in the tribal communities,

which posed a threat to the tribal economy.

16. Tribals in 3 states against Centre’s decision to auction coal

mines, say it would displace them

The central government had, on June 18, approved auction of 41 coal

mines for commercial usage to private players. Jharkhand

government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the

Centre’s decision.

Close to 20,000 families would be displaced because of the commercial

licenses given for coal mines in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh,

according to the official estimates of these states.

In addition, the officials in these states said that thousands of trees

will have to be cut for these mining projects, which could adversely

impact the local environment.

The central government had, on June 18, approved auction of 41 coal

mines for commercial usage to private players. Jharkhand

government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the

Centre’s decision saying it will have adverse environmental impact on

the tribal areas and revenue generation will also be less than expected.

Of the 41 coal blocks, there are nine each in Jharkhand, Odisha and

Chhattisgarh. In each state, 8,000 to 10,000 families will get displaced


depending on how much land is acquired for the mining purpose,

officials of these states privy to the mining work said.The nine coal

blocks in Jharkhand is spread over 47.55 square kilometres in 10

districts. Of these, four coal blocks are in Latehar district, and one

each in Dumka, Pakur, Palamu, Giridih, Hazaribag and in Bokaro.

“About 30-32 villages need to be shifted in the 10 districts of

Jharkhand for mining operations, as per the details of exploration

documents of various drilling companies engaged to prepare the road

maps,” said a Jharkhand government official, who was not willing to

be quoted.

Eight of the nine mines in Odisha are in Angul district, where about

32,000 hectares of the land will have to be acquired for mining, which

could lead to displacement of up to 10,000 families. Odisha steel and

mines secretary RK Sharma said the state government is yet to

estimate how many people would be finally be affected.

Environmentalists say the proposed auctioning of nine coal blocks -

Machhakata, Mahanadi, Chhendipada-I, Chhendipada-II,

Brahmanbil-Kardabahal combined, Phuljhari (East & West),

Radhikapur (East), Radhikapur (West) - in Angul and Kurloi(A)

North in Jharsuguda district may turn out to be the largest-ever

displacement exercise in eastern India more than 10,000 families are

likely to be displaced by the open cast coal mining in these coal mines.

“The auction of these coal block at one go would not just devastate the

lives of thousands of families, they would alter the landscape for all

time to come putting in peril the lives of wildlife in the region. Angul

district is already among the most critically polluted areas of the state

as per Central Pollution Control Board due to coal mining in Talcher

area. Once these 8 blocks are mined, living in Angul would be nothing


less than a nightmarish experience,” said noted environmentalist and

wildlife activist Biswajit Mohanty.

All the nine coal blocks in Chhattisgarh were allotted to different

companies before 2015 and have got all relevant clearances of the

Union government, said a state government official, who was not

willing to be named. The Chhattisgarh government is opposing

auction of five coal blocks in Hasdev Arand Forest division as they

would lead to diversion of forest land from Lemru Elephant Reserve.

Last Friday, Chhattisgarh forest minister Mohammad Akbar had

written a letter opposing auctioning of mines in the reserve saying it

will destroy the Hasdev Arand forest spanning across 170,000

hectares.

The state government officials say a large number of people will be

displaced but activists put the number to about 7,000-8,000 people.

“As per my estimate around 7,000-8,000 people will be displaced in

these area and around 25-30 lakh trees would be logged in this

process, if all the nine coal blocks are auctioned,” said Alok Shukla,

convenor of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, who is working for tribal

rights in these area for last 10 years.

However, Chhattisgarh government has no issues with auctioning of

other four coal mines - Gare Palema (4/1), Gare Palema (4/7),

Shankarpur Bhatgaon (second extension) and Sondhia - which fall in

the Surguja region and are not part of Hasdeo Arand forest.

In all the three states, opposition at the local level has started against

auctioning of these mines and trade unions have called for a three-day

strike against the Centre’s decision.

Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leader, D Ramanandan, said

it’s a unilateral decision of the Centre to provide the coal blocks to a


select group of companies at throwaway prices. He said the trade

unions will oppose the decision till the government shelves its plan.

