Baigas are a forest community of

In a bid to undo historical injustice meted out to primitive tribal communities living in central India, the government of Madhya Pradesh has for the first time recognised the habitat rights of seven villages in Dindori district, mostly inhabited by the Baigas. In a meeting held in village Rajni Sarai on January 13, the district administration toldthe villagers they are free to access all their ancestral rights over land and forests. The administration also assured them that the government will not be able to transfer any land for non-communityuses without “consent”. District Collector Chhavi Bhardwaj, who started the process of recognising habitat rights in 2014, told Down To Earth that around 9,308 hectares in the seven villages—Dhaba, Rajni Sarai, Dhurkutta, Limauta, Jilang, Silpidi and Ajgar—have been granted to about 900 families under Section 3 (1) d of Forest Rights Act, 2006. Ekta Parishad, a non-profit based in Tilda in Chhattisgarh, was instrumental in ensuring the recognition of these rights as they organised several rallies and initiated a dialogue with the district administration. The administration used a gazette notification passed by the colonial British government which recognised these areas as Baiga Chak (meaning area of Baiga). Baigas are considered as a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) in the Indian Constitution and rely mostly on shifting cultivation, forest produce and fishing for sustenance. The tribe numbers only 150,000 people spread ov...

Residents of Ranjra, a Baiga tribal village in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh, spent many months of 2011 collecting a variety of edible tubers, roots and medicinal plants found in their forest. The idea was to propagate these plants since the village was finally going to get its community forest rights (CFR) papers. “Our forest has lost a lot of its diverse wealth due to the forest department’s policy of saal tree monoculture. We were hoping that since we were getting the management rights, we would work to regenerate the lost forest produce useful to us,” says village resident Hariaro Bai. “But now we do not know what to do,” she says. When the CFR claim papers finally arrived, the Baigas were speechless with surprise. The land they had been given as community forest was not forestland at all, but the agricultural and residential land of the village, the titles for which they had already received under individual forest rights claims. “We realised this because all the forest compartments given to us are ‘B’ compartments, signifying residential and agricultural land in forest department's terminology,” says Barelal Rathuria, president of the village forest rights committee. “When we examined the claims closely, we found that the compartment numbers were the same as those mentioned in individual claims given under the Forest Rights Act (FRA).” No forest for tribal villages One would think that the subject of a community forest rights claim under FRA would be…well, fores...

The reasons: (i)In many cases, across India, from Mizoram to Kerala, dense forests have survived only because villages protected them in sacred groves known as sarnas, devarakudu, kan, rai, etc. (ii)Some villages have been patrolling their own forests, with each household taking it in turns, instead of leaving it to the forest guards.

CBSE Class 9 History Book Chapter 4 “Forest Society and Colonialism” Multiple Choice Questions ‌(MCQs‌) with Answers Practicing the MCQs on Class 9 Chapter 4 "Forest Society and Colonialism" can help you understand the lesson better! We have a lot of questions that cover all the important topics in the chapter. You can use these questions to check your knowledge and find out what you need to work on. MCQs listed below are like the real exam questions. If you're a student who needs help studying or a teacher who wants to help their students, our Practice MCQs on "Forest Society and Colonialism", Class 9 Chapter 4 can be very useful. Start practicing today and get ready for your exams! Here is a compilation of Free MCQs of Class 9 History Book Chapter 4 - Forest Society and Colonialism. Students can practice free MCQs as have been added by CBSE in the new exam pattern. At the end of Multiple Choice Questions, the answer key has also been provided for your reference. A. Bidis B. Plates C. Baskets D. Umbrellas Q2. The railway network expanded rapidly in India from…..? A. 1820s B. 1830s C. 1850s D. 1860s Q3. The Imperial Forest Research was set up at …..? A. Allahabad B. Darjeeling C. Dehradun D. Shimla Q4. The Baigas are a forest community of…..? A. Central India B. North India C. South India D. North East India Q5. The colonial power in Indonesia were the …..? A. English B. Dutch C. French D. Portuguese Q6. Where did the Dutch start forest management in Indonesia? A. Java B. ...

The report aims to protect the rich traditional knowledge of the Baigas community, a primitive tribal group, on the healing properties of medicinal plants found in the forests near their villages. It also seeks to promote more equitable agreements on benefits sharing of natural resources and the associated traditional knowledge with third parties.

Purpose of this Study: To understand how the lives and culture of Baigas have been affected by displacement from the forest and from contact with other, agriculturally-developed communities, and to create a platform of understanding for how they can be empowered. Methods: I began my study with only a hint of knowledge of the geography, habitat, or background history of the cultural and occupational traditions of the Baigas. While a seemingly a haphazard approach, this would turn out to work in my favor as the study overtime evolved by itself. Beginning as an ethnographic observational study, held together by interviews with the villagers, it would later become better refined, developed, and tailored by readings I found along the way and as well as by meetings with local historians and professors. Underneath it all, the most important findings were the inferences made by connecting observations in the first few days with my better conceptualized viewpoint towards the end of the 20 days. Interviews and interactions with the members of around 15 villages were compared with an anthropologic study written in 1939 by a man named Elwin Verrier. Definitions: Panchayat= village level governing body. Tola=Community, Village Adiwasi=Hindi word for indigenous person. Hand=a term of measurement from the inner elbow to the tip of ones fingers. Gunia=village shahman, medicine man. Mandir=Temple, Punda: Priest, ritualist. Surpanch=Panchayat head. Introduction: Baihar is a township located...