Adivasi

Adivasi (Hindi: आदिवासी, IPA: [aːd̪ɪˈʋaːsi]) is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups considered the aboriginal population of South Asia. Adivasi make up 8.6% of India's population or 104 million according to the 2011 census and a large percentage of Nepalese population. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India and Nepal. The same term Adivasi is used for the ethnic minorities of Bangladesh, the native Tharu people of Nepal and also to the native Vedda people of Sri Lanka (Sinhalese: ආදී වාස). The word is also used in the same sense in Nepal, as is another word, janajati (Nepali: जनजाति; janajāti), although the political context differed historically under the Shah and Rana dynasties. Adivasi societies are particularly present in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and some north-eastern states, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Many smaller tribal groups are quite sensitive to ecological degradation caused by modernisation. Both commercial forestry and intensive agriculture have proved destructive to the forests that had endured swidden agriculture for many centuries. Adivasis in central part of India have been victims of the Naxalite insurgency and the Salwa Judum campaign by the Government.