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Forest tribes of Palghar have Google Earth where they need it
Organiser Milind Thatte who lives with the tribals in the Jawahar area explains, “Technology has been beneficial to the tribals for water and forest conservation plans. Smartphones are used for geo-tagging trees and even Google Earth is used. These people are self-learners and pick-up very fast. The idea to bring them here is so that city people can also get to know of what exists beyond the books.”
PUNE Is it possible to live deep in a forest and yet be technologically savvy? Seven tribes of the Palghar forest area near Thane, came out of their foilage bedecked lives to Pune to interact and showcase their way of living to the city.
Yes, there was song and dance; yes, there were the unique rules of living; but it still was the marriage of technology and a relatively-primitive humanscape mixing that offered the most eyebrow raising moments.
The interaction itself happened at Bhave primary school, Sadashiv Peth and was organised by Vayam, a movement for inclusive development environment and democracy. The city guests in the audience included PCMC commissioner Sharvan Hardikar and his family.
Organiser Milind Thatte who lives with the tribals in the Jawahar area explains, “Technology has been beneficial to the tribals for water and forest conservation plans. Smartphones are used for geo-tagging trees and even Google Earth is used. These people are self-learners and pick-up very fast. The idea to bring them here is so that city people can also get to know of what exists beyond the books.”
In return, Pune was looking to aid self-development through training for the youth and women of the tribes at the interaction on September 30.
“Stories we relate are passed on to us by our ancestors. We may not have studied in a school, but are well aware of the forest and its natural resources,” is how Govind Gond of a village called Mupada explains it. “We enjoy showing our culture to others so that people can learn about us too,” he adds, looking at photographs taken on his smartphone.
Palghar forest area tribal customs
- Society rules laid down by gram sabha
- Agreeing to drink alcohol as a sign of celebration of any kind
- A girl who gets engaged gets an opportunity to know her in-laws before marriage, she goes to stay with them for five days; if she likes them enough, then marriage progresses, if not engagement is broken without any hard feelings.
- Resource-oriented cashless economy.
