The refugee question was never outside the purview of anthropology’s range of interest. In the Indian context, significant studies on the refugees have been made not only by some anthropologists, but scholars from all other social science disciplines, and even literary figures and journalists have written profusely on them not only in English but in regional languages too. This extra concern about the refugees may apply to all countries which are acquainted with the refugee problem by virtue of the fact that at some points of time they had to keep their doors open for the refugees coming to their land with the purpose of finding a permanent settlement. Who is a refugee? The Article 1,1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR (The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) states that refugee is ‘a person who: prosecuted for reasons of race, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.’ From the UK’s point of view, there is a difference between asylum-seekers and refugees. Though everybody has a right to seek asylum in another country, for permanent stay asylum-seekers will have to receive refugee status. Those who will not get refugee status are likely to be deported. The majority of asylum-seekers in the United Kingdom do not have the right to work and so must rely on state support. According to Home Office specification, though the asylum-seekers are entitled to housing, they do not have a choice. Cash support is also available, and currently it is set at 40.85 pounds per person, per week, which makes it 5.84 pounds a day for food, sanitation and clothing. Refugees can be resettled to the UK via ‘the Mandate Scheme’, ‘the UK Resettlement Scheme’ (UKRS), ‘Community Sponsorship Scheme’ and ‘the Afghan Resettlement Schemes’ (ACRS).

The United Kingdom of Great Britain has a long history of accommodating foreign migrants or giving shelter to refugees coming from different parts of the world. But at the present juncture, the whole refugee question has taken a new dimension following a world event of considerable significance, namely, the Ukraine- Russia War to which our attention is immensely drawn because of its long-term effects. The UK Government, from its side, has launched a special scheme for the Ukrainian refugees affected by the war. From both the Homes for Ukraine and Ukrainian family Schemes, it has been gathered that till mid-February, 2023, 161,400 refugees have arrived in the UK. The UK Government statistics have shown that as on February 23, 2023 a total of 872 applications werereceived under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme in Sheffield alone, awaiting clearance. Buckinghamshire had recorded the highest number of visa applications from Ukraine (2062) during that period. Besides, Homes have been established in Glasgow, Manchester, Bolton and Rochdale. The Homes for Ukrainian sponsorship scheme provide opportunities to members to host an individual or a group. Under the scheme, hosts are entitled to a monthly 350 pounds tax free payment, which, however, applies to individualonly. With no immediate sign of stoppage of Ukrainian asylum-seekers to UK, it is but natural that the number will keep on increasing with almost every day and may continue to maintain this increasing trend till the war comes to an end. Though the Ukrainians had started seeking asylum in the United Kingdom in big numbers, it was Albania which was the top nationality seeking asylum in the UK in the year ending September, 2022 (13,650 applications). Obviously, Mother Teressa’s country was not in peace. It has also been estimated that during 2021-22 the Rumanian parents accounted for the maximum number of babies of non-British origin; this year the Indian parents have overtaken the Rumanians. Admittedly, those who were refugees at one time representing different countries of the world will have significant contributions to the future composition of the British population.

th It must be acknowledged that the two World Wars of the early and mid- 20 Century, long time before the breaking out of the current war which has been threatening to take World War dimension, had significant impact on refugee migration and Britain also felt the effects of those in no uncertain terms. The collapse of the Ottoman, Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian empires as a result of the First World War created a large number of ethnic, political and religious refugees and stateless persons. Before the Aliens Act came into effect, immigration to and from Britain was unrestricted during peacetime. The idea of refugees might have existed in popular imagination, but it was not reflected in any form of law or in the form of putting some barriers to their unrestricted entry into Britain. During this period, the majority of migration came from European countries having cultural and, in some cases, religious differences between one another. With their arrival, there grew a fear in local mind that the strangers would grab opportunities to work originally meant for them, often by mediating with sympathetic local responses to refugees. Following substantial Jewish immigration, the fear grew into a rhetoric that led to the promulgation of the Aliens Act in 1905. Obviously, the intention was to bring an end to open immigration of the Jewish immigrants to the United Kingdom. It is worth mentioning here that Bronislaw Malinowski was also a victim of this Act. The rise of fascism in Europe, and the actions of Franco’s Spain and Nazi’s Germany as well as of Mussolini’s Italy saw political dissidents, Jews and other persecuted minorities fleeing across and out of Europe. It was estimated that about forty million people were displaced by the Second World War alone, which had prompted the United Nations to create two refugee organizations in the names of ‘the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration’ (UNRRA) and ‘the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR). This period saw Britain in a complex relationship with refugees as successive governments attempted to preserve British interests on the one hand and at the same time volunteered to become a cooperative member of the international community, something which it has been following even now. One may get some idea about how quickly the estimation of the motive behind migration changed during the Enlightenment period and even during the French Revolution. The 1789 French Revolution saw some nobles seeking safety in Britain, but they were seen as cowards who had hastily and without any second thought abandoned their country and people.

From the perspective of World Wars and the level of persecution carried out by the oppressive autocratic regimes at different times, the Jews of all communities probably suffered most, which was no less reflected in their history of migration to different countries including the UK. The persecution of Jewish populations throughout history meant Jewish migrants had also th th been coming to the UK. throughout 18 and 19 centuries. A significant number of Jewish immigrants came from Eastern Europe and Russia after 1881 when Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, which led to Jewish programs on a wider scale. A total of over two million Jewish people left Eastern Europe during that time for the USA, Canada and Western Europe including UK. Jewish immigration to UK was largely concentrated in London and the East End as several Jewish charities and communities already existed there. A section of Jews also found entry into the historical city of York and it was said that some of them committed suicide because of unfavorable living conditions. The history of York, the second earliest city of UK, deserves a special mention. It was witness to successive waves of powerful migrants, most of whom had left their imprints on the city as it stands today. York’s history was dominated by the early presence of warring tribes of Anglo-Saxon origin and Normans, followed by Romans and Vikings, who were engaged in bitter struggles for supremacy. When Vikings and Romans were on the saddle, trade and business picked up at a fast pace. But York was primarily regarded as a market town and could not reach the level of an industrial town. One reason could be the lack of stability contributing to lack of peace, which was necessary for industries to grow and flourish. Another reason was the disastrous effect of deadly contagious diseases like plague, black death, which took a toll on York’s population. Even at the time York was prosperous under Vikings and Romans, its population did not increase and th remained almost constant or showed a declining trend at some points of time. In the mid-19 century, revolutions across Europe in France, Germany, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian led to high numbers of exiles seeking refuge in Britain. These refugees were politically active and included those seeking independence from the autocratic imperial regimes of central and eastern Europe. London became an important centre for politically active refugees. No wonder, it became 254 the site of several nationalistic and political societies engaged in devising new strategies, new ideas to strengthen the liberal tradition. Many had even ventured to return to their home countries, rejuvenated with fresh ideas and with an ardent desire to install right political climate or a progressive political system back home.

The recent migrants coming to UK as refugees, following post-World War and post colonial developments, include more people coming from different continents other than Europe, mainly from Asia and Africa, who represent different religious groups and ethnic communities. There are Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Thais, Chinese, Japanese, Mongolians, Arabs, Afghans, Egyptians, Sudanese, Kenyans, Ruwandans, Senegalese, Ugandans, Somalis, South Africans and many others. Latin Americans including Mexicans and Caribbeans could also register their entry with impressive numbers. It may be recalled that after World War II the UK Government offered all Commonwealth citizens free entry into the UK. Taking advantage of it, a lot of people from the Commonwealth countries came to the UK. The first group of such people to come was from the Caribbean. A group of 500 Caribbean people were brought to the UK in 1948 in a ship called Empire Windrush. After the ship, they are often known as “Win drush Generation”. During the 1960s, most of the Commonwealth citizens who made their entry into the UK were from India and Pakistan, who could be considered as privileged groups in a sense. Others immigrated for different reasons, some of which were more compelling as there was little choice left for the migrants; many people came here to try their luck to seek better economic opportunities and better living conditions. The cumulative effects of immigration of refugees in different periods of time have left a definite mark on the demographic composition of the country. Together with it, the inter-community relationship and inter-cultural communication pattern have also changed from time to time.

At present, the UK Government’s stand towards the refugees has been one of humanitarian concern, to support the people in distress or help those who have been victimized by human crises of untold sufferings. That is why, distressed people from different parts of the world could find a place here. The latest example has been provided by the Sudanese, who were displaced from their country as a result of the prolonged civil war. Interestingly, they have made a request to the UK Government to treat them at par with the Ukrainians because the cause of their displacement-related suffering is almost the same. Barring occasional grumblings or low-key criticism in private from some quarters, Government’s overall refugee program enjoys public support. Not only do the refugees receive financial support, they also get material support in the form of free accommodation, free ration and education. The governmental actions provide an opportunity for the country to take pride in its economic strength and monetary power. Now that the country is not doing that well in the economic front, doubts have been expressed by some about the desirability of continuing with its liberal approach. Just to retain the pride of the nation is it not going to be a costly venture?

Some of the first- generation refugees and their descendants are now well placed in life, holding reasonably good jobs or doing business which pays good dividends and owning comfortable houses. Free education and that too in graded schools has changed the lifestyle of their children. Doing well in the economic front and the assured support of a cohesive community structure have made them politically conscious, the net result of which is more and more public representations having political significance. The pace with which the refugees could establish themselves in public life may give satisfaction to those who are at the helm of governmental affairs, but a simmering discontent among a section of the original British people may not escape the notice of a serious observer. This is not so much because of the growing economic prosperity of the erstwhile refugees, but because of the way they have systematically extended their presence in public places which could hardly be anticipated beforehand. Just one small example may be given. Playgrounds and open spaces of some well-known Sheffield schools were given for holding ‘Id’ prayers, which had surprised quite a few. In the light of British experience, one may think of ‘Refugee’ as a transient form made to transform into a viable entity. But as indicated before, doubts persist as to whether there is enough justification for the cost involved behind such a large-scale transformation leading to quick change in landscape and demographic structure. Or is it that genuine humanitarian work knows no justification? But one must be convinced that the humanitarian pursuit adopted here is free from any sort of imposed condition, veiled or subtly designed.

Abstract
Over the years, tribal identity and vicissitudes of tribal development in India have been widely contested among academicians and in the Indian legislature. However, institutional narratives on these issues are laden with prejudice and remain incongruous to indigenous aspirations for recognition, development, and autonomy resulting in continued marginalisation suffered by indigenous or Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities well into the post-colonial era. Experience of marginalisation has influenced emerging identity discourses from within the communities as manifested in claims to indigeneity, ‘distinct’ cultural identity, and demands for political autonomy over distinct physical territory. These complexities and their dynamics remain largely incomprehensible in the imagination of
modern Indian nation-state as well as to Western literature. The narratives documented in this study aim to supplement literature on indigenous Karbi livelihoods collected through a humanistic empirical inquiry involving qualitative approaches to data collection as opposed to logical positivist, determinist or quantitative approaches.
Keywords: India; Indigenous; Cultural Geography; Karbi Anglong; Tribe; Development; Narrative; Autonomous

Abstract
The article seeks to enquire into the quality of being banal that untouchability acquires through caste-based practices. I take a socio-phenomenological approach to focus on the body to show how notions of bodies create a certain life-world within the caste system that makes the practice appear banal both to the Hindu upper caste and Dalit group. My focus is to see how the experience of untouchability is layered in the way it has been conceptualised and practiced over generations through concepts of lived body, and body in pain. Not only has this made the phenomena of untouchability ontologically evil and humiliating for the Dalit being, but has made them experience social dys-appearance. Using narratives from short stories written by Dalit writers in Malayalam and other Indian languages, I intend to chart out the pain and evil that have been wrought on the Dalit being since time immemorial. In the resultant Dalit lifeworld, such an understanding of bodies within the caste system makes the practice of untouchability banal and thoughtless. These narratives that resonate the lived experiences of a Dalit being will allow me further to critique the banality associated with untouchability and put forth the argument that the real evil lies in the consciously pursued act of engendering violence and humiliating a body that is not as purely lived as the Hindu upper castes.

