“Tribal Reality”, report of the National Live-in-exposure Programme

By Tom Thomas, Former Gen. Secretary of AICUF¹ and current CEO Praxis

The concept of immersion is not new at all. In 1980s, student movements in India were already organising immersions for other students as part of their so-called “Live-in-Exposure Programme”. This is what this article accounts for. The programme here described was held at Kunkuri, Raigarh District, Madhya Pradesh, India, from 16 -24 June 1985

The National Live in Exposure Camp began officially with the National President’s cordial welcome to all the participants. This was followed by the self-introduction by the participants. The camp was attended by delegates from various parts of the country and also the Secretary General and delegate of C.C.K.S. (Christian Students’ Welfare Association Bangladesh) and the Cultural Secretary of C.S.O.CTG (Christian Students’ Organisation Chittagong Bangladesh).

The cultural background of the tribal people was explained to the participants by Fr. Boniface Ekka. The major tribals of the Chotanagpur area are the Mundas, Hos-Kharias and Uraons (Oraons). The Uraons are the major tribals of Raigarh district. The Uraons form the third largest tribal community in India. […]

With a fairly good knowledge of the cultural background of the Uraons and with the guidelines provided for the exposure, the participants were sent to tour different exposure areas² to ‘observe and learn, not to teach and not to promise’.

All the groups reported back after the exposure on the 21st June 1985. The whole day was kept apart for the reporting of the various observations made by the different groups.

On 22nd June 1985, Fr. Benny Ekka summed up the outcome of the group reporting and also gave a historical background of the tribals. […]

Socio-political analysis of the tribals of Chotanagpur and the Indian society at large followed the next day (i.e. 23rd July 1985). The participants were divided into groups […] and the outcome of the group discussions later summed up. […]

Later during the day, Mr. Marshal Tete – a social worker – and Mr. Vincent Toppo – Programme Secretary of Jashpur Samaj Seva Samiti – added pep ro the seminar with their personal experiences of their involvement in the tribal reality.

[…] On the concluding day, the proceedings of the seminar were summed up […]

The National Live-in-exposure camp ended after a critical evaluation. There was lack of coordination between the National Executive Committee and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) at the planning stage. The LOC, due to certain circumstances, was not able to function as directed. Due to this, the programme in general was rather haphazardly organised. However the exposure was success in that it exposed the students to the simple life of the tribals and drove them to reflect on the futility of a highly materialistic, competitive world.

Since guidelines to follow during the exposure were not given, the aspect of probing into tribal situation and analysing it was lacking.

NOTES

1. All India Catholic University Federation is a movement of university students with a vision for a new and just society. The national secretariat is in Chennai (South India) and their website is http://www.aicuf.net.
2. Kajra (Badarkhol Game Sanctuary), Bodatongri (Beedi leaf collection), Mariamtoli (3 villages once hit by docoity), Jashpurnagar (Tahsil town).

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