Students and faculty members of NU Lumami, Zunheboto on November 15.
Zunheboto, November 16 (MExN): The Nagaland University (NU) Lumami celebrated Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on November 15 at the university’s campus.
Peter Ki, PRO of NU, chaired the programme. Dr Sandeep Gupta, Department of Sociology, NU, delivered the welcome address. Dr Gupta briefly highlighted the concept of tribe and explained about tribal intellectual ideologies and how it can be useful to deal with issues, such as pollution or balance between development and nature.
According to him, tribal history may not be documented but it is very rich and advanced and added that people should celebrate their tribal identity with pride.
Vice Chancellor Prof Jagadish K Patnaik also addressed the gathering. Prof Patnaik discussed the indigenous religions and the influence of Hinduism on them.
He mentioned the colonial invasion on tribal lands in search of resources and the misfortune associated with it and futher criticised colonial terminologies such as head hunters or primitive to address Indian tribes.
He strongly urged for a new discourse to understand the generic nature of tribes or specially Naga tribes.
Padmashri Awardee T Senka Ao, who was honoured at the event, spoke about the labelling of tribal zones as backward stating that ‘despite the modernisation or development initiatives, the tag of backwardness is still associated with tribes, which must be questioned and removed.’
The programme concluded with a vote of thanks from Dr Yamsani Srikanth, Dept of Sociology, NU.