Abstract
Childhood obesity represents a serious public health challenge today. Comparing childhood obesity in terms of national as well as international growth references helps in assessing the extent of agreement in classifying BMI status of children, allows for comparison on a global scale, and also aids in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the different growth references. Thus, the objective of the study was to compare three growth references, one national (IAP, 2015) and two international (WHO (de Onis et al.., 2007), Extended International IOTF (Cole and Lobstein, 2012)), with a focus on determining the prevalence of overweight and obesity and estimating the level of agreement between the growth references. In the cross-sectional study, 402 children aged 6-11 years, attending classes I to V, were the study participants. Height and weight of the participants were measured to calculate the BMI. BMI-for-age Z scores given by WHO (2007), IAP (2015) and IOTF (2012) were used to determine the BMI categories among the study participants. Kappa statistics was used to determine the level of agreement between the three growth references. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the study participants was 18.2% and 12.2% by WHO (2007) reference, 16.2% and 19.4% by IAP (2015) reference and 18.9% and 7.2% by IOTF (2012) reference. The Kappa statistics showed that there was good agreement (κ = 0.729) between WHO & IAP references to identify overweight/obesity while a moderate agreement was observed between WHO & IOTF (κ = 0.625) references, and IOTF & IAP (κ = 0.506) growth references. The study found that the IOTF reference classified the children in lower weight status categories compared to the WHO and IAP growth references. That is, compared to WHO and IAP references, the IOTF reference underestimated obesity. The IAP and WHO growth references were, in contrast, reasonably similar.

Abstract
Temples are not just worshiping spaces; they have been one of the driving forces of Indian civilization. They cannot be detached from the culture of a region with which they are closely linked. As various practices and rituals of temples are influenced by the regions they are located in, temples on their part have an abiding influence on defining regions. Other than religious and spiritual importance, temples play a predominant role in social, economic, and cultural fields. The current paper is an attempt to study the cultural significance of temples in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. It tries to analyse the role of temples in designing the Pahadi culture of the Kathua district and also underline the influences of regions on various practices associated with the temples. Kathua has many temples dedicated to different deities linked with varying practices. The present study has concentrated on popular temples, which receive devotees from the entire district and are of historic importance as well. It uses written historical evidences along with contemporary works and oral narrations of the locals to understand the cultural composition of the temples.

When I was mounting on research on everyday politics and resource allocation in West Bengal, I came across a series of publications by Abhijit Guha especially in Economic and Political Weekly. Apart from his methodological meticulousness, one can learn a lot from the formulation of far reaching arguments from a specific field site which Guha has shown in the book. Hence, one can comprehend the fact that it was not until the popular movements in Singur and Nandigram that attracted attention of the Kolkata-based intellectuals, that land was seen as a really serious issue in West Bengal politics. Peasant resistance, at rather ‘unknown’ villages was largely overlooked. His continuous work on land-related issues have generated a literature on several aspects of land acquisition ranging from issues of compensation and, public sentiment to political transformation and forced displacement. While his first monograph (2017) Land, Law and Left speaks more generally of the ‘disempowerment’ of the ‘weak’ peasants facing powerful ‘globalisation’, writing at par with the existing literature and ends with a list of
‘recommendations’ for better handling of the issue, Guha nevertheless acknowledged the weapon of social networking and global attention through movements like Singur and Nandigram. With this new book on the shelf, Guha more strongly takes a critical political position and uses the word ‘grab’ – and not the more polite and polished word ‘acquisition.’ The issue of land immediately becomes a subject of political manipulation and critical analysis. Guha successfully walks through a rather difficult terrain of ethnography. His ethnography enables him to gain a deeper and richer experience around land grab. Encountering Land Grab is an effective tale of Guha’s rich and deep probe into the issue. The eight chapters of the book unearth multi-layered and multifaceted dimensions of ‘land grab’ through ethnography. An engaged foreword by Michael M. Cernea adds a fantastic overview of the issue at large and sets the stage for the readers to experience his journey.

The book begins with a personal touch almost like an auto-ethnography, Guha speaks about his rather incidental and much fortunate accidental interface with the issue. Although it
was not truly a tabula rasa moment in the mid-1990s when the classical anthropological tradition was not quite over that attempted to describe ‘a people’, and a new generation of anthropologists with all sorts of experiments were slowly unfurling themselves, a vertical journey on a single and multi-layered issue is hard to find in existing literature even today. The book gives an overview of
the issue, and how it has been dealt with in disciplines like economics, geography, history and political science and even by the legal experts. Guha, talks on them, uses and criticises them and effectively shows how his research becomes a journey from the village to the Parliament. His methodology remains the same and yet unique, his role kept shifting like an identity continuum between a conscious self, a researcher, an activist, a bystander and sometimes a lonely spectator. He writes, “My journey… began from the villages in which the land acquisition took place… My trip continued through the various domains, which stood in some kind of relationship with the village and families which were affected by land acquisition…” (p.39). Like a long-lost friend, Guha takes us through the loss, designing of the loss (policy), designers of the loss (policy makers and parliamentarians) and rather dry documentation of the loss (Land acquisition department of Medinipur to the proceedings of the Assembly). While he identifies government reports and recommendations as ‘artefacts’ reflected in terms of policies and decisions, his descriptive account of the village rapidly transforms into interpretation. An interpretation that links acquisition, land reform, pro-peasant politics, rapidly changing political-economy of the country and policy paradoxes. Though, he is quite explicit at the fag-end of his Introduction stating that he is addressing a ‘policy failure of a pro-peasant government’, his analysis is much more nuanced and talks about both pros and cons of land grab. The Chapter before the concluding one perhaps justifies the paradox of ‘why land?’ and simultaneously ‘why not land?’

Each of the chapters offers multi-dimensionality of the issue and as he moves ‘vertically’ through ‘multiple sites’ a perspective of close and micro to distant and macro becomes apparent. For example, in ‘the villages’ his encounter with rather incapable-to-resist people portrays peasants facing global forces – taking a cue from his previous monograph. His encounter to the officials reveals ‘bureaucratic inefficiency’ and the changing political discourse of the left. However, this encounter speaks little about the systemic or ‘structural violence’ through bureaucracy that has a rich literature and ethnographic details by scholars like Akhil Gupta (2012), which of course has much more to offer to understand the compulsions and contested dimensions within bureaucracy that is beyond the rubric of ‘bureaucratic inefficiency. Guha, however, made a significant methodological argument for future ethnographers when he claims that land acquisition files are not only the rich sources of information, but should be seen as cultural artefacts crafted and manipulated by human beings to meet their purposes. He notes, “It was interesting to observe how the concerned officials of the Land Acquisition Department overruled all the objections, the officials, however, recognised the severity and magnitude of the acquisition” (p. 115 emphasis added). As the book takes us further, the reader can see that Guha was working meticulously in the Assembly library as the library itself becomes his site of ethnography. Finally, he utilises a rare opportunity of having a talk with the politicians at the national level. With his meticulous reading of the Assembly proceedings and documents he unravels the dialectics of debate and decisions related to land within administrative proceedings and with dry sarcasm he titles this chapter as “clever dialogues of the politicians.” He unearths the naked truth of the ‘debates’ where the issues like increasing impoverishment of the displaced population, and unjust allotment of the benefits are never brought upon by people belonging to any political party let alone seriously considering the same. Facing 20 Parliamentarians in 2008 and giving his expert opinion makes Guha transform his identity as being an ethnographic describer to an ethnographic activist. His primary recommendation was, as he writes, “I emphasised the recognition of local self-government, while getting consent of the affected people for land acquisition, protection of food security at the household level and avoidance of agricultural land from the scope of land acquisition for private profit-making industries” (p. 139). What the Deputy Chairman of the standing committee stated was perhaps a good summary of the whole situation, that Guha has raised certain ‘basic issues and philosophy’ but land expropriation cannot be stopped, “since private companies were already purchasing huge chunks of land in the rural areas of the country…it was clear… standing committee might not be interested in increasing the role of local governments, household-level food security and all other local issues…” (pp.139-140).

Encountering Land Grab therefore is a meticulous description of an ethnographers’ decades-long journey from the field site to the policy-making site. Anyone interested in landgrab, peasant resistance, impacts of land acquisition, understanding of the complexity of the issue at bureaucratic, policy-making and field level should read this account. The book doesn’t say any conclusive words, nor does it give a list of recommendations which Guha’s previous book meticulously undertook. No book can say a final word on anything, let alone an ethnographic one that deals with a perennial and extremely dynamic issue, however, Guha’s Encounter would be remembered for its methodological uniqueness of studying the interchanging sites and his flexible movement vertically and horizonally in the broad spectrum of the field of land and land grab. The book exemplifies the ways in which one can use ethnographic field level narratives, policy dynamics and assembly discourses. Guha shows the impossibility to grasp ‘reality’ and while one ends reading this piece, one is already questioning the bewildering nature of reality, understanding of reality, multiplicity of the actors and agencies and the historical forces like the expansion of profit driven market capital which are impossible to ignore and yet difficult to accept and digest.

The book under review is a unique book befitting the Centenary Year of Teaching in Anthropology. It is about a very versatile, dynamic, distinguished and elegant anthropologist who had singlehandedly created and nourished institutions and transformed anthropology into a very vibrant subject in India. Biraja Shankar Guha (BSG) was somebody who not only mattered to the fraternity of Anthropologist but also a policy maker and influencer to the Government of India. Dr. Duary, who has produced this wonderful illustrative book, has really done a commendable work in arranging the material which was scattered at many places. The book is the outcome of complete passion and perseverance, a rare example of dedication to bring together bits and pieces from different places in order to fit them into a Jigsaw Puzzle. I would call Dr. Duary an investigative anthropologist who has created an unprecedented treatise in the form of this pictorial almanac.

BSG was a very special kind of an anthropologist. Duary has decided to work on him because he was the Founder Director of the Anthropological Survey of India where Duary works. Besides this, he was also instrumental in starting of the Department of Anthropology, Delhi University and the First Director of the Bihar Tribal Research Institute. The book is divided into eleven chapters, all chapters are self-revealing snapshots depicting various facets of his life. In the beginning of the book, a very elegant portrait of BSG is given with him sitting in a couch, formally attired wearing a white colored suit and a checked necktie while reading a book. This shows a man intensely thinking while deeply engrossed in the contents of the book. The photograph is very professional in nature with very well-placed lighting scheme. What is also worth noticing is the fact that he was perhaps suffering with leukoderma?

The first chapter titled ‘Birth and Family Background” introduces us to his family and ancestors. Dr. Duary must be complemented in collecting such rare pictures of his early life and family members. A photograph showing BSG with his siblings gives us glimpses of the attire of the rich children at the turn th of the 19 century. A typical dress, it appears, was a white-coloured dhoti and a black-coloured coat. We also learn about his ancestors who were signatories of the Indo-Burma treaty. His brother was a barrister. Girija Shankar Guha was an administrator, politician as well as the Dewan of the Kingdom of Tripura. One can easily posit that the Guha family must have known the legendary Sachin Deb Burman who was related to the royal family of Tripura. An interesting fact that one learns about this family was that in his father’s generation, the male children were not surviving after birth. When this was learnt by a nearby Muslim Faqir, he advised them to offer the hair of the newborn to a mosque. The family dutifully offered the hair of his father Abhay Shankar to a mosque, and believed that he survived because of this action.

Then onward, it became a custom of his family to offer hair to a mosque for the safety of the male children. This incidence is a very good example of the pluralistic fabric of India where there are undercurrents of fusion between different religions and sects.

