The
three day Silver Jubilee celebration of ‘Adibasi Baha Parab’ at Ghosaldanga
ended on 14th March 2014 with great joy and enthusiasm. On the last day of the celebration was at
Ghosaldanga village. Hundreds of people from different parts of Birbhum
District participated in various tribal sports and cultural activities. This
year 22 Santal groups with their traditional dress and musical instruments took
part. Three Santali drama groups staged their plays and the last hours of the
night was spent with music and dance that continued till next morning. But, the
special attraction of the day was ‘Santali Kobi Gaona’ in which Santal poetess
Mrs. Buri Murmu and Mrs. Mungli Murmu recited the history and folklore of
Santal life and culture. This year the ‘Baha Parab Award 2014’ was conferred on
to the well-known writer Dr. Suhrid Kumar Bhowmik of East Midnapur.
However, 25th year ‘Adibasi
Baha Parab’ will be specially remembered for successfully organizing a two day international
conference on ‘Tribes in Transition: Conflict over Identity, Resources and
Development’ on 12-13 March 2014 at Santiniketan and Rolf Schoembs Vidyashram
(RSV). The principal organizer of the conference was the Department of English,
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), New Delhi of which Ghosaldanga Bishnubati Adibasi
Trust (GBAT) did the practical collaboration. Indian Council of Social Science
Research, New Delhi funded the conference. Dr. Ivy Hansdak, JMI and Dr. Boro
Baski, GBAT were the convener and co-convener of the conference respectively. The
first day of the conference was held at Santiniketan. Prof. Sushanta Dattagupta,
Vice-Chancellor, Visva-Bharati University who inaugurated the conference said, through
Sriniketan experiment Rabindranath always wanted to create the space for
dialogue between the academicians and grass root workers. He expressed happiness
that Visva-Bharati could be part of this process through this conference. Other
two key speakers of the inaugural session were Prof. G.N.Devy, Director, Bhasha
Research & Publication Centre, Vadodara, who moved the audience by his speech
that was loaded with extensive knowledge and experience on the field of tribal
culture and literature. He presented a panoramic view of the crisis tribals in
India are going through with their historical and political legacy. Prof. Devy
expressed hope by seeing the talented tribal youth coming up to address the
issues that affect them in the conferences like this. Prof. Virginius XaXa, Director,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati & Chairman of the XaXa
Commission spoke about the present scenario of the crises that exist among
tribals in their cultural identity.
There were two sessions on the first day. ‘Tribal
Cultural Heritage and Conflict over Identity’ was the first topic and speakers were
Mr. Tonol Murmu, AISWACS, Kolkata; Mr. Kumar Rana, Senior Research Associate,
Pratichi (India) Trust; the paper of Mr. Ludwig Pesch, Secretary, Tribal
Cultural Heritage in India Foundation, Amsterdam was read out in absentia by
Mr. Prashant Kumar Hembrom, scholar, Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
Kolkata. Prof. Ranjit Kumar Bhattacharya, former Director, Anthropological
Survey of India presided over the session. The second session was on ‘Translation
and Publication of Tribal Literature’ and speakers were Dr. Anand Mahanand,
EFLU, Hyderabad; Dr. Boro Baski, GBAT; Ms. Ruby Hembrom, Adivaani, Kolkata; and
Mr. A.K. Pankaj, Jharkhandi Bhasha Sahitya Sanskriti Akhra, Ranchi. Prof.
G.N.Devy presided over the second session. Sr. Gemma Toppo presented a visual
presentation was on ‘Tribal Women and Human Trafficking’. It was a lasting
experience for many of the audience. The presentation was followed by cultural
programme. Rabindra Sangeet in Santali was sung by a well known singer Mr.
Barka Soren of Kalitola village. Mr. Rathin Kisku, a well known Santali fusion
singer presented Baul and Santali songs. The first day of the conference ended with
Santali group dance by Ghosaldanga and Bishnubati villagers.
The
second day of the conference was held at RSV at Ghosaldanga. There were three sessions
here, first on ‘Tribal Healthcare and Community Development’. The speakers were
Dr. Shantidani Minz, Christian Medical College, Vellore; Dr. Prabir Chatterjee,
Kolkata; Ms. Kirsty Milward, Suchana, Birbhum; Fr. David Solomon SJ, Johar HRD
Centre, Dumka. Dr. Monika Golembiewski’s presentation was delivered in absentia
by her colleague in the village medical work Mr. Satyanarayan Roy of
Santiniketan. Mr. Gokul Hansda, President, GBAT presided over the session. The
second panel was on ‘Writers’ Meet’ and the writers presented their speech were
Mr. Marshal Hembram; Mr. Durbin Soren, Mr. Sibu Soren and Mr. Sunder Manoj
Hembrom. Dr. Ivy Hansdak moderated the session. The third session was on
‘Tribal Youth: Problems of Employment’ and speakers were Prof. Sonajharia Minz,
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, Fr. James Toppo SJ, St. Xavier’s
College, Maharo; Mr. Prashant Kumar Hembrom, MBA student, IIM, Kolkata; Mr.
Abhay Xaxa, Ph.D scholar, JNU, New Delhi. Fr. David Solomon SJ was the
moderator.
The
two day conference ended with the Valedictory Session. The speakers were Dr.
Boro Baski, GBAT; Dr. Martin Kaempchen, Santiniketan, and Prof. Kumkum
Bhattacharya, Dept of Social Work, Visva-Bharati delivered the valedictory speech.
Vote of Thanks was given by Mr. Sona Murmu, Trustee, GBAT.
Successful
completion of the Jubilee celebration and the conference gave
a huge boost up to us as organizers. Prof. Devy’s brief visit to RSV school and
Santal Cultural Museum at Bishnubati and his kind words of appreciation also has
been a great encouragement for the villagers. In larger perspective, the
conference too gave a special message to the people especially the tribals who
are in various ways struggling to find their space to express their cultural
identity in the multicultural Indian society. 
