Conrad K. Sangma, 44
Chief Minister, Meghalaya, Garo Tribe
An alumnus of St Columba’s School in Delhi and with a management degree from Wharton and Imperial College London, Conrad K. Sangma associates his tribal identity with a ‘mainstream’ personality. The son of former Lok Sabha Speaker, the late PA Sangma, he is trying to build his own NPP, or National People’s Party, as the representative voice of the Northeast.
Pabiben Rabari, 38
Entrepreneur, Rabari Tribe
Pabiben Rabari (Photo: Banddeep Singh) | full screen image
Raised in poverty in Kutch, Gujarat, Pabiben Rabari was a homemaker before concentrating on the intricate embroidery of her Rabari tribe. After inventing a new form of sewing work, Hari Zari, avenues opened up, and her brand, Pabiben, is now a fashion staple with exports to 45 countries. His Banyan Tree Foundation employs 300 tribal women, whose annual turnover is Rs 40 lakh.
Lipika Singh Darai, 38
Film Director, Ho Tribe
Lipika Singh Darai; (Photo: Aurobindo Mohapatra)
His first non-fiction film Ek Gachha Ek Manisa Ek Samudra (A Tree, A Man, A Sea) won the National Award for Best Debutante Director in a non-feature segment in 2013. Born in Mayurbhanj district, Darai graduated from FTII, Pune in Sound Recording and Design. She is the recipient of four National Awards – three for film direction and one for sound recording and mixing. His latest documentary, Backstage (2021), features the puppet community of Odisha.
Shantaram Siddi, 59
The first graduate and MLC of his community, Siddi Community
Shantaram Riddy (Photo: Mandar Deodhar)
Siddi has many firsts to his name. When he completed his BA in Economics in 1988, he became the first graduate from his community. He then established a hostel for tribal children along with the Hindu Seva Pratishthan. The following year, Siddi-RSS-affiliated Vanvasi Kalyan from the Malnad region of the Western Ghats in Karnataka became Karnataka’s first activist. As a member of the Legislative Council (MLC), Siddi aims to emphasize the speedy distribution of land ownership deeds to all tribal communities in the state.
Bhajju Shyam, 51
Artist, Gond Tribe
Bhajju Shyam; (Photo: Chandradeep Kumar)
In 1994, Bhajju came to Bhopal in search of a job from Patangarh in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh. While in the foreign city, he lived with leading Gond artist Janggarh Singh Shyam. With his encouragement, Bhajju took up painting and, within the next three years, carved a niche for himself. In 2001, a few months after the tragic suicide of Janggarh, Bhajju was assigned the task of painting the walls of a London restaurant. On his return, he compiled a series of paintings on life in the British capital into the London Jungle Book. Bhajju has since written 16 more books. He received the Padma Shri in 2018.
Andrea Cevichusa, 22
actor, angami, come tribe
Andrea Cevichusa; (Photo: Mandar Deodhar | Location Courtesy ASR Studio, Mumbai)
Born in Nagaland to an Angami father and Ao mother, Andrea, the youngest of five sisters, wanted to become a doctor. But a modeling opportunity, when she was 15, changed the course of her life and took her to Mumbai, and landed her a lead role in several films. Andrea believes that the rest of India will soon better understand the people of the Northeast, who face varying degrees in the ‘mainland’.
Vijaya Pawar, 39
Entrepreneur, Banjara Handicrafts, Gorbanjara Tribe
Vijaya Pawar; (Photo: Mandar Deodhar)
To revive the Gormati art, Vijaya Pawar formed an NGO, Harappa Gorbanjara Mahila Kala Vikas Mandal in 2004, which has trained hundreds of tribal women to make Banjara handicraft products and make a good living. A silent activist, Pawar gained instant fame when PM Narendra Modi chose her among women to handle his social media handle on International Women’s Day in 2020. Winner of two international awards, Pawar hopes to take his brand ‘Pono’ to the global level. near future.
Sreedhanya Suresh, 29
IAS Officer, Kurichia Tribe
Sreedhanya Suresh; (Photo: Weird Komachi)
The parents of Sreedhanya, a daily wage worker in Kerala’s Wayanad district, worked hard to educate their three children. After completing her postgraduation, Sreedhanya met IAS officer S Sambasiva Rao while working for the Department of Tribal Development. Inspired by him, she appeared in the civil services exam, which she cleared in 2018- the first tribal woman from Kerala to do so. Now sub-collector and sub-divisional magistrate at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district, he is an inspiration to his community.
Dineshbhai Bhil, 45
Archers and Archery Coaches, Bhil Tribe
Dineshbhai Bhil; (Photo: Banddeep Singh)
Early in his life, Dineshbhai Bhil, an ace archer, had set his career goals on target. Even though he could only study up to class IX due to extreme poverty, Dinesh found his calling in his native Chhota Udaipur district of Gujarat, playing with his native bow and arrow. His specialized archery skills helped him move to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) center at Deogarh Baria in the state and later to Delhi and Kolkata. In between, he tasted many successes, winning one gold and two silver medals at the 1996 and 1997 National Archery Championships respectively. In 2005, he established the Eklavya Archery Academy in the tribal-dominated Naswadi tehsil of his district. His students, including his 18-year-old daughter Tejal, have won several national championships.
– By Kaushik Deka, Kiran D. Tare, Zeeman Jacob, Ajay Sukumaran, Amitabh Srivastava and Rahul Noronha
Jaipal Singh Munda
From a boy herdering cattle in Jharkhand’s Khunti division to captaining the Indian hockey team that won the Olympic gold in 1928 at Oxford, to the Indian Civil Service, to presiding over the Adivasi Mahasabha and becoming the first prominent voice for a separate Jharkhand state As for the membership of the Constituent Assembly, he was actually ‘Marang Gomke’ (Great Leader).
nanjiamma
Musicians have long speculated about the folk origins of Indian classical music. But it took the National Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the film, a song in Irula language by Nanjiamma, Ayyappanam Koshiyum (2020) and for announcing the arrival of a distinctive Southern tribal rendition on the stage.
Alice Ekka
To answer the question, ‘Can I write subalterns?’… well, yes. A surprisingly original voice, Ekka’s Hindi stories—which were mostly written in the 1950s–60s, including most of the Dalit resistance writings—are currently being rediscovered by local and Western scholars. Leitmotif: Strong female characters.