ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS :
I. Answer the following questions in one sentences :
1. Who are Adivasis ?
Ans: The term literally means original inhabitants are communities who lived, and often continue to live in close association with forests .
2. Name the mining and industrial centres created in Adivasi areas .
Ans: The mining and industrial centres are Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bokaro and Bhilai .
3. How has Adivasis deeply influenced in the formation of Indian languages ?
Ans: Adivasis have their own languages, most of them radically different from and possibly as old as Sanskrit, which have often deeply influenced the formation of’ mainstream’ Indian languages like Bengali. Santhali has the largest number of speakers and has a significant body of publications including magazines on the internet or in e-zines .
4. How are Adivasis portrays ?
Ans: Adivasis are invariably portrayed in very stereotypical ways in colourful costumes, headgear and through their dancing. Often Adivasis are blamed for their lack of advancement as they are believed to be resistant to change or new ideas .
5. Who were depended on Adivasis for the crucial access to forest resources ?
Ans: Empires were heavily depended on Adivasis for the crucial access to forest resources .
6. The forests lands have been cleared .
Ans: The forests lands have been cleared for timber and to get land for agriculture and industry .
7. How much wildlife cover does India have ?
Ans: India has 54 national parks and 372 wildlife sanctuaries covering 1, 09,652 sq.km .
8. What do you understand by minority ?
Ans: The term minority is most commonly used to refer to communities that are numerically small in relation to the rest of the population .
9. What spirits did Adivasis worship ?
Ans: Adivasis worship spirits like mountain spirits, river spirits and animal spirits .
10. From which different surrounding religions have Adivasis been influenced ?
Ans: Adivasis have been influenced by different surrounding religions like Shakta, Buddhist, Vaishnav, Bhakti and Christianity .
11. Who said ‘they took our farming land, they left some houses. They took the cremation ground, temple, well and pound’ ?
Ans: Gobindha Maran said the same regarding the Adivasis .
12. Which areas did Adivasis live ?
Ans: Adivasis lived in areas that are rich in minerals and other natural resources .
II. Answer the following questions in three sentences :
1. Why are the Adivasi societies most distinctive ?
Ans: The Adivasi societies are also distinctive because there is often very little hierarchy among them. This makes them radically different from communities organised around principles of Jati-varna (caste) or those that was ruled by kings .
2. Adivasi religions themselves have influenced dominant religions of the empires around them . Explain ?
Ans: Yes, it includes the Jagannath cult of Orissa and Shakti and Tantric traditions in Bengal and Assam .
3. Why reforests absolutely crucial to the development of all empires and settled civilizations ?
Ans: The forests are absolutely crucial to the development of all empires and settled civilizations in India, metal areas like iron and copper, and old and silver, coal and diamonds, invaluable timber, most medicinal herbs and animal products (wax,lac,honey) and animals themselves (elephants, the main stay of imperial armies) all came from the forests. In addition, the continuation of life depended heavily on forests that help recharge many of Indian rivers, crucial to the availability and quality of our air and water .
4. Describe the Adivasi communities in the pre-colonial world .
Ans: In the pre-colonial world, they were traditionally ranged hunter gatherers and nomads and lived by shifting agriculture and also cultivating in one place. Although these remained, for the past 200 years Adivasis have been increasingly forced through economic changes, forest policies and political force applied by the state and private industry to migrate to lives as workers in plantations, at construction sites, in industries and as domestic workers .
5. The powerful forces collided with Adivasis . Explain .
Ans: The powerful forces collided with Adivasis so to take over their tribal lands. They have taken their land forcefully without following any procedures. According to official figures, more than 50 per cent of the Adivasis have been displaced due to mines and mining projects .
6. In north India Adivasis are termed as encroachers . Explain why ?
Ans: In the north-east their lands remain highly militarised and war-torn. Huge tracts of their lands have gone under national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries. The tribals who originally lived there were evicted. When they continue to stay in these forests, they are termed as encroachers .
7. What were the difficulties faced by Adivasis due to migration ?
Ans: When Adivasis were displaced from their lands, they lost much more than their source of income. They lost their traditions and customs. They took cremation ground, temple, well and pond .
III. Answer the following questions in three to four sentences :
1. How are Adivasis communities spread over India ?
Ans:
i) Around 8 percent of India’s population is Adivasi and many of India’s most important mining and industrial centres are located in Adivasi areas .
ii) Adivasis are not a homogenous population; there are over 500 different Adivasi groups in India .
iii) Adivasis are particularly numerous in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Orissa,Gujarat, etc and in the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura .
iv) A state like Orissa is home to more than 60 different tribal groups .
2. How do the Adivasis practise tribal culture ?
Ans:
i) Adivasis practise a range of tribal religions that are different from Islam, Hinduism and Christianity.These often involve the worships of ancestors, village and nature spirits, they last associated with and residing in various sites in the landscape ‘mountain-spirit’, ‘river-spirit’, ‘animal-spirit’ etc .
ii) The village spirits are often worshipped at specific scared groves within the village boundary while the ancestral ones are usually worshipped at home .
iii) Additionally, Adivasi have always influenced by different surrounding religions like Shakta, Buddhist, Vaishnav, Bhakti and Christianity .
iv)Simultaneously, Adivasi religions themselves have influenced dominant religions of the empires around them .
3. How do Adivasis get caught in the cycle of poverty and deprivation ?
Ans:
i) Losing their lands and access to the forests means that tribals lose their main sources of livelihood and food .
ii) Having gradually lost access to their traditional homelands, many Adivasis have migrated to cities in search of work where they are employed for very low wages in local industries or at building or construction sites. Thus they are caught in a cycle of poverty and deprivation .
iii) 3.45 percent of tribal groups in rural areas and 35 percent of tribal groups in urban areas live below poverty line .
4. The minority community requires safeguard . Explain ?
Ans:
i) Safeguards are needed to protect minority communities against the possibility of being culturally dominated by the majority .
ii) They are also protected against any discrimination and disadvantage that they face.
iii) Communities that are small in number relative to the rest of society may feel insecurity about their lives .
5. The Indian constitution provides a safeguard for the minority communities. Explain ?
Ans: The constitution provides safeguards for the minority communities because it is committed to protect India’s cultural diversity and promote equality as well as justice.
6. Why is Muslim community considered marginalized in India ?
Ans:
i) Muslims are 13.4 percent of India’s population are considered to be a marginalized community in India because in comparison to other communities they have over the years been deprived of the socio-economic development .
ii) 63.6% of Muslims live in Kutcha houses rather than 55.2% of Hindus .
iii) 30% of Muslims have access to electricity rather than 43.2% of the Hindu .
iv) 19.4% of Muslims have access to piped water rather 25.3% of Hindus .
v) Some Muslims may wear a burqa, sport a long beard, wear a fez, because of this they tend to be identified differently and some people think they are not like the rest of us discriminating them .
7. Why were the tribals from Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa removed ?
Ans: According to official figures more than 50 percent of persons displaced from above places. Huge land had gone under the waters of hundreds of dams that have been built in independent India. India has 54 percent parks and 372 wildlife sanctuaries covering 1, 09,652 sq. km. so the tribals were shifted .