By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Amarkantak (Madhya Pradesh): On Monday, January 29, the 47th Annual Conference of the Indian Anthropological Society on the theme ‘Tribal Situation in India: Contemporary Issues and Concerns’ was inaugurated by Prof Rajat Kanti Das, President, Indian Anthropological Society (IAS) at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University which is being jointly organised by IGNTU, IGRMS, TATA Steel Ltd., and IAS.
The three-day conference will have three Memorial lectures and a seminar on the proposed theme. The memorial Lectures are organized to pay homage to the three doyens of Indian Anthropology. These are Nirmal Kumar Bose Memorial Lecture, Sasanka Sekhar Sarkar Memorial Lecture, and Dharani Sen Memorial Lecture.
While inaugurating the three-day conference, Prof Rajat Kanti Das spoke on various issues pertaining to tribes in India and asked social scientists and anthropologists to come up with innovative suggestion to solve their challenges.
The seminar aims at providing a comprehensive overview of contemporary issues and concerns on tribes and their development Prof Sarit K Chaudhary, Director, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal said that tribes having few thousand population in north-eastern states should be brought under the purview of higher education. ‘Through higher education, a positive transformation can be ensured for tribes. There is also a need for interdisciplinary study of contemporary issues of tribes to come up with innovative suggestions’, he added.
Prof Alok Shrotriya, Dean (Academics) discussed two points of views regarding the development of tribes. First, they should be left on their own cause with little help from the society and second-they should be assimilated into the society through technological interventions. He suggested an integrated approach for their development giving necessary help from the society while learning from their rich cultural values and traditional knowledge.
The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) came into existence in July 2008 through the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Act, 2007. The jurisdiction of the University extends to the whole country and is fully funded by Central Government through the University Grant Commission.
(With inputs from Daily Pioneer)