Who are Adivasis?

Adivasis (Adi - First, Vasi - Inhabitant) are the indigenous peoples of India. We form India's lowest socio-economic group. 95 million people in India are Adivasis - that's almost 1/3rd of the USA's population. India's Adivasis belong to many different tribes (or nations as the Native Americans would say).

Why should you help Adivasis?
ONE. There are over 95 million Adivasis in India . A majority of them fall under the international poverty line. Jharkhand, a state belonging to Adivasis has a per capita income of $99 a year. This means that if you were born as an Adivasi in Jharkhand you would likely earn 27 cents a day (extreme poverty = less than US $1.25/day).
 
TWO. Adivasi women have the lowest levels of literacy (35% in 2001) among all social groups (54% of Indian women were literate according to the 2001 census) in India is and are most trafficked in India. It is estimated that each year over 60,000 young girls are trafficked from the state of Jharkhand alone.

THREE. Since 1951, 60 million people have been internally displaced in India. Out of them 24 million are Adivasis. Displacement has happened because of many big development projects including dams, mines and commercial forestry. Most Adivasis displaced did not receive proper reparation and rehabilitation and without their land, rivers and forests they were left with no means of livelihood.

FOUR. Because you can! All it takes is simple investments in Adivasi people.

Statistics are from The Annual Report: 2008-2009 of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India and The Human Cost of Development-Induced Displacement by Walter Fernandes.

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