Odisha has come up with an encyclopedia on tribes documenting their age-old and unique traditions before they get entirely vanished from the circulation.
As per 2011 census, Tribes account for 22.85% of the Odisha’s total population. Odisha is home to third largest tribal population of India, but it is the most diverse indigenous communities found in the country. The State has 62 tribes including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups.
Five edited volumes of ‘Encyclopedia of Tribes in Odisha’ published by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute and Odisha State Tribal Museum in the Museum complex was released by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The 3800-page encyclopedia contains 418 research articles. Besides, papers contributed by its own research personnel, the articles of other research scholars and eminent anthropologists on different aspects of the tribes and other States have also found place in the encyclopedia.
Established in 1955, the SCSTRTI, the premier and oldest Tribal Research Institute of the country, has studied various aspects of tribes and published informative research articles uninterruptedly in its 61-year-old research journal ‘ADIVASI’.