National Tribal Festival

With a rich heritage and culture, India is one of the most diverse countries of the world. It is this diversity that takes us beyond our individual identity. It takes us to the domain of awareness that is universal.

Prof T. Subramanium Naidu explaining the nuances of tribes

Ministry of Tribal Affairs organised the National Tribal Festival to showcase the rich plethora of cultural heritage, especially tribal, of our nation. The festival gave an insight to the rich heritage and culture amongst the tribal communities from all over India. On 16 February Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts held a documentary screening.

The documentary for the day was ‘For a Dorbar of the people’. The documentary showcased the abuse of power in the state of Meghalaya by Dorbar Shnong i.e. Headmen of the village. Mehghalaya has an institution of local self government which provides the village with all the basic amenities just like the panchayats. For a Dorbar of the People raised the point injustice to the village met by the system.

A Tribal Dance at the venue

In an RTI filed by some of the residents of the village it was revealed that the ration meant for the village had been misused for personal gains. The Dorbar Shnong took this as a personal attack and ordered a social boycott of the families who were involved in filing of RTI. The families who were boycotted faced a lot of flak by the village and had to face many adversities. But when enquiry was conducted, it was proved that the Dorbar Shnong was the culprit.

The Picturesque Venue

The above incident raises eyebrows about the fact that very few people are involved in the decision making process. It’s not a very healthy sign for a participatory democracy. In a participatory democracy people need to come out and exercise their right but here we see centralisation of power.

There were also tribal dance at the venue with lots of colour and music. Tribes from Jharkhand, Odisha and other parts danced to beautiful tunes.