In the chapter ‘Education and Anthropological Training’, there are a total of 41 illustrations with 33 photographs. His journey from Cotton Collegiate School to Harvard University is brilliantly depicted through photographs and illustrations. Precious documents like his application form, cover page of his doctoral thesis, doctoral certificate signed by the examiners like Hooton and Dixon have been reproduced in the chapter. What is important is the mention of the influence of philosopher and scholar Brajendranath Seal on BSG. Seal was the keynote speaker of the First Session of the First Universal Race Congress held at the University of London in 1911 and he presented his address on ‘Race Origin’ which was later published as ‘Race, Tribe and Nation’. It was Seal who not only encouraged young BSG but also motivated him to do fieldwork among the Khasis. It must have been the long-lasting influence of Seal on this young mind that he decided to work on the problem of race. This motivation perhaps took BSG to Harvard where he worked under the world-famous race scientist of that time R. B. Dixon, the author of “The Racial History of Man’. By working for his doctorate at Harvard University, BSG became the academic heir in the genealogical sequence of Louis Agassiz – F. W. Putman – R. B. Dixon – BSG.

In the chapter ‘Family Life’ consisting of 28 illustrations with 12 photographs, the family life of BSG is presented. Of special importance in this chapter is the passion of writing letters by BSG to his mother. Most of the letters were written in elegant handwriting in Bangla from various places by BSG. A precious photograph of his Varanasi days when he was presented by a self-autographed book by the then Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan is a notable picture. Another illustration shows, a book presented to him and his wife by Verrier Elwin, who was working with him at Varanasi.

The fourth Chapter titled ‘Professional Life’ with 52 photographs contains mainly the photographs used by him in the racial classification of India’s people. It must be known that the racial research of BSG was done before the Partition of India and, therefore, it also covered the present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh as well. Special mention may be made of his intensive researches done on the social and biological aspects of the Kalash tribe of Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province of present day Pakistan. This chapter also mentions of his valuable contribution of the skeletal researches from Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Maski. In the fifth Chapter ‘Vision and Mission’, a total of 93 photographs and 6 illustrations are presented depicting photographs of his fieldwork, his interaction with the co-workers and his administrative dexterity. His vision is clearly reflected through the pictures as he was desperately trying hard to transform the Department of Anthropology, Government of India into a vibrant institution having interdisciplinary research with myriad laboratories. The photographs of three foreign scholars namely, E. C. Buchi, L. Cipriani and Chie Nakane was the hallmark of the Department. The main highlight of this chapter is the visual presence of Uma Guha, his wife and an accomplished anthropologist having trained in psychology from India and cultural anthropology from Cornell University.

The Chapter ‘Fieldwork and Collaborative Research’ contains 139 photographs showing his fieldwork expeditions to various parts of the country. In this chapter, we take a tour of anthropological visits to Jaunsaris, Santals, Onges, Mannan of Cochin, Nagas, Adi/Abor, Garo, Riang, Rankhol, Uchai and Kaipeng with the researchers hailing from the Department of Anthropology under the leadership of BSG indulging in rigorous fieldwork. What is interesting to note is the attire of BSG in the fieldwork. He is seen mostly in western dress and a hat, except for his visit to Jaunsar-Bawar, where he was seen wearing Nehru Achkan and a cap. The next Chapter titled ‘Association and Activities’ consists of 28 plates with 23 photographs showing his links with the academic bodies and association with intellectuals. This chapter also shows a touchy testimonial that he had issued to Dr. T. N. Pandit who was giving him company in one of his visits to Delhi University. Dr. Pandit eventually joined the Department of Anthropology, Government of India with quite an eventful tenure at Andaman and Nicobar Islands which included his direct contact with the Sentinelese. His testimonials, it seems, were very sought after, as I was also shown one such commendation by Prof. I. P. Singh given to him by BSG.

The Chapter ‘Post Retirement Endeavour’ consists of 23 illustrations with 18 photographs. This chapter illustrates the unfortunate incidence of his demise in a railway accident at a place named Ghatsila. It also shows the obituaries that were written on his death by anthropologists and other dignitaries from India and abroad. In the subsequent chapters, the awards received by him, his notable publications and th commemorative programmes organized in his honour on his centenary and 125 birth anniversary are shown with memorable photographs. A special chapter is devoted to his sole doctoral student from Lithuania named Antanas Peskevicius-Poske who submitted his doctoral thesis titled ‘Physical Affinity of Shin-Speaking People of the Western Himalaya’ in the year 1936 at Calcutta University. But the second World War interrupted the evaluation process and he died without a doctorate. It was only in 2014 that he was awarded a D.Litt. (Honoris causa) which was received by his daughter on his behalf.

The book, on the whole, is a unique collection of indelible reminiscences on the life and times of B. S. Guha, who will always stand apart as a resolute and astute administrator, discerning intellectual and above all a camaraderie that had the ability to agglutinate a cadre of dedicated workers for a larger cause. If anthropology stands tall amidst the various sciences in India today, the role of B. S Guha as the prominent driver in its journey is irrefutable. Dr. Duary has done a commendable job in compiling evanescent memoirs at one place and the outcome is for all to see. This visual document will be long remembered by the anthropological fraternity.

Indian Anthropologists in the Era of Molecular Anthropology Due to the long historic and prehistoric processes of the peopling of India from diverse cultural, geographic and ethnic backgrounds, Indian subcontinent is bestowed with a mosaic of ethnic groups, contrasting cultural elements and multitude of languages (Kumar and Reddy, 2003; Misra, 2001). Broadly speaking, Indian populations can be assigned to four major linguistic families, viz., Austro-Asiatic, Indo-European, Dravidian and Tibeto-Burman, and two broad kinship systems- Dravidian and Indo-European. The physical features of the Indian population can be put under Australoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negrito and Negroid ethnic elements, which broadly represent the entire ethnic variety of the globe. One of the most fundamental and unique features of Indian population structure is the division of its population into strictly defined hierarchical endogamous castes, tribes and religious groups, with their subunits, within each of the linguistic and or ethnic categories. It is estimated that the Indian population is composed of about 40,000 endogamous populations of which ~37,000 fall under caste system and 3000 are tribes and religious groups (Malhotra, 1984). This exciting population scenario offered Indian Anthropologists- Biological and Cultural- unlimited possibilities for research into social and biological processes leading to the population structure and genetic composition of the Indian population. Indeed many of the first generation social/cultural anthropologists made immense contributions highlighting the variation and dynamic processes in the socio-cultural fabric of the Indian castes and tribal populations that had implications particularly to marriage patterns and endogamy. On the other hand, biological/physical Anthropologists focused initially on the issues related to the racial elements in the Indian population and subsequently studied the biological/genetic composition of and the affinities among different caste and tribal populations and the micro-evolutionary factors behind the observed patterns of variation among them. The biological anthropologists were analytical in nature and primarily dealt with the relevant quantitative and qualitative data generated from the rich and naturalized field laboratory provided by the complex population scenario. Further, in order to explain the complex Indian society and its socio-cultural patterns and processes, anthropologists and/or sociologists have come up with certain hypotheses. Some of these socio-cultural processes, particularly those influencing the marriage patterns, can have profound genetic implications and biological anthropologists and others have long been interested in studying how these processes modulate the evolutionary forces. The sociological processes of sanskritization, tribe-caste continuum and marriage rules governed by the different kinship systems, the relaxation of strict endogamy by way of hypergamy and the residence patterns of the spouses in the patrilineal and matrilineal societies are all expected to have genetic imprints as well. For example, the process of sanskritization (Srinivas 1952, 1962) and the resulting tribecaste continuum (Bose, 1941; Sinha, 1965) and upward mobility of the lower castes into the higher ranked social groups which appear to be purely sociological processes can lead to profound genetic implications once the tribe achieves the status of a caste and integrates itself into caste society. Over a period of time, there is a possibility for this tribe to develop marital contacts with the neighboring caste groups of similar status as well as with the others that are marginally higher in status which may lead to the process of partial genetic amalgamation of these genetically tribal groups into the genetically intermediate groups, between the castes and tribes. This may result in tribe-caste continuum in the genetic structure as well as genetic amalgamation of differentially ranked caste groups. Some of these interesting research issues could have been best explored jointly by the Cultural and Biological Anthropologists and to the best of my knowledge there has been no worthwhile collaboration between the two broad branches of Anthropology despite almost all Indian universities having the combined departments of Anthropology, represented by both the branches. One gets an impression that the research activity of these two groups of anthropologists appears to be mutually exclusive and non-overlapping, as if there is nothing common for the two streams of anthropologists. I am sure this divide continues to be quite perceptible till today. There have been concerted efforts to see that certain Anthropology departments in the country, particularly in a couple of central universities, to remain as purely cultural/ social and University of Hyderabad is one of those. Strangely, all the faculty members of this department were the products of general Anthropology departments of the country. I for one felt very strongly about it and being in the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, I wrote to the two successive Vice Chancellors of this university saying that it is not for academic reasons that this department remains to be only cultural and outlining the need for recruiting faculty in Biological/Physical Anthropology. After I shifted to ISI Hyderabad in 2005, I learnt from my friends/classmates in the departments that the Vice Chancellors had forwarded my letters to the department but the outcome of such letters by an individual is any body’s obvious guess. I recall one of my colleagues at ISI Kolkata used to fondly recount “it is the group that survives, not the individuals” with an apt reference to certain incidents at ISI, Kolkata. I feel very strongly that we the biological anthropologists have failed miserably as a group albeit some of us might have succeeded as individuals. In this context it may not be out of place to narrate an anecdote pertaining to the International conference organized by the Department of Anthropology, Utkal University, as part of its Golden Jubilee Celebrations (16-19 December 2007) for which I was invited as a speaker. Excepting a few relatively young (being in mid-fifties) delegates like me, majority of the invitees were the veteran first generation cultural anthropologists like Professors Gopala Saran, N. S. Reddy and L. K. Mahapatra and a couple of Professors like I. P. Singh and Amitabha Basu from Physical Anthropology. On the first day of the conference during the lunch time I happened to come across an Indian American Professor, who happened to be a cultural anthropologist. Although I have not heard about or met him earlier, to my surprise he asked me if I think there is anything common between Cultural and Biological Anthropology. Coincidentally, I had come prepared to speak on a topic relating to Molecular Genetic Perspectives of the Indian Social Structure and therefore told him that I will not answer his question directly but if he is going to be there in the afternoon session he can get answer from my lecture. Unfortunately, he had scheduled sightseeing trip during that afternoon and I do not remember to have seen him again during the remaining days of the conference. But that brief interaction with the Indian American Professor prompted me to begin my lecture by quoting what he asked me and appealing to the veteran cultural anthropologists to judge for themselves whether there is anything common between the two streams of Anthropology from what I present during my lecture. It was gratifying to note that the veteran anthropologists were so excited that they came up to me after the lecture and acknowledged without saying anything that there is indeed a lot in common for the two streams of anthropologists. Alas, none of those veterans are probably not there today to see that the younger generation of anthropologists did not carry forward that momentary conviction shown in their eyes on that eventful day! It is another matter that we have subsequently published a paper based on the theme of my lecture in an international journal (Reddy et al., 2010) and I shall deal further with this in the remaining part of this editorial.

It is in this backdrop that I would like to focus on how impactful were the anthropologists have been in the era of Molecular Anthropology. With the advent of molecular genetic markers and especially after the completion of human genome project in 2003 the research in Human Genetics/Anthropological Genetics has been revolutionized and this has opened up exciting possibilities for research in Molecular Anthropology, particularly to investigate the genetic implications of the unique Indian population structure and the dynamic sociocultural processes. The discovery of Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA markers facilitated defining male and female lineages, respectively, which precisely help in tracing the trails of historic and prehistoric gender specific migrations and peopling of different regions of the globe that was not possible with the help of traditional genetic markers and/or biological variables. These gender specific DNA markers along with the autosomal ones will be handy in determining the genetic implications of the Indian social structure and its dynamic processes discussed above and to test some of the hypotheses proposed earlier by the cultural anthropologists. Could the anthropologists, particularly the biological anthropologists, proactive and grab this opportunity? My answer to this is clearly negative. We have reviewed the Molecular Anthropological studies on the Indian populations till about the year 2008 and based on published results and analyses of the unpublished data of our own assessed the molecular genetic implications of the Indian social structure and as mentioned above published a paper in American Journal of Human Biology (Reddy et al., 2010). Readers may kindly refer to this paper for details and I feel it may not be prudent to reproduce the same here. Nevertheless, based on the review and analyses of molecular anthropological studies till about the year 2010, I shall outline here a critical overview of the outcome of these studies on Indian populations and the role of Indian anthropologists in this. Needless to emphasize that even though a large number of molecular anthropological studies were undertaken after 2010, the marginal nature of the role of Indian anthropologists in those remains unchanged. Nevertheless, one may say that the molecular genetic evidences generally complement the anthropological hypotheses albeit further studies are required with more appropriate framework to reach unequivocal conclusions. As outlined in Reddy et al., (2010), one finds that some of the ill-framed studies merely result from the lack of proper understanding of the Indian population structure. Further, a glaringly disturbing fact that emerges from these studies is that they do not generally furnish population and or sampling details, which are essential prerequisites of the research in Molecular Anthropology. It is not probably the sheer coincidence that the anthropologists were not the authors of such studies. With the advent of molecular genetic technology anthropologists have lost the ground in the resource intensive and laboratory centered milieu, needing to generate ‘expensive polymorphisms’ to effectively pursue research in Molecular Anthropology. That to the best of my knowledge is because the anthropologists could not get access to and/or establish molecular genetics laboratories. It is indeed a fact but a disturbing one at that. This has naturally proliferated entry of non-anthropologists to pursue this exotic opportunity given the advantages offered by the new technology. However, technology helps only in generating more refined polymorphisms with improved resolution but the research questions, framework of studies and insights that can be obtained remain essentially anthropological needing focused involvement of anthropologists who are familiar with the concepts and theories in Biological and Cultural Anthropology besides their insights into the intricate Indian population structure.

Anthropologists’ experience in the population based approaches to research, especially in sampling appropriate subjects that may truly represent the implicit heterogeneity of a population, ethnography and in obtaining field based insights would not only be unparalleled but crucial as well. Nevertheless, sadly, the involvement of anthropologists is minimal in the molecular anthropological studies hitherto conducted on Indian populations. Since mid 90s a number of papers based on autosomal, mtDNA and Y-chromosome markers appeared on the Indian populations which attempted to examine peopling of India, phylogenetic affinities, origins, history and routes of migrations, and also tested certain other anthropological hypotheses concerning Indian population structure and micro evolution/differentiation (see Reddy et al., 2010 for sources).

To the best of my knowledge, despite involvement of certain Indian anthropologists in some of the above publications as coauthors, their role, with a few exceptions, was restricted to depositing samples about which the core scientific groups, generally non-anthropologists from India as well as from outside had probably no inkling. One is far from certain about the samples being representative of the populations that they deal with and sometimes even the identity of the samples vis-à-vis the specific populations. We also come across bizarre population units like Hindus, Hindi speakers, North Indians, South Indians, etc., all represented by a paltry number of subjects (~ 100), which is far from acceptable from the population genetics perspective. Needless to emphasize the crucial importance of field based insights in interpreting particularly the dynamics of Indian population structure and micro evolution, which are of course not perceptible in most of these studies. Only in a couple of studies we have seen that the Indian anthropologists to form a core scientific group and collaborate with the molecular genetic laboratories. We were fortunate to be one of those and got the precious opportunity of collaborating with Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), one of the best laboratories in the country then for molecular genetic work and with excellent work culture and round the clock functioning of the centralized laboratory facilities. Our collaboration was initiated during 2000 and lasted effectively for about 10-12 years, as long as Dr. Lalji Singh continued as Director. After initial five years of operation from Kolkata, I had to of course move to ISI, Hyderabad, in 2005 in order to facilitate effective collaboration with CCMB Subsequently, we managed to establish minimum laboratory facilities at ISI, Hyderabad, which facilitated DNA isolation and quantification and further processing of our samples till sequencing PCR stage, after which the products were sent to CCMB for sequencing. In collaboration with CCMB we sequenced thousands of samples for Y-chromosome, mtDNA and autosomal markers from 70 different populations, both castes and tribes from different parts of the country covering almost all the groups of Austro-Asiatic tribes including Khasi and about 40 caste and tribal populations of Andhra Pradesh and published a large number of papers in the area of Molecular Anthropology, particularly addressing the issue concerning the role of Austro-Asiatic population in the peopling of India and Southeast Asia besides exploring the genetic implications of the Indian population structure. Based on these data we published nearly 25 papers. Later around 2007 we shifted our focus somewhat and initiated projects related to genetic susceptibility of complex diseases such as (1) recurrent spontaneous abortions, (2) Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, (3) Type 2 diabetes, (4) Coronary artery disease and (5) Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (a collaborative project with Genetics department, Osmania University), which resulted in about 50 biomed publications.

It is high time that the anthropologists get into the business of Molecular Anthropology as the population based approaches are going to be crucial in all aspects of human genetics research including in the arena of pharmacogenomics and/or individualized/population specific medicine. It is true that the anthropologists, having been primarily field oriented, would be better off by joining Molecular Geneticists who are much better equipped to deal with laboratory related issues and in the biochemical nature and dynamics of the genetic markers being employed in understanding evolutionary and anthropological issues. Given enormous research potential that the unique Indian population structure offers, such a partnership is mutually beneficial both to anthropologists and to the practitioners of Molecular Anthropology. This is not to suggest that the Indian anthropologists cannot become self-sufficient in undertaking molecular anthropological and/or human genetics research. However, given the present dismal scenario in different university departments, a lot of concerted efforts are required from the anthropologists as a group. I am given the understanding that the syllabus for postgraduate Anthropology courses in most of the Indian Universities is not updated for a long time, which needs to be done immediately to include training in Molecular Anthropology and Genomics with minimum laboratory facilities established. Similarly, statistical analyses and interpretation of data has become an integral part of any research activity and the scope for reasonable training in basic statistical methods needs to be imparted as part of M.Sc. dissertation, which should be made mandatory. A broad national level policy is warranted with associated support system by way of budgetary provisions to support appropriate faculty recruitments, establishing laboratories, etc., this could be a Herculean task which can be taken up only by the National Agency like the University Grants Commission, perhaps.

REFERENCES 

Bose N.K. 1941. The Hindu method of tribal absorption. Science & Culture 7:188–194

Kumar V. , B.M. Reddy 2003. Status of Austro-Asiatic tribes in the peopling of India: An exploratory study based on available prehistoric, linguistic and biological evidences. J Biosci 28:507-522.

Malhotra K.C. 1984. Population structure among the Dhangar caste- cluster of Maharashtra, India. In: The People of South Asia, Lukacs JR., ed., Plenum Press, New York.

Misra V.N. 2001. Prehistoric human colonization of India. J Biosci 26:491-531 (suppl.).

Reddy B.M., V. Tripathi, V. Kumar, A. Nirmala 2010. Molecular genetic perspectives on the Indian social structure. American J Human Biology 22:410-417.

Surajit Sinha 1965. Tribe-Caste and Tribe-Peasant continuum in Central India. Man in India 45:57-83.

Srinivas M.N. 1952. Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Srinivas M.N. 1962. Caste in Modern India and Other Essays. Bombay, Asia Publishing House.

Abstract
Effectiveness of the ‘Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)-Based Awareness Intervention’ regarding breastfeeding and child-feeding promotion among tribal communities is rare in India. Breastfeeding and child-feeding behavior are determined by knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intention of mothers. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of TPB-based awareness campaigns in improving breastfeeding and child-feeding among tribal mothers of Jangalmahal region in West Bengal. Total of 445 tribal mothers were included, of which 220 participants were from control group and 225 from experimental group. Two awareness camps were organized at six months intervals for experimental group only. The baseline data show no statistically significant difference in knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention and practice score between control and experimental groups. Age, antenatal visit, knowledge, attitude, subjective norms and intention were found as the predictors for breastfeeding and child-feeding practices. After the first intervention program, at midline, a significant difference (p<0.05) has been observed between control and experimental groups in all components of TPB-based model, except for attitude (p = 0.730). After the second intervention program, at endline, a significant difference has been noted in case of all components of TPB model. The main effect of time, interaction effect of time and group with-in-subject effect showed a good impact of intervention in changing knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intention. Good impact has also been observed for the components of TPB-model while considering between-subject-effect interventions. An increase in number of interventions will help to improve breastfeeding and child-feeding behavior in tribal communities.

Abstract Ethnography as a discipline was formerly used by the colonizer to construct exotic notions of the cultures of the lands they occupied. In recent times, the discipline has entered new terrains through experimentations of various genres and modes of writing. A medical surgeon by profession, Kavery Nambisan, the author of The Scent of Pepper, accounts for the life of an ethnic tribal minority group-the Kodavas. The region painted in her canvas is Kodagu (Coorg), a small enclave in the hills of the south western coast of India. Her close acquaintance with the Kodava community to which she belongs, lends authenticity to her narrative. In chronicling the saga of the Kodavas, the text could also be seen as an attempt made by the novelist to preserve their ethnicity from the onslaught of westernization and migration. This paper purports to examine how the novelist borrows from the strategies of ethnography to effectively convey the cultural experiences and everyday lives of the Kodavas. It analyses how Nambisan has effectively merged the two different modes of narrative production- the scientific mode of narration with the fictional one. The paper further explores how the novelist/ethnographer shifts roles as insider/outsider offering subjective /objective perspectives to represent the ethnic minority of Kodagu.

Abstract
In this paper, we examined the role of social network among the migrant street vendors in Guwahati city of Assam in generating employment, determining work process and providing hospitality at a new working place. The paper also highlights the reasons and patterns of migration of street vendors into Guwahati, the premier city of Assam. It reveals that lack of sufficient agricultural production and various unfavourable situations at home compel people to migrate to different cities. Migrant workers from different places of origin, both from within and outside the state of Assam, come to the capital city Guwahati with the hope of getting better working condition and livelihood opportunities. The study finds that there is a well-functioning social network among the migrants which helps the newcomers in getting jobs as well as adapting and sustaining themselves in the big urban market. Additionally, the research tries to address how with the starting of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) processing in Assam many people including the migrant street vendors in Guwahati had to face the brunt of getting notified as D-voters.

This editorial is going to be different from the editorials in previous issues in the sense that it seeks to reflect on the articles included in this issue rather than speaking about certain general issues of anthropology, as the editorials did prior to this issue. It proposes to do so without picking on any particular article, in which case this editorial would have to be called a review. However, I am of the view that editorials should ideally reflect on the status of the articles accepted for publication in the journal and go beyond, should the one writing the editorial think it is necessary to do so. The manuscripts have been reviewed by competent scholars already and they have also been revised as per the reviewers’comments. That tedious process cannot be reopened at this stage, but the accepted articles could be used as the basis for assessing the status of writing anthropology in India and identify some pointers for further discussion in anthropological circles in future and that is what I propose to do in the following paragraphs.

To me, as an editor of a university journal for ten years and as someone who served in the editorial advisory boards of several national and international journals for the past three decades or so, the biggest weakness of most Indian contributors to scientific journals is their inability to communicate in simple, concise and grammatically correct English. Many of my colleagues and friends have chided me for insisting on the minimum standard of English for Indian contributors. I am aware of the fact that, like myself, most of us Indians did not have the privilege of going to English-medium schools where our English language skills could be honed. But one who cannot write in simple English cannot blame one’s weakness on one’s schooling because one’s language skills can be improved with a little effort and determination, much as one’s other life-skills can be improved with some effort. There is also Grammarly to help one out.

Second, already bad English looks worse when most authors type out their manuscripts by themselves, which is fine provided they know the basic things about spacing after punctuation marks or about line spacing and indentation. It is also unfortunate that most contributors to academic journals italicize what should not be italicized and use upper case when they should have used the lower case. In short, their manuscripts look clumsy, as they lack aesthetics and they do not inspire anyone to read them. One does not know after a while whether it is their poor English or their poor typing quality that one should blame.

Third, I feel frustrated when I have to correct the references, after detailed guidelines on “how to write references”have been provided to the prospective contributors. I feel angry when I find that the references are incomplete, inconsistent and/or incorrect. There are numerous methodological workshops sponsored by the ICSSR or the UGC but unfortunately, I have not seen any lecture ever arranged on how to write references. I remember how some of the members of the Board of Studies or School Boards at North-Eastern Hill University, where I taught for about three decades, made fun of me when I pointed out several mistakes in the list of references in each research proposal. It is unfortunate that writing references is not taken seriously by the academic fraternity. Even the easy option to do it the way any standard journal or book has done it is not explored.

Fourth, there are some contributors who think that they have done a great job after they have prepared tables and presented them. They do not even care to provide the date and source of the data presented in their tables and do not help the readers understand what the data are saying. After all, the data do not speak for themselves. The author has to lend voice to them, but unfortunately what the authors often do is simply describe the data and not analyse them for the benefit of their readers. It is also fashionable to use various statistical techniques on the quantitative data presented, but why one statistical technique is chosen and others discarded is rarely explained in any manuscript with quantitative data. Just to say whether a relationship is statistically significant or not is not sufficient; it is also necessary to explain why it is significant or not.

Finally, one of the weakest parts of a manuscript is generally the review of literature. It appears that most authors do not value the importance of a review or do not know how to do a good review. Many authors write their review of literature in chronological order or devote a paragraph to each literature separately. It is also sad that they are often not clear what literature should be reviewed and what not. But for me, both as a former editor and teacher, review of literature is one of the most important components of a journal article for it not only lets the readers know the existing status of knowledge in a particular area of research but also the gaps in the same. Without a good review of literature, one does not know whether an article is a repetition or not

I would like to end my editorial by stating that we as Indian anthropologists have a long way to go to achieve the world standard. As individuals, some of us have done well even internationally, but what matters is whether we have been able to help our anthropological fraternity to achieve some level of writing skills and interpretation of data. That will come only when we read anthropological classics. The “cut and paste”work has done our computer-savvy youths enough harm already. They need to read, and read good literature even if they do not relate to anthropology. It is only by reading good literature that good writing can happen someday because some of the qualities of good literature get internalized and come out when they write.

Abstract: The range of Nirmal Kumar Bose’s writings is phenomenal, covering various fields from archeology to urban geography. While this range commands respect, it is also likely to raise the question about the focus of his writings. Were his writings the outcome of fanciful wanderings? Or, did he have a central concern in his major writings? This lecture addresses the question about his central concern. It is argued that he had a central concern running through his major writings that led to different questions, and this concern was integral to his personality. Further, his reflections centred on this concern are highly relevant to India today.

Abstract: Muslim societies have a significant place for reverence towards Pîr. But there are mixed views among the community of believers regarding the Pîr. In the case of Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir, many are ardent devotees of different Pîrs in the region and beyond who visit their shrines and residences for ruhani ilaaj (spiritual treatment). In contrast, many do not regard the Pîr in the same way, thus showing that religious beliefs within the same community can be quite complex and varied. It, therefore, becomes necessary to understand how we locate the study of Pîr reverence within the anthropological discourse. The approach to understanding Muslims since the 1960s has been through the dichotomy of ‘ideal’ and ‘lived’ Islam. Also, many practices associated with Islam, including Pîr reverence, have been studied chiefly within the structuralist paradigm. However, to bypass such a narrow view of Islam, the study focuses on Islam as a ‘discursive tradition’, a poststructuralist view proposed by Talal Asad to yield a deeper understanding of Pîr reverence, especially in the context of the Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir. The study stems from ethnographic research conducted in various parts of the region among the Gujjars, a community with nomadic pastoral traditions during 2009- 2011 and subsequent interaction with a number of informants. This paper explores the nuances within the Pîr reverence, the issue of cohesion and dissent among the Muslims in their everyday lives.

Abstract: The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic has changed many persisting modalities of human life. It has made a huge impact on the lives and livelihoods of people living across the globe. Imposition of restrictions on the movement made life difficult for researchers of many fieldwork-based social science disciplines like anthropology, sociology and others. It is in this context, this article tries to explore the possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of some of the new and emerging approaches like virtual/digital ethnography. This article plunges deep into the methodological issues of doing ethnographic fieldwork to show that innovative research strategies have always been adopted on grounds of the sheer necessity of capturing human life within complex and ever-transforming social situations. Thus, growing instances of innovative research strategies that researchers are adopting now might be seen as the need of the situation; whether good or bad, proper or improper, only the future will tell.

Abstract: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is presently known to be a genetically complex endocrine disorder of uncertain aetiology and intricate pathophysiology. Both genes and environment are known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. The pathophysiological mechanism of PCOS was found to be complex due to several interconnecting pathways, including candidate genes in the manifestation of this condition. Globally, PCOS is emerging as one of the biggest health concerns and its prevalence ranges from 2.2% to 26%. India, which is a country with wide genetic, cultural and linguistic variation found to have 30% rise in PCOS in the last couple of years. Contemporary understanding vindicated that the PCOS is associated with metabolic and psychological disorders. From Anthropological perspective , despite PCOS cause a lot of health hazards yet it is still not been selected out of the population in the course of evolution. Rather, it envisages the possibility of positive selection for PCOS and the related alleles. These phenomenon perhaps was advantageous to humans of prehistoric times but turned out to be detrimental in contemporary era. Globally higher prevalence of PCOS in nearly all the ethnic groups signifies the evolutionary basis of the syndrome. Under these background, the aim of the present discourse is to discern some evolutionary hypotheses on PCOS.

The trajectory of anthropology has closely followed the diverse pathways of human species and differential manifestation of its lives, although not moving all the time in a forward direction. Going back in time scale to find evidences from fossils and other material relics ravaged by nature and vagaries of time and weathered by climatic forces as well as interpreting them and debating over what seemed contradictory finds, have provided foundations for anthropological knowledge. We tried to understand how bipedalism shaped species, how some large species became extinct and others evolved. It is not one single person’s work that developed the knowledge which has formed the very base for the discipline. The cumulative corpus of knowledge came from different scholars with different interests and expertise. In cultural anthropology, Malinowski’s prescriptions for participant observation have been taken very seriously so much so that the sub-discipline came to be known for that methodology and remains so to this day. We tend to forget that history had a lot to do with Malinowski being stranded in the Trobriand Islands and being locally confined to make the best use of that situation. It was not a rational choice for him at that time. In the contemporary situation, Covid 19 has put anthropologists in a different kind of imprisonment which is responsible for anthropology losing its moorings that Malinowski gave it. This confinement, is however very different from what Malinowski had to face. It has confined anthropologists totally separated from ‘the other’ and drawn them to the abode of the ‘self’ more as a self-secluded entity. This could otherwise have been a golden opportunity for anthropologists to present themselves before the world with their unique points of view. The situation has been productively utilized by the media, organizing public discussions on medical governance, exploring government and medical bulletins on the pandemic and its course, upheavals and cautions, virtual education, the digital divide and the newest dimensions of marginalization viewed through the lens of education, governance at different levels, political supremacy founded on advances in science and technology, border crossings, power play and so on. It has to be accepted that following the crisis and as an aftermath of it, the world has been transforming in previously unanticipated ways. Human sufferings have increased manifold. In this context to think only of social structure as a more relevant field of anthropological study puts us in poor light. How does one draw the lines between what is of immediate importance and what is not? Are our concepts sufficient to understand society with all its complexities? Are our tools sharp enough to capture the dynamics of culture and society? How to do participant observation in the changing context? It’s not simply a question of how we observe but what we observe. The lockdown, the labor exodus to villages, the crumpling of development built upon societies, new social indices that tell stories of changing graphs and social mappings– all of these have forced anthropologists to literally stand still and helplessly look around. Yet, this could have been the most opportune moment for showcasing the relevance of anthropology. For that, anthropology needs to be more resilient and receptive to the changes all around. More importantly, we should be clear about the way this crisis period is reflected in our respective sub-disciplines. Should we prefer to remain mute spectators? Or will we make sincere efforts to find out innovative ways and means to pursue our professional interests?

To my thinking, the culture of science and technology and the political economy of medicine as also new ways of looking at knowledge production and dissemination are important developments. In cultural anthropology, cross-disciplinary topics have gained significance in organizing research and knowledge. Medical Anthropology or Anthropology of Health, Wellness and Happiness as I prefer to think of it, Anthropology of Governance rather than Political Anthropology, Knowledge Creation in Science and Technology and Media Anthropology have emerged as significant areas to work on. Did Covid 19 pandemic originate from animal life? Are zoonotic diseases and their borderless spread portending a doom to human species compounded by the rapid spread of artificial intelligence? How does artificial intelligence intrude into our specialized areas of anthropology? Are our concepts in need of reformulation and reconceptualization? Can we still do applied anthropology within the framework of nation-states when nation-states are in tremendous stress? Do we need to use innovative collaborative networks with new social mappings drawn? In this connection, ‘One Health’ concept has emerged significant as human proximity to animal life, wild or domesticated, has caused many diseases to erupt and spread as epidemics. The Kyasanoor forest disease and the Nipah virus were early warnings of zoonotic diseases spreading to areas where these were previously unreported and their prevention, control and management were unknown to local people. So also is the more recent rabies scare in the South Indian State of Kerala. Co-ordination and collaborative efforts are required across borders and disciplines as the experience with ‘One Health’ testifies. Immanual Wallerstein in 1996 had pointed out the historically contingent nature of social science disciplines in the report of ‘the Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences’ that was published under the catchy title ‘Open the Social Sciences’. This has led to much debate and discourse. Now the historically contingent nature of knowledge and power in political governance, governance of health and education, to name a few thematic areas important to contemporary anthropology’s intellectual pursuits, call for opening up not only to social sciences but also to science and technology and there is a strong case for cross-border disciplinary dialogues and collaborations as meanings of life and cultural values are getting transformed with the intrusion of technology into human life and the cultural world it signifies. This new crisis of anthropology today is not of lack of relevance but finding greater relevance given the basic tenets of anthropology like holism and cultural relativism which have become cliché words today. Anthropologists will have to rethink about its concepts, theories and methods to identify meaningful thematic areas of study to comprehend the cultural changes. There is a simultaneous need to take stock of the teaching-learning practices of anthropology too in line with the changes in contemporary lives and socio-cultural domain.

SUBHASH WALIMBE
Former Faculty, Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune-411006

Abstract: Indian cities have grown exponentially in the ‘Urbanocene’ era to fulfill the expanding needs of its urban populace. Between the ‘urban’ and the ‘heritage’ there exists a complex, cyclical and multi-layered relationship. The ‘heritage’ today has prominently entered into the urban planning discourses with each city allowing its own history to unfold in its own way, narrating out dominant, opposing, and even suppressed storyline that demands our attention. The European settlement along the bank of the River Hooghly used to be regarded as a ‘Mini Europe’, where the Portuguese, the Danish, the Dutch, the British and the French all had left an indelible mark. The crescent shaped Chandannagar on the bank of the River is the jewel on this spatial crown, drawing limelight as a potential heritage site. The rich heritage private structures of some of the town’s major areas, such as Palpara, Lalbagan, Bagbazar, and Loxmigunj Bazar, are now being eclipsed by the erection of multi-story structures, aided and facilitated by the forces of transnational capital and real estate speculation. Chandannagar has every possibility to emerge as a world-class cultural landscape if she can restore her former glory. Therefore, it becomes imperative to engage into critical questions around the discourse of urban heritage, particularly the attempts to be made around refurbishment or redevelopment of built heritage and its consequent impact on the making of the new urban in small towns. This highlights the dilemma around the aspirational choices of urban remaking, juggling between city-cultures of the past and citycultures of the future, and thus pushing us to rethink what exactly sustains a livable city, what drives it to be modern and contemporary.

Over the years, there has not been much hue and cry to conserve the rich heritage of Chandannagar, as compared to the heritage awareness in the metropolitan cities like Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai etc. Chandannagar poses an excellent heritage composer, having exclusive colonial as well as Indian outfits deeply ingrained in it. The main objective of this study was to highlight the changing trajectories, multiple challenges and contemporary realities of the declared heritage houses in the city of Chandannagar. The study further tried to assimilate the need of inclusive community and stakeholder engagement for a successful integration of proper heritage conservation. The research method that has been chosen for this paper is specific to qualitative approaches like Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), and Focus Group Discussions (FGD’-s), which have been pursued to capture the array of problems relating to the preservation and management of declared heritage houses in Chandannagar.

Abstract: The present study investigates which of the body composition variables are the predictors of hypertension among the Tangkhul males of Manipur. Crosssectional data were collected from 350 participants residing in Ukhrul, a hill district and 240 participants residing in Imphal east and west valley districts of Manipur. The age of the participants ranged between 20 and 80 years. Data on twenty-one (21) anthropometric variables, systolic and diastolic (SBP and DBP) blood pressure levels, and lifestyle factors were collected. Anthropometric and blood pressure variables were measured following standardized procedures. Body composition components were also derived from the anthropometric measurements. Statistical methods viz. t-test, Chi-square test, multivariate logistic regression, and ROC curve were computed. Results indicated that mean fat mass (8.67±2.09 kg), residual mass (16.06±2.25 kg), SBP (132.37±15.02 mm/Hg), and DBP (86.71±11.34 mm/Hg) were found higher among the participants representing the valley district compared those of the hill district. Higher proportion of hill participants were physically inactive (p<0.01) and hypertensive (p<0.01) compared to their counterparts in the hill. In contrast, the hill participants showed larger muscle mass (21.11±3.77 kg) and skeletal mass (9.59±2.49 kg) than their counterparts in the valley. The multivariate logistic regression of body composition for risk factor of hypertension indicated that fat mass had significant direct relationship with hypertension in both hill (OR=2.04, p<0.001) and valley (OR=1.61, p<0.001), while muscle mass (OR=0.71 and OR=0.85) and skeletal mass (OR=0.72 and OR=0.85) for hill and valley had significant inverse relationship with hypertension. In both settings, the association of residual mass and hypertension was positive but not significant. It has been concluded that fat mass has predictive risk effect on hypertension, while muscle and skeletal mass have inverse impact on hypertension.

Abstract: Adverse pregnancy outcomes and infant mortality caused due to adolescent pregnancy are major public health problems causing significant social repercussions. The incidence of adolescent child bearing is alarming in most of the North Eastern states of India. In the State of Arunachal Pradesh, more than one third of the girls became mother during adolescent period. This community based study aimed to compare pregnancy outcomes of adolescent and adult mothers belonging to AdiMinyong tribe of West Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh. 345 participants belonging to the reproductive age group, who gave birth to at least one child were recruited for the study. The participants were divided into four age categories – adolescent mothers (15-19 years), emerging adult mothers (20-24 years), young adult mothers (25-34 years) and middle-aged adult mothers (35-39 years) to understand pregnancy outcomes across maternal ages. Multinomial logistic regression model was applied to examine the determinants of pregnancy outcomes. Compared to young adult mothers, the adolescent and middle aged adult mothers showed higher odds for preterm delivery, small newborn at birth and antepartum hemorrhage. The adolescent mothers showed higher risk of prolonged labour, premature labour and obstructed labour compared to rest of the age categories. Neonates born to adolescent mothers showed higher odds for developing jaundice and pallor with fever, no suckling up to 24 hours from birth and swollen abdomen with not passing of stool for two consecutive days from birth. It appeared from the study that the adolescent and middle aged adult mothers have more adverse pregnancy outcomes than the mothers belonging to rest of the age categories.

Abstract: Maintaining menstrual hygiene is immensely important to abate many ailments of urinary and reproductive tracts. Knowledge and practices towards menstrual hygiene among the adolescent girls may vary with respect to sociodemographic profile of their families. The present study aimed to understand the knowledge and practices towards menstrual health and hygiene and its sociodemographic concomitants among a group of Muslim adolescents. 116 Muslim adolescent girls (of age 12 – 18 years), who experienced menarche for at least one year (or more) were chosen from the selected schools located in Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal, India. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, menstrual health and hygiene related knowledge and practices were collected with the help of pretested questionnaires. Frequency and mean values were obtained for discrete and continuous variables, respectively. Most of the participants had poor to moderate level of knowledge and practices in respect of menstrual hygiene. Many of them had heard about menstruation before menarche, took regular shower during period, washed genital area and undergarments regularly, had sufficient knowledge regarding possibility of poor menstrual hygiene related infection to occur. However, a few of them remained unaware about the physiology of menstruation, sources of blood related to menstruation and different menstrual disorders. Logistic regression analyses depicted that educational status of the girls and their mothers, and family income remained significantly associated with the knowledge and practice towards menstrual hygiene. The present study found a poor to moderate level of knowledge and practices pertaining to menstrual hygiene among the Muslim adolescents. Effective educational program is essential for the grown-up children and adolescents and their mothers with clear and proper information about menstruation to enhance their knowledge about menstrual hygiene practices.

Being Adivasi:Existence, Entitlements, Exclusion. Edited by Abhay Flavian Xaxa and G. N. Devy, India: Penguin Random House (2021). e-ISBN 9789354923159. Pp. 389. INR 699.

The book Being Adivasi: Existence, Entitlements, Exclusion is edited by Abhay Flavian Xaxa and G. N. Devy and was published in 2021. The book is composed of twelve chapters which includes an Introduction. Each chapter of the book is based on field study and critical analysis of the Government Records and their policies towards Adivasis.

The introductory chapter critically questioning that, Who are the Tribes? Those who were living in remote areas, had their own belief system, a shy nature and their own languages were called Tribes. The author G. N. Devy here argued that the term ‘Tribe’ was an indicative of a concept rather than indicative of the exact official status of communities. Simultaneously, Devy also defines the understanding of colonial officials towards Tribes and their perception on tribes to call them as the Criminal Tribes of India.

The Second Chapter, Naresh Chandra Saxena’s “Safeguarding and Deepening the Promise of India for Adivasis” depicted the interest of the corporate sector in Tribal areas not for the development of indigenous people but rather to loot them as much as possible. The author had given the statistics of a number of displaced tribal people. As per the records the number of displaced of the tribal communities (who were eight per cent of the population) had more than 55 per cent of the displaced people in the country. The policies of the Government were destroying the traditional form of production and promoted teak and other products which had a great impact on the degradation of the economic wellbeing of the tribals. In the context of education, there was the barrier of language. Most of the teachers of Adivasi areas were non-Adivasis and the Adivasi children were facing problems in learning non-Adivasi languages. This was one of the reasons for the higher dropout rates in schools. Simultaneously, the author makes a comparative analysis between Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the context of their leaderships. He argued that most of the leaders were not Scheduled Tribes. So they were unable to put democratic pressure on the bureaucratic and political system. The Government should also change the perception on tribes, in seeing that all tribal activists were not Maoists.

The Third Chapter, “Tribal Development in Fifth Schedule Areas: Affirmative Action or Unequal Exchange?” by Virginius Xaxa defined the character of colonial officials, birth of Scheduled areas, Tribes in Post-Independent India and the terms and nature of exchange. The colonial government had introduced a separate law and regulation for the ‘difficult areas’ or ‘backward areas’ which reflected in the implementation of Regulation X of 1822, Govt. of India Act 1870, Govt. of India Act 1919 and Govt. of India Act 1935. The policies allowed non-tribals into tribal areas. That’s why the discontent and rebellion of tribals in the later part of British rule was far different from its early part. After Independence, the scenario was also continued by the non-tribals. The author here argued that due to systematic discrimination and historical isolation the Dalits and the tribes became the backward people in the society. So, the affirmative action programmes were started for their welfare, to protect their interests and promote their development. The author also included the arguments of Myron Weiner’s ideas on possible interventions for the disadvantaged groups. The question arises that whether the Government provides them civil, political and social rights or not. The author argued that though the Government provided them civil, political and social rights but economic rights had been usurped by the state.

The Fourth Chapter, Meenakshi Natarajan’s “Tribal Heritage and People’s Rights” defined the character of tribes in the North-eastern states (Kukis, Nagas, Mundas), eastern region (Santhals, Halba) and western and central regions (Gond, Baiga, Korku, Bheel, Sahariya, Bhilala). In the context of Tribal Heritage and Rights, the author here dealt with the ideology of two groups. The first group which was dominated by J. H. Hutton and Verrier Elwin has suggested that to preserve the beliefs of tribal communities, selfgoverning reserved regions be demarcated for them. The second group has beliefs that they should be integrated into the mainstream. The chapter also includes the ideology of Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar (popularly known as Thakkar Bapa) and Jaipal Singh Munda, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Jaipal Singh Munda’s argument was based on the democratic values of tribals. Despite the formulation of several laws for the tribal community, there were several problems in terms of the execution of law and sometimes formulation of fake Gram Sabhas.

The Fifth Chapter, Kantilal Bhuria and Vikrant Bhuria’s “The Question of Integration” defines the perspective of colonial paradigm and anti-Adivasi policies of the NDA Government. The authors also found that the Government was more serious and anxious about the issues related to the Dalits rather than Adivasis. The policies gave primary importance to settled agrarian communities whereas the Adivasis were not settled cultivators. The BJP Government and some State Governments allowed the foreign companies to acquire Adivasi law without their consent which had not happened during the time of UPA Government. That was why the Xaxa Committee report (formed by the UPA Govt.) was rejected by the NDA Government. The Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA) was a BJP-led organisation which worked to bring Adivasis into the fourfold Hindu Varna. Even the RSS and ABVKA do not accept the identity of Adivasis. Rather they used a specific term for them known as vanavasis.

The Sixth Chapter, Archana Prasad’s “Class Struggle and the Future of Adivasi Politics” described the reason for the migration of Adivasis and most importantly resistance and participation of Adivasis in the Pathalgadi movement and the Kisan Long March. The author here argued that the Adivasis could be classified as landless peasants. Though they possessed some lands but these could not fulfill their basic needs. This is one of the reasons for their migration or labour within the locality. The key demands of the Pathalgadi Movement were ‘autonomy’ and ‘self-rule’. Though the movement had started in Jharkhand but with time it spread to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. The Kisan Long March (2017-18) is an apt representation of class-based Adivasi politics in Maharashtra. The author strongly argued that the RSS-led NDA Government had been creating communal polarisation for the expansion of the Hindutva project within Adivasi society.

The Seventh Chapter, Vincent Ekka’s “Lessons from the Institution of Indigenous Self-Governance” defines the idea of self-governance and socio-cultural resources of Adivasi regions. In this context, the author magnanimously deals with the essence of the ‘parha’ system in the Central Indian Tribal region. The ‘parha’ is an institution of self-governance for the well-being of the Adivasi community. He argued that this system was the highest form of democratic principles in practice.

The Eighth Chapter, Ajay Dandekar’s “Silent Voices, Distant Dreams: India’s Denotified Tribes” defines the colonial policies on Tribes, Criminal Tribes Act and different commissions in post-Independent India. The author argued that the colonial government had introduced a new concept of ‘settled agriculturists’. There were nomads, wandering mercenary groups, disbanded army; itinerant traders who were called non-settled agriculturists. For them, they introduced the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) of 1871 and more than 200 communities were included. There were several Criminal Tribes Acts introduced in 1871, 1897, 1911 and 1924, respectively. After Independence when the CTA was being abolished another Act was enacted namely Habitual Offenders Act. Due to social change, urbanisation and economic industrialisation the tribes lost their traditional role. For this reason, the Government of India had appointed a number of commissions but two major reports were accepted. Firstly, there was the report of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) in 2006 and Secondly the report of the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) in 2008. Though, the reports gave certain suggestions but there were no results. So the author asks, ‘What was to be done?’

The Ninth Chapter, S. Choudhary’s “Speak up a Revolution” critically analyse the role and nature of media in Adivasi regions. The author’s argument is based in favour of democratic communication. He says that there were no journalists or only a few journalists belonging from the Adivasi world. So, news was framed by the mainstream which were a matter of question for democratic communication. For that reason, CGNet Swara was launched in February 2010 which was the brain child of Subhransu, a veteran journalist. This was a platform for the Adivasis to speak for themselves. This was accessed by the people of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, etc. Subhransu took the major role to educate Adivasis in the context of how to use and access this CGNet Swara. The problem with this system was that, it was based on oral communication but the mainstream political parties and mass media were heavily dependent on written forms. Another problem was the network issue in remote areas. Though CGNet Swara was highly appreciated by the Adivasi world but it had some limitations. So it was very difficult for the Adivasis to speak (democratic communication) for themselves.

The Tenth Chapter, Ghanshyam’s “Indigenous Republic (Indigenocracy)” is based on the comparative and critical analysis between Western democracy and the community Republic. He argued that Western democracy was based on capitalism which provided individual autonomy whereas the community Republic (Indigenous Republic) was based on equality, secularism, justice and unity. The author describes the special characteristic of tribals in this context to produce food, making clothes, shelter, use of traditional medicines, freedom of entertainment, mode of exchange (barter system) and self governance. He also mentioned the indigenous water conservation method of the tribals in Chotanagpur and the Santal Parganas. They were more affluent and developed in conserving rain water in comparison to other communities. Most importantly, they were self-dependent in their skill and experience in using natural resources.

The Eleventh Chapter, Abhay Flavian Xaxa’s “How Not to Manage Tribal Affairs” defines the intentions of the NDA-II government towards the Adivasis. In this context, he deals the Forest Rights Act (FRA), Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act. Though, some policies were implemented for the development of the Adivasis but these were tokenistic and disillusioning like formation of the National Tribal Advisory Council, Stand-up India Scheme, Vanbandhu Scheme, etc. The present Government’s anti-Adivasi activities were reflected in the cases from Latehar district of Jharkhand and the Surguja district of Chhattisgarh. After critical analysis, the author found that though the TSP was implemented for the development of Primitive Tribal Groups but the Government never allocated more funds in the budget. Simultaneously, the anti-Adivasi politics was reflected in the rejection of the Xaxa Committee Report and promoting communalisation among Adivasis.

The last Chapter of the book mentioned “The Life and Legacy of Abhay Xaxa” by Chitrangada Choudhury and Aniket Aga. Both of them here represented the contribution of Abhay Xaxa to the Adivasi world. He was a man who had the ability to protest against ‘Brahmanical Environmentalism’. He had a grass-root level of understanding for which Ganesh Devy (Founder of the Adivasi Academy) rightly said that ‘Abhay was a thinker among the Adivasis, and an Adivasi among thinkers’. Though, he had died on 14th March 2020 his contributions always remained alive.

Hence, the book depicted the real conditions of Adivasis after seven decades of independence. It provides new perspectives and adds some values to understand the hidden problems of Adivasis. Though, the book is based on field study but it needs more critical analysis of existing records. In spite of that, the book would be an invaluable asset for any scholar of social sciences, students, faculty and administrators.

David N. Gellner and Dolores P. Martinez. Eds. Re-Creating Anthropology: Sociality, Matter, and the Imagination. ASA Monographs Series. New York: Routledge (2022). ISBN 978-1-00- 327361-5 (Electronic Version). Pages xiv + 227. Price: Hard Bound £160.00

This edited book is a creative blend of keynote lectures and some selected presentations from the 2018 ASA conference held in Oxford, 18–21 September, under the title Sociality, Matter, and the Imagination: Re-Creating Anthropology. The conference invited participants from all areas of Anthropology and Archaeology. The primary aim was of engaging in debates on visual, material, ideological, biological, forensic, evolutionary, cognitive and linguistic domains that has dominated Anthropology for more the two centuries. The book has twelve chapters apart from an introduction and an afterwards written by social-cultural anthropologists and a human geographer having very specialised set of skills and areas. Although, each of the chapters is unrelated in so far as their areas are concerned, they nevertheless address the core themes of the discipline which include a perennial mistrust towards the generalisations and the questions of positions. The book begins by reaffirming the three key aspects of anthropology, viz., scepticism, empathy (or at least openness), and holism. It is the scepticism towards the totalizing and grand generalizations, especially the taken-for-granted and/or dominant regimes that often defines what anthropology does in practice. It calls for a relook at the subtleties of everyday life that escapes most of the a priori deductive theoretical schemes and methods such as an option-based questionnaire. Such scepticism in part results in care for the ignored and marginalised people’s point of view through empathy and finally the recognition that world is an interconnected hole. The book shows possibilities of an amalgamation of the three to provide options to defeat or destroy the establishment, so as to make Anthropology work as a weapon to give voice to the powerless. In consequence it can become a counter example to the expansions of the natural sciences. As one reads the book one begins to understand that there are immense possibilities to use this amalgamation to address the contemporary issues and work for a future world.

One of the major aspects of the disciplinary self-reflexivity of anthropology is that it often stops, reflects back, criticises and progresses. Anthropologists often note an existence of disciplinary crisis and strive for the future. We can think of the death and revival of urban anthropology with spatial turn or publication of “Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography” by James Clifford and George E. Marcus as such moments. This book is not just an addition to such reflexivity, but it also carries the capacity to shake the Anthropology fraternity to look at the abstract thematic dimensions with which they can map in their own research and imagination. These abstract themes are also the major divisions of the books, viz., time, imagination and future.

Time as it redefines Anthropology: History as a discipline, today looks at the past as it is manifested in the present, Anthropology too has a deep engagement with time in a similar manner. One of the contradictions that remains associated with the discipline is the connection between the colonial imagination of Anthropology and the recognition of cultural relativism that says everyone on earth occupies the same time and that there are no living fossils. Yet, at the empirical level, we have different perceptions of time across generations and even within the same generation. In Chapter 3, DeSilvey argues that different layers of ‘pastness’ is embedded in landscapes. He brings the notion of imagination in sensing time and that past is an experience as people encounter certain kinds of materialities and worldly capacities. The book devotes itself to an academic adventure in field and text in time. Sarró in Chapter 5 shows that early Anthropological adventures in erstwhile colonies resulted in the recognition of human diversity that was required by Europe. As an academic endeavour such adventures resulted in a journey to the past. Echoing the scientific temperament of unearthing the elementary forms such fieldwork can be seen as journeys towards the past through a time-machine. While, anthropology today has moved on from ‘salvaging’ the past to foreseeing the future, time remains the key axis of the discipline. The domain of time and perception of it also brings a critical reflection towards the discipline. The book strongly and convincingly shows that anthropology no longer has the last word on the non-state, small-scale people living at the margins of nation state. It has been established that anthropological portrayal of their isolation is flawed and that expansion of nation-state and forces of globalisation have left a strong impact on them. While Anthropology attempts to avoid the past mistakes and moves on with embracing fieldwork near home including within developed countries, the idea of evolution still persists if not everywhere, most prominently in the discourses of development. As anthropologists speak with people it is very much apparent that millions of people understand progress as ability to buy cars or refrigerators as Michael Rowlands writes in Chapter 4 Time Permanence. The idea of developed, less developed, progressed, progressive not only classifies time but also people and groups. In the Introductory chapter, the Indian system of administrative classification of its people into Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and the further divisions acquiring categories such as Primitive Tribal Groups, most Backward Class is seen as posing a problem created by anthropologists working as bureaucrats and anthropologists aiming at research (Middleton, 2015). India’s case of progress imaginary is indicative to the fact that the idea of progress and evolution is extremely seductive. India is also the example of how different times can co-exist and that might demand a scholar to have a mind holding different time periods. While one should avoid the simplistic essentialism that was characteristics to the evolutionary ideas such as ‘cultural survivals’ but those disciplinary moments need to be retained. The book provides a radical avenue to investigate time both ethnographically and as a policy matter. The theoretical ideas and empirical materials one can investigate include field findings like classical anthropological materials on rituals and performances and the idea of policy (and henceforth political, too) classification. This not only has the capacity to question the existing taken-for-grantedness in policy prescriptions, but also to open-up a relatively new dimension of understanding human cognition that demands classification. Such classifications are indicative of the fact that the evolutionary bias might has a root in the very foundation of human civilisation. Such idea of time can be captured and theorise by using available perspectives like the Bakhtinian notion of chronotopes, which are often activated through ritual performance.

Human capacity of imagination reinforced: The second major theme of the book is imagination, more specifically the social role of imagination. Though this is hotly debated within the ASA 2018 conference itself, it nevertheless remains an important and unique human capacity. Humans have a unique capacity for imagination. The human capacity of imagination is manifested in every aspect of culture ranging from the basic institutions such as kinship to the functioning of large multinational organisations. It ranges from the constituting of social institutions to the forecasting of future including the contemporary issues of climate change. Theoretically speaking, we have been rather warned by the postmodernists about the existence of multiple realities. Alessandro Duranti in Chapter 6 radically claims that culture and network, and consequently the entire world functions on a set of beliefs on the specialists. Citing examples of the famous 2017 Oscar wrong announcement stating La La Land as the winner instead of the Moonlight, and Barrack Obama’s misfired quote looking for a toast with the queen, Duranti argues that studying what happens when things go wrong, or collective expectations do not meet is an opportunity to understand how imagination and belief systems work hand-in-hand to create multiple realities.

As human sociality depend on mutual trust and division of labour, both Duranti and in Chapter 7 Kavedzija show that different skills and different positions of people in the division of labour of society make them see things quite differently. For Duranti, it is important to recognise that only a tiny proportion of the people actually understands higher mathematics on which much of what we call science depends, henceforth, trust on the specialists is extremely important for the society to function properly. For Kavedzija imagination is not just the images, narratives or internal states, but all of these along with skills of engaging with other minds and bodies. The book has a couple of case studies on shared imagination. In Chapter 8, the shared imagination has taken a completely different level as De Antoni through a case study shows that in traditional healing system imagination emerges at an intermediary, perhaps liminal level. The imagination is created between the afflicted, the caregivers, and the ritual specialists to construct a shared social reality. Together they produce both the spirits that are the cause of the ailment and the power that effects the cure. The very idea is inspired by Ingold as it argues against the concept that sees rituals as performances through some pre-existing formula or recipe. Therefore, in De Antoni’s discussion the specialist is the learner while the patient and her husband actually introduced the healing spirit. In Chapter 9, a case study on unintended consequences of imagination is detailed. Jenkin argues that human imagination is so powerful that Madame Blavatsky’s ‘imagination’ of interplanetary travel could result in state sponsored search for flying saucers and manned space missions. Jenkin concludes that a combination of human intelligence and imagination has far reaching impact on the shared value system of the society. The outcome of this combination has the capacity to produce results which are way beyond the imagination or control of human beings. The construction of shared social reality as presented by De Antoni in Chapter 8, Chapter 10 reinforces that idea once again. Here Grimshaw and Hallambegin argue that there is a fusion of words and images, most conspicuously through the development of the Internet. The Internet is relatively liberal as it doesn’t prioritise one over the other, which is not the case in film-making. In film-making as is evident in Grimshaw’s filmmaking, images and sounds are prioritised. However, it does have the shared meaning making and a text. They argue that such activities as film-making is also an embodied practice. A practice where actors become immersive both bodily and mentally. Therefore, it is an affectual experience that results in different kinds of understanding where one can learn with shared imagination of doing rather than learn for doing.

For a future-ready Anthropology: The third and final major theme of the book is on the future, its unpredictability and anthropological possibilities. Here, crisis as a perennial theme of anthropology is well addressed. As one reminded of Dell Hymes’ introduction to Reinventing Anthropology (1969) where he reminded us for how long Anthropology is felt to be in serious crisis. Notwithstanding that feeling it was advised by the stalwarts including Levi-Strauss (1964) to reinvent Anthropology to prepare for a weird planet of future, that future possibly is now (see also Worth, 1969). Future has always been unpredictable and forecasting future is not what anthropologists usually do. In Chapter 11, El Khachab argues that although we have uncertain future and different speculations regarding it, nevertheless, the predictions and possible perceptions to the future should be done with contextual specificity and calculations of predictability. He argues that people do things at a variety of ways to fight uncertainty and it is important to devise strategies bottom up and should not always be channelized top-down by the specialists. Melissa Leach in Chapter 12 sees anthropocene as environmental imagination and stresses on the fact that we have entered an era when we cannot blame anyone but us for whatever is happening in the environment. She shows that the discourse on health-environment interplay as manifested in the public health policies, and much of the politics is an anthropocene that anthropologists need to take up in both interesting and often worrying ways. This is even more important as people in this era can no longer blame some supernatural beings, power or forces. She suggests that Anthropology is uniquely placed to ensure the incorporation of invisible and micro points of views while major decisions for the future world is made. The idea of psychological universals – an anthropological search through comparative method is culturally deterministic as Astuti in Chapter 13 argues. The answer to the future of Anthropology lies in the combination of its particularizing mission and comparison along with the reflexivity and subjective positionality of the researchers.

Re-creating Anthropology shows possibilities beyond pessimism that is slowly crippling much of the science and humanities across the world as we are facing rapid climatechange, lack of alternative and green technology, increasing gap between have and havenots, repeated failures in achieving a just society, return of the pandemic and the return of war. It unravels the potentials of the ‘classic’ and often reinvented methodologies like ethnography and holism, approaches like micro-perspectives and skills like empathy. The book shapes and sharpens the anthropological perspectives and threads a variety of approaches into the major and abstract domains of time, imagination and future. The book carries a potential to guide much of the present and near future ways of doing Anthropology. The book, however, speaks less about the existing social cleavages like religion, class and gender, challenges like human migration and refugee issues, and process failures like dangerous similarities of democracy and dictation. Such absence in a sense provides more room for the readers to define their own research agendas that can be framed within the three domains that this book convincingly portrays.

Ethics Matters! BARUN MUKHOPADHYAY Former Professor, Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society, the official organ of the Indian Anthropological Society (IAS), has sustained itself for fifty-six long years. This is the first issue of the fifty seventh volume. The Journal published articles of substance and variety from the very beginning in all of the sub-disciplines of anthropology and allied disciplines, as well. However, scanning the cumulative index of the Journal has revealed that there has not been any entry on ethical issues and challenges pertaining to anthropological research in general and India in particular. Despite the fact that the ethical aspects and concerns are imbedded in anthropological research, no such debate and discussion occurred in the earlier days among the anthropology fraternity in India. Therefore, there was possibly no felt need to publish articles on this topic or any attempt to bring it to the fore. During the time when we did our postgraduation in anthropology, i.e., early 1970s, our curriculum didn’t have anything in particular to discuss ethics formally with the solitary exception of Piltdown fraud which was a point of discussion as an example scientific misconduct. Some changes have taken place currently and possibly postgraduates in anthropology in India learn a little bit more on ethics. But even today, text books in anthropology, biological, cultural and archaeological, do not keep much space for discussion in the area of ethics and how it is related to anthropology. Nevertheless, some dedicated books on the research on ethics are now available. Another feature which is very striking is that in spite of a hundred years of experience of post-graduate teaching in anthropology in India and the existence of IAS, the oldest professional body of anthropology for sixty-three years now, there doesn’t exist any ethical code for its members. It appears that although Indian Anthropology always tried its best to follow international/western trend of research as far as practicable, yet when it comes to formalizing professional ethics related considerations it remained somewhat indifferent. Ethics largely remained as an issue to be comprehended by an individual anthropologist as to how one learns and looks at morality and acts morally as a professional and otherwise.

The discipline of anthropology is vast as it is mandated to study man in its entirety. It, therefore, does have its sub-disciplinary boundaries, which are not always fixed, and remains loosely attached to social, biological and natural sciences. Considering the vastness of the discipline the types of researches that are contemplatable are too varied. Dealing with man and his works, both

dead and living, in the perspective of space and time will certainly warrant attention to a wide variety of researches that will create manifold ethical challenges and concerns. Anthropological fieldwork, necessary laboratory works, excavations/expeditions and the like for data collection of varied types from a wide variety of populations/communities following appropriate methodologies under the domains of different sub-disciplines of anthropology will be necessary to pursue researches on the mother of all human sciences. And a good science is inextricably linked with good ethics.Following this logic, anthropologists of all standing should always be well-trained in their own science on the one hand and ethical issues, on the other.

History of wrong-doings in research is rich enough. The immoral medical experiments on humans in Nazi Germany during the World War II paved the way to Nuremberg trials, the judgements of which culminated into the Nuremberg Code of 1947, incidentally one of the initial documents of modern research ethics.The Tuskegee experiment in the US is another case in hand. This immoral syphilis study conducted between1932-1972 by the US Public Health Service has been the most infamous biomedical research endeavour in the US history. Belmont Report in 1979 was the outcome of the need to safeguard research participants from such unethical practices and it became the first national guidelines for biomedical research by following ethical norms in full. It recommended establishment of an Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) as well as provisions that necessitated oversight of research by Institutional Review Boards. The list of research malpractices is long covering practically all parts of the globe starting from the past to the present. To circumvent the problems, codes in research ethics were formulated. Apart from the ones mentioned already, some important international ethics guidelines are: Declaration of Helsinki in 1964, a document of enormous importance related to research ethics created by the World Medical Association as adopted in the 18th World Medical Assembly held in Helsinki, Finland.The Council for International Organizations jointly with the World Health Organization came forward with “International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects” in 1993. Nuffield Council of Bioethics, United Kingdom, published a report titled “The Ethics of Research Related to Health Care in Developing Countries”. The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights was made in 2005.

In India, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) did the pioneering work in formulating research ethics guidelines by providing the ‘Policy Statement on Ethical Considerations Involved in Research on Human Subjects’ in 1980. This policy statement was updated to release the “Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Subjects” in 2000, which was again revised in 2006 as “Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human participants” The latest revision of the ICMR guidelines was done in 2017 under the title “National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health

Research involving Human Participants”. This is a very comprehensive work covering wider topics of importance. It certainly can serve as the benchmark guidelines for Indian researchers. There are other attempts by the ICMR and other Government organizations in preparing guidelines for specific issues. Furthermore, in 2000 the “Ethical Guidelines for Social Science Research in Health” was released by the National Committee for Ethics in Social Science Research in Health, which was published by the Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes.

It is to be noted that the guidelines, whether international and national, are primarily based on principles of ethics, especially bioethics, a sub-field of applied ethics. The principles are: autonomy/respect for persons, beneficence, non-malfeasance and justice. Any research that involves human participants will need consideration to take care of these attributes, irrespective of the discipline it represents. A phenomenon which is evident is that guidelines are periodically revised in order to cope with social, cultural, technological and other changes occurring in the society, at large. Nevertheless, guidelines generally are not legal instruments and therefore can be the guiding instrument for appropriate ethical considerations to accompany a good scientific pursuit. Ultimately, everything rests on individual understanding and effort given. Anthropologists who conduct empirical research on both biological and socio-cultural aspects of different human groups should appropriately be responsive and sensitive to the ethical issues and concerns.

Throughout the globe, institutions conducting researches of any type involving human research participants are generally having their own Institutional Review Board/ Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC). The main purpose of the IEC is to examine the submitted research proposal in the perspective of ethical necessities and concerns associated with the project with the overarching goal of protection of dignity, safety, rights and well-being of research participants. Ethical implications of chosen research design or strategy will therefore have to be examined by the IEC. The formation of the IEC as an institution and the modalities of its functioning in order to appropriately follow ethical review procedures for the submitted proposal are currently a pre-requisite for conducting research studies. In India, establishment of IEC in non-medical institutions for reviewing research proposals involving human participants started generally from the year 2000 and beyond. Conducting genomic studies among human populations having ethical, legal and social issues necessitated establishing IECs for ethics review. Requirements of ethics review for research funding and publication was of additional importance. Since mandatory registration for the IECs is not required till date, streamlining of many IECs is not yet complete. Many of these function with untrained members and in an ad hoc manner. There are also criticisms in respect of functioning of many IECs to act bureaucratically. However, it is to be surmised that the ethics review process is a multi-disciplinary exercise and is based on both scientific and ethical considerations. For this purpose continuous training and learning for the IEC members will be necessary. Again, those researchers whose research proposals will be evaluated for clearance from the IEC should have some training or interest in learning issues on research ethics. In India this is virtually lacking.

It appears that in India workshops on research methodology for doctoral students are regularly being organized by the universities. Young faculty also remain a part of it, where some lectures on research ethics are delivered. Fortunately, some workshops, symposia, round table discussions are also being organized on ethical issues and challenges they pose to anthropological research. The proceedings of such events contain writings by several Indian young and senior anthropologists on a variety of ethical issues and challenges in anthropological research cross-cutting sub-disciplinary boundaries. Similarly, there have been attempts to formulate guidelines for anthropological research in the arena of social sciences (see e.g., Biswas, 2014, 2021; Misra, 2021). These are encouraging signs in our effort to create proper environment for ethics research and education in India and motivate the Indian anthropologists in that direction. More and continuous efforts should be made in organizing ethics lectures, symposia, and workshops by the Anthropology departments of different universities, research institutions as well as by the professional bodies of anthropology in India in order to consider ethical issues lying imbedded in anthropological research but remain beyond the purview of the IEC. It is high time to prepare code of ethics for the members of the professional bodies of anthropology in India, either singly or preferably jointly. Hopefully, some attempts towards this end are afoot already. No doubt, maintaining publication ethics and putting a curb on unethical research practices demand top priority. As such, they need to be further encouraged and promoted. The Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society should not only go for a critical assessment of manuscripts received from ethical point of view but also underline the challenges pertaining to empirical researches among human populations undertaken by the anthropologists and the researchers from allied disciplines.

CHARLES WEITZ
Department of Anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA (USA)

RAJAT KANTI DAS

U.G.C. Emeritus Fellow and Former Professor of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, West
Bengal

NAOREM NAOKHOMBA SINGH

Independent Researcher, Manipur

NAOREM NAOKHOMBA SINGH

Independent Researcher, Manipur

ECHE WANGNYU KONYAK AND AVITOLI G. ZHIMO
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, India

NANDINI LAHIRI (BHATTACHARYA)
Bangabasi College, Kolkata