Fearing the worst in terms of displacement, large scale impact on

environment and livelihood, the leaders of Jharkhand Janadhikar

Mahasabha (a people’s organisation), said that the move will

adversely impact the ownership right of local leaders. “The decision

was taken without consulting the gram sabha (a decision making

body of all villagers),” said mahasabha leader Elina Horo.

Smita Patnaik, a woman leader who heads an NGO called Nari

Suraksha Manch in Odisha’s Angul district, said people will oppose

the auction as price for mining was already being paid. “We are

already facing the perils of coal mining by Coal India in Talcher as the

coal dust is polluting our water-bodies and air. There is already rising

number of cancer cases and several respiratory diseases in the district

due to coal mining. Once 8 blocks in Chhendipada are mined, the area

would literally be hell,” said Patnaik.

Environmental lawyer Sankar Pani said the auction will displace the

farming community in Angul as 80 per cent of the people in the

district are farmers. “These people get two crops a year as there is

irrigation facility. What is likely to trigger public opposition is the

auctioning of all the coal blocks at one go, rather than in a staggered

fashion,” said Pani.

In Chhattisgarh, gram sabhas of villages falling in Hasdeo Arand have

written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Tuesday, asking him to

stop the auction of five coal blocks in the region for commercial

mining as it would hamper their livelihood and culture.

“As per my estimate about 25-30 lakh trees are there in the area of

these coal blocks. The mining will pollute the Hansdeo river. And the


mining will impact the home of elephants in Hansdeo Arand and its

catchment area,” said Sudeip Shrivastava, an environment lawyer and

activist of Chhattisgarh.

17. Axone - A Tribal Identity - Ethnic Cuisine of Nagas

While it is called ‘axone’ in parts of Nagaland, fermented soya bean is

cooked with, eaten and known by different names in different parts of

Northeast India.

Now the name and subject of a much-talked about feature film, axone

— or fermented soya bean — is cooked, eaten and loved in Nagaland,

and many tribal communities in different parts of Northeast India and

beyond. An introduction to the ingredient — its popularity, its

distinctive smell, and its role in tribal identity and culture.

What is axone?

Axone — also spelled akhuni — is a fermented soya bean of

Nagaland, known for its distinctive flavour and smell. As much an

ingredient as it is a condiment, axone used to make pickles and

chutneys, or curries of pork, fish, chicken, beef etc. “It imparts a lot of

flavour to anything you cook — even vegetables,” said Aditya Kiran

Kakati, a historian and anthropologist, who has done ethnographic


research on the emergence and mainstreaming of ‘ethnic’ cuisines of

Northeast India.

While it is called ‘axone’ in parts of Nagaland, fermented soya bean is

cooked with, eaten and known by different names in different parts of

Northeast India, including Meghalaya and Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur

as well in other South, Southeast and East Asian countries of Nepal,

Bhutan, Japan, Korea, China, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“It [fermented soya bean] is the one food that connects the Eastern

Himalayas,” said Dolly Kikon, Melbourne-based anthropologist, who

is currently researching fermentation.

According to Kakati, it is possible to demystify axone because it is

more “culturally cross-cutting” than one would expect it to be. “It

belongs to the broader phenomena of fermentation necessary for food

preservation in certain ecological contexts. In that way, flavours

generated by axone are comparable to that of Japanese miso, which is

quite mainstream in Japanese restaurants,” he said.

Does the ingredient play a role in tribal identity and culture?

Tribal folklore has references to the ingredient. For example, as per a

Sumi folktale, axone was an “accidental discovery.” “Legend says that

a young girl, who worked as a domestic help, would be sent to the

fields to work only with boiled soya bean and rice to eat,” said

Zhimomi, “It was inedible, so the girl kept the soya bean aside,

wrapped in a banana leaf. A few days later, she found the

soya had fermented, with a unique smell. She decided to use it in a

dish and that is how axone was discovered.”


Scholars feel that despite the increasing visibility of the ingredient on

restaurant menus etc, a racial politics of sorts has emerged around

axone. “Or even bamboo shoots, for that matter,” said Kakati, adding

that discrimination on the basis of smell of such fermented food could

often “lead to experiences of exclusion”. Anecdotal accounts from

members of the Northeastern community living in big metros often

allude to that.

Kikon, in her 2015 paper ‘Fermenting Modernity: Putting Akhuni on the

Nation’s Table in India’, writes about the smell: “Some become lifelong

connoisseurs, while others detest it and develop a long-lasting

repulsion to it.” This often creates an avenue for conflict between

those cooking and eating it and

those unfamiliar to it — also the crux of the film Axone (2019) by

Nicholas Kharkongor, where a group of Northeasterners have a run-

in with their landlord in a locality in Delhi while cooking axone.

In fact, Kikon refers to how in 2007, due to increasing “akhuni conflict

in New Delhi”, the Delhi Police produced a handbook that “cautioned

students and workers from Northeast India that they should refrain

from cooking axone and other fermented foods”. Such directives have

often led to relegating the food of particular social groups to a remote,

primitive position, she said.

Kikon argues that the process of making and eating fermented food is

much more than a “simple matter of eating and taste”. “Instead, they

are connected to a larger politics of articulating assertion and dignity,”

she said.


Kakati agreed and said that directives such as the one by Delhi Police

or other instances of profiling by landlords may contribute to the

otherisation of the community — but conversely, may sometimes lead

to strengthening of internal community sentiments too. “The feeling

of being ‘different’ may strengthen sentiments towards one’s own

community. In that, axone becomes a means to express your own

sense of identity, comfort and familiarity — especially when you are

away from home,” he said.

18. Educational Complexes for Tribal Students: Odisha

Why in News

Recently, the Government of Odisha has announced the establishment

of three mega educational complexes exclusively for tribal students,

where both academic and sporting skills will be harnessed.

Key Points

Establishment:

o The complexes will be established in tribal-dominated

districts such as Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj.

Santal and Bhuyan are two dominant tribal groups

living in these districts.

o Each complex will house 3,000 tribal students, which is a

unique initiative in the field of tribal education.

o These complexes will have state of the art facilities to

improve educational and sporting skills of tribal students

from Standard I to XII.

State-of-the-art (cutting edge or leading edge) refers

to the highest level of general development, as of a


device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a

particular time.

Funding:

o Funds required for mega complexes will be sourced from

Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation

(OMBADC), which was formed for focused development

of mineral-rich districts. Incidentally, most mineral-rich

districts are tribal-dominated.

Tribal Population in Odisha:

o According to the 2011 Census, tribal people constitute 8.6%

of the nation's total population i.e. over 104 million people.

A tribe has been defined as a group of indigenous

people having a common name, language and

territory tied by strong kinship bonds, having distinct

customs, rituals and beliefs etc.

The President under Article 342 is empowered to

declare communities as scheduled tribes, while

Parliament by law can amend the list.

o Odisha’s tribal population constitutes 9.17% of the

country's tribal population.

o In Odisha, the tribal population is 22.85% of the state’s total

population.

In terms of percentage tribal population, it occupies

the third position in India.

The First and Second are Madhya Pradesh and

Maharashtra respectively.

o Similarly, of India’s total 75 particularly vulnerable tribal

groups, 13 reside in Odisha.

o With 62 tribal communities, Odisha has the most diverse

tribes in India.


Keonjhar, where tribes such as Sounti, Ho, Juang,

Kharwar, Mahali, Oraon Kolha and Kora reside is the

most mined district of the State.

Keonjhar district contains more than 70% of the iron

ore reserves of Odisha.

Educational Schemes for Tribals

Eklavya Model School: Residential School based on Navodaya

Model to be opened in each tribal block by 2022.

Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme (RGNF): RGNF was

introduced in the year 2005-2006 with the objective to encourage

the students belonging to the ST community to pursue higher

education.

Vocational Training Center in Tribal Areas: The aim of this

scheme is to develop the skill of ST students depending on their

qualification and present market trends.

National Overseas Scholarship Scheme: The National Overseas

Scholarship Scheme provides financial assistance to 20 students

selected for pursuing higher studies abroad for PhD and

postdoctoral studies.

Pre and Post Matric Scholarship Schemes.

Way Forward

There is a need to give special focus to the education of tribal

populations by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Awareness Campaigns like street drama, camps counselling

session to bring attitudinal change in parents.

Emphasis should be given to career or job oriented courses.

Teachers should be locally recruited who understand and

respect tribal culture and practices and most importantly are

acquainted with the local language.


The Kothari Commission stressed to pay special attention to the

education of ST.

The XaXa Committee recommended a greater focus on

removing gender disparity in education.

19. Dynamic IAS Officer Has a Village Named in Her Honour.

Here’s Why!

Recently, the denizens of Adilabad named a village “Divyaguda” in

Divya’s honour. This gesture shows the kind of impact she has left on

the people and their gratitude towards her for bringing a change in

their lives.

The community that Divya worked so closely with won’t forget the

proactive lady who believed in providing quick solutions to several

issues. Homing in on the basic problems that the region faced – high

rates of illiteracy, unemployment, sanitation, irrigation health and

floods, among others, she also worked incessantly to resolve the

conflicts in the area.

“I appointed a special officer for the welfare of particularly vulnerable

tribal groups to address their issues with more focus and better

efficacy. It was important to understand their issues from their

perspective, rather than rushing in with changes that were seen to be

right by me,” adds the bureaucrat. Adilabad is a region with a history

of intertribal violence. From curfews to shutting down of data

connectivity, the region had seen it all. In such a situation, the open-


minded and soft-spoken Divya managed to earn the trust of the tribals

and find a place in their hearts.

Maruthi, a tribal leader from the Thoti community, a particularly

vulnerable section, who was also instrumental in naming the village –

Divyaguda, tells TBI, “We have had several collectors come and

take charge – would you believe me if I said that the first time I

stepped into the Collector Office was when Divya madam took

charge? Until then no one seemed to care.”

When asked about the impact the IAS officer created in their lives, he

shares, “First and foremost, she made the office accessible to us. She

visited each household in the village and knew us all by our names.”

Learning their Language, Winning their Trust

Many bureaucrats before Divya had tried to learn Gondi, one of the

tribal languages spoken in Adilabad, in an attempt to effectively

communicate with them. While a majority of officers stopped with the

basics, Divya persisted and learnt enough to be able to hold

meaningful conversations with them.

“I wanted to make a connection with them, and it wasn’t just about

being able to greet them,” dimples Divya. Each day, after work, she

diligently spent some time with Durwa Bhumanna, a senior

announcer of All India Radio station in Adilabad. The fact that Divya

learnt the language was of great advantage to her as the issues faced

by the people started coming to the fore. They started to trust her as

they saw her make a genuine effort to understand them. She helped


solve certain long-pending land issues in favour of tribals which were

represented in the Monday Grievance Redressal sessions. Also, she

streamlined cotton procurement and createdplatforms for tribals to

access Minimum Support Price for their produce.

“It was important for us to start a meaningful dialogue with the

groups,” says Divya. “Earning their trust was difficult, we were seen

as people who had come to take away their rights from them, but we

managed to find a middle ground,” says Divya.

Knowing that a language barrier may prove to be a bottleneck in

communication, the IAS officer also appointed a Special Tribal

Coordinator and Gondi language translators in the District Hospital

(RIMS) to ensure better access to treatment.

Helping the People Learn their Rights Divya’s primary thrust in

Adilabad was to encourage the aggrieved tribes to use the legal and

constitutional means to find solutions to their problems.

To that end, she appointed PESA (The Provisions of the Panchayats

(Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996) coordinators at Gram

Panchayat level and quickly filled the vacancies to create awareness

on their rights and how to use them. She also helped revive their

traditional panchayats called Rai Centers and engaged them in

developmental activities.

Furthermore, to duly honour and preserve the culture of the tribal

communities, Divya made efforts to officially support their main

festivals like Dandari-Gussadi and Nagoba Jatra and document their


traditions in the form of a documentary.

With a firm belief in the power of dialogue and discourse, she knew

that she had to find a way to get through the community for

arbitration to work. Within three months, the solution-driven lady

became proficient in the language of the Gonds (Gondi), enough to

have a conversation with the people. And her efforts paid off.

The people only wanted someone to listen. And she did.

“Once they realised I could speak their language, they poured their

hearts out. In three months, the scene of the panchayats meetings

went from the groups sitting in pindrop silence to speaking freely,”

says Divya.

From appointing special tribal coordinators, language translators in

government hospitals, making the administrative office more

accessible, to learning the language herself, Divya went from being

just an “Officer Madam” to a member of their families.

And now, as a new District Collector takes charge, the villagers paid

their tribute to her by christening a village in her name.

20. How COVID-19 made forest rights battle tough for Tharu

women

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown spelled disaster

for and paralysed several communities — the Tharu Adivasi

community in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Khiri district near


the India-Nepal border was among those affected hard.

The Adivasi villagers alleged the forest department prevented people

from entering the forest during the lockdown. “They did not even

allow us to collect firewood. In the past, we would mobilise our

sangathan if any such thing happened,” said Sahvaniya, a young

woman from Surma village.

She alleged in Kajaria village, the forest department tried to “take over

our land”. “The department has built a huge trench around the forest

land. People cannot access forests. The move has created conditions

for flooding as well,” she said. The women of the community,

however, have been at the forefront of battle for forest rights. Over the

years, they have come together as a people’s front — the Tharu

Adivasi Mahila Kisan Mazdoor Manch — to fight for legal recognition

of forest rights.

But the lockdown added to the events that delayed the legal

recognition of community forest rights, which shifts power from the

forest department to the village assemblies / Gram Sabhas on

decisionmaking.

The Tharu community

The Tharu community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amidst the

Sivaliks or lower Himalayas. This is a region of alluvial floodplains,

marshy grasslands and dense forests with plenty of wildlife. Tharu


families survive on wheat, corn and other vegetables grown close to

their homes.

The region was ruled by queens and kings in the 19th century. Some

Tharu people were forced into bonded labour, while the majority

lived off the forest. In 1864, the British, who were by then in control

of much of northern and central India, established the forest

department. The department reserved some forest land and

considered itself the rightful owners of these lands. In

1927, the British made forest laws that gave supreme power to the

department and its bureaucracy, thereby creating a violent home

ground for Tharu Adivasi community. The community was made to

work in oppressive conditions on British plantations. In 1978, the

struggles intensified when the government drew out plans to create a

protected area for tigers and other critically endangered wildlife

species — the Dudhwa National Park. Tharu Adivasi

forest villages in this area led the battle for their land and rights.

The same year, at least 43 villages were relocated and granted revenue

village status, meaning that they would be officially recognised by the

state and be eligible for government services.

Three villages were left out: Surma and Golboji, along with the non-

indigenous but forest dwelling communities in Devipur, were to fall

into the buffer zone of this national park without any official

status. The villagers were pressured by the forest department and

threatened with displacement or eviction.

The battle


When the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers

(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act [FRA], 2006 was enacted, these

three villages (backed by the other 43) filed for revenue village status.

In 2008, they were granted revenue village status. Since then, the

community has been working tirelessly for the legal recognition of

their community forest rights. Anita, a woman community leader,

said: “Earlier, we used to be scared to enter the forest and collect

forest produce. We were often harassed. But ever since we became

aware of our rights, several families go to the forests together and take

our bullock-carts along.”

In 2012, in defiance of the forest department, more than a thousand

villagers led by women went inside

the forests along with bullock carts. While this was a path-breaking

day, the women were allegedly attacked in retaliation. A woman

leader, Nivada Rana, was reportedly seriously injured.

In 2019, a group of women going for fishing were allegedly attacked

by the department. According to FRA, however, it was their right to

access and use forest.

The women then organised themselves, surrounded the local police

station and demanded that the forest department be held responsible

for the violence. As they moved their forest rights claims through new

offices, they demanded written responses from authorities with clear

reasoning.


Operating through a ‘rational logic’ and written language of

bureaucracy, Tharu women activists are making it clear that they are

caretakers of the land on which they live. The FRA acknowledges

historical injustices to indigenous and forest dwelling communities,

and also gives power to women in the community in different ways; a

third of the Gram Sabha, for example, should comprise of women.

“The plants in forests around our villages have more diversity than

those on forest lands managed by the forest department. We are

positive about getting legal recognition of our community forest

rights,” said Sahvaniya.

She added that community was fighting for all 46 villages. “We know

that on the other sides of the Dudhwa National Park, several Van

Taungya or plantation working communities have not yet been

recognised so far. We know that we live in one ecosystem; there is no

question of us marching ahead without any of them,” Sahvaniya said.

This Adivasi women-led struggle, though prolonged, has impacted

the community positively in many ways. Many youth would migrate

to Himachal Pradesh or Maharashtra for work earlier; over the last

few years, the number of people doing so has marginally decreased.

Women have assumed leadership in Gram Sabhas, forest care and in

interactions with officials. Therefore, despite the perils of the

lockdown, the future does not look as bleak.

21. e-Marketing of tribal produce a shot in their arm.

In times of these distressed periods, digital transformation across the

entire organization only seems to be a viable path to ensure that


livelihoods are not disrupted. There is little sign of the economy

getting better and if one goes by the predictions and fears being aired

by experts, no country can dream of a rosy future.

More so is the case with India which has a multitude of problems and

democratic compulsions and obligations and also the collateral

political pulls and pressures on the governments. It is against this

background that the move of the TRIFED under the Ministry of Tribal

Affairs which works for the promotion of tribal commerce, to digitally

transform the business it handles comes as a huge relief to one and all.

It is in the best interests of almost 50 lakhs forest dwelling tribal

families aligning them to their skill sets, ensuring a fair deal to tribals

in their trade of minor forest produces, and handlooms and

handicrafts. The value of this trade, according to an NITI study, is

almost Rs 2 lakh crore per annum.

To scale up the activities and create a level playing field, TRIFED has

embarked on a digitisation drive to map and link its village-based

tribal produces to the national and international markets setting up

state-of-the-art e- platforms benchmarked to international standards.

Keeping every aspect of tribal lives and commerce in mind, TRIFED

has also embarked on the digitisation of the procurement through

government and private trade and the related payments to tribals.

This is likely to be commissioned by August end. It is now well

accepted that e-commerce is the future of retail trade.

TRIFED has to strategically respond to the emerging situation. The

business arm of TRIFED, Tribes India, has launched an e-commerce

portal which offers a large range of tribal products online. These


products range from creative masterpieces and artefacts such as

Dokra metal craft pieces, beautiful pottery, different types of paintings

to colourful, comfortable apparel, distinctive jewellery and organic

and natural foods and beverages.

TRIFED has also partnered with other e-commerce portals such as

Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and PayTM to provide market access to

its tribal artisans. The Tribes India e- Marketplace, coming on the

heels of the Retail Inventory Management System which has

automated the sourcing and sale of stocks, is an ambitious initiative to

onboard almost five lakh tribal artisans on the e- market platform.

All this not only helps stop exploitation of tribals by middlemen and

brokers, but also provide timely support to the otherwise struggling

tribal families in the country. If this measure were not to be taken,

these tribals of our country would be left out. These belong to the

most vulnerable section of our society (rather they have never been

made a part of our society in the real sense).The digitisation move

alone is not sufficient to transform lives. It requires a very high level

of commitment on part of those involved in making it a success. Let us

hope all the connecting dots function properly and sincerely.

anthropology current affairs magazine - Vishnu IAS ACADEMY

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