Didayi

Abstract

Dispassionately speaking, the endeavour in producing Photographic Hand Books on the lifestyle and culture of the Scheduled Tribes is a commendable attempt of the Scheduled Castes and ScheduledTribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), Odisha. The current Hand Book is exclusively devoted to the Didayi, one of the Scheduled Tribe communities of Odisha which has been identified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the Government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The Didayi belongs to Proto-Australoid racial stock and speaks a language which is included in the Austro-Asiatic language family. They were known by themselves as Gnatre in the recent past and are called the Didayi by their neighbours, at present. They have a numerically small population residing in the lap of the Eastern Ghats, well known for varied geomorphological features with mountains, hills, forests, plateaus, valleys with frolicking hill steams. They occupy the interior area in Malkangiri district, the southernmost district of Odisha. Besides hinting at the Socio-cultural identity of the Didayi people, the volume depicts their ecologicalniche, settlement and habitation, demographic perspective, social life, economy and technology, political life, supernaturalism, worldview, ideology and value-orientations, dress, ornaments and their development intervention and perception in a concise way. As a PVTG the Didayi receives cent per cent Government of India grants for their all round development through a micro project, Didayi Development Agency (DDA) established and managed by the State Government since 1986. The planned development efforts with multi-sectoral approach have been implemented for them with special emphases on the development of agriculture, horticulture, irrigation, drinking water facilities, communication, health and education in the realm ofConservation â cum â Development plan (CCD). It is hoped that the learned readers will look into the volume with interest and enjoy the photographic representation gracefully in order to derive a glimpse of the Didayi society, culture and development.