JNU to study NE tribals
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy - The Pioneer
New Delhi, April 24 2018:
Faculty and students of science
and humanities stream of
Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) will be staying among
tribals to research on the
traditional scientific
knowledge that is used by these
tribal communities since time
immemorial.
Starting from the tribes of
North-East India , the JNU is
starting a programme called
"Science and Technology
programme for Tribal Studies" whereby research students and Professors from every school of JNU will study at length about
the tribal societies, their ancient medicinal systems etc.
They will
also teach tribals about technological aspects to make life better for
the tribal communities.
Research would also be done among the tribal communities
spreading across the Nation.
However, researchers would start
with North-Eastern region and Chhattisgarh.
Different ethnic
and tribal groups inhabit North East India with each having
their own culture and tradition making North East India, one
of the most culturally diverse regions of world.
They will also help tribal people in acquiring technological
knowhow in order to make their lives better.
For this, the JNU
is slated to launch "Science and Technology Programme for
Tribal Studies" from this year.
The programme will first cover the tribal belts of the North
Eastern India and Chhattisgarh.
A team of Professors and students from various Schools
of JNU will visit the tribal areas and stay with the tribes to
do research on their medicinal systems, knowledge of herbs,
agricultural system, preservation of seeds, use of traditional
technologies, wildlife conservation, interaction with forest and
environment etc.
Both students from humanities and science
stream, pursuing their research in JNU, will be part of this
programme.
Dr Rupesh Chaturvedi, Director, Research and
Development, JNU told
The Pioneer
that there have been
many researches on tribal communities from the sociological
and humanities perspective but very few from the scientific
and technological perspective.
"This programme is having
very different perspective as it will research on the traditional
scientific knowledge that is used by these tribal communities
since time immemorial.
Most of this knowledge is yet unknown to the world outside but if properly utilized it can prove
to be of immense benefit to the modern society," said Dr
Rupesh.
He said that the efforts would be made to register
Intellectual Property Right (IPR) of the utilised traditional
knowledge in the name of tribal community to which it originally belongs to.
Moreover, resource generated by the
utilisation of the traditional tribal knowledge will be transferred to the tribal community for its welfare, Dr Rupesh
added.