In A First, Tribals Conduct Self-Census In Bastar
The move has been launched in view of the alleged discrepancies in the government-conducted census in the tribal region, Mr. Thakur said.
Raipur: In a first of its kind initiative, a tribal body has launched an exercise to conduct a social census in Bastar in Chhattisgarh for preservation of the ‘identity, culture and land’ of its communities.
Sarva Adivasi Samaj, an umbrella of several tribal bodies in Bastar, has started gathering data on social, economical and cultural status of the tribal population in the tribal region by documenting their births, deaths, marriages, land ownership, migration patterns, and cultural elements like ‘totams’ and deities, using a mobile app, Bastar unit president of the outfit Pradeep Thakur said.
“The initiative was launched in March 2025 and the process is expected to end in the next couple of months. Around 1,000 villages in Bastar division have already been covered by the social census exercise”, he added.
The move has been launched in view of the alleged discrepancies in the government-conducted census in the tribal region, Mr. Thakur said.
Many villages have been declared uninhibited depriving tribