How urbanisation – and Hinduisation – is stripping India’s indigenous communities of their cultural heritage

By Smytta Yadav, University of Sussex

In the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra state, in western India, villagers from the Gond Adivasi (or indigenous) tribe have been protesting since September 2023.

Six mines are set to be built on ancestral Gondi lands. These lands are protected under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. And yet, the protesters have faced harsh treatment from the police. If the mines do go ahead, as many as 50,000 people could be forced from their homes.

Over the past decades, across India, rampant urbanisation and industrialisation has seen increasing numbers of Adivasi communities internally displaced. Cities including Mumbai, Goa, Delhi, Jammu and Jaipur now account for over a third of the country’s population.

Since 2011, I have investigated how this rural-urban migration is affecting the Gond Adivasis. The Gondi homelands – also known as Gondwana – traditionally stretch across central India, encompassing parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and west Bengal.

Beyond threats from mining and other heavy industry, the creation of the nature reserves has also led to Gondi communities losing access to their lands. In 1994, the Panna Tiger Reserve was established in Madhya Pradesh. Adivasis there are increasingly unable to earn a living by traditional means, hunting, fishing and artisanal mining in the forest.

Along with the loss of knowledge and skills associated with these forest-based livelihoods, Gondi urban migrants also experience a process of Hinduisation. In the city, they often feel pressured to adopt Hindu customs and rituals, in order to fit in and find work.

Urban Hinduisation

Since embarking on my doctoral research in 2011, I have tracked the movements of up to 50 Gond families originating from Manor village, in Madhya Pradesh. Gonds have told me of feeling forced to migrate because staying in their villages puts them at risk of debt and hunger.

Many young Gonds see city jobs as a way to regain dignity and autonomy. They also prefer work that doesn’t tie them down to one employer and provides immediate cash.

Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/how-urbanisation-and-hinduisation-is-stripping-indias-indigenous-communities-of-their-cultural-heritage-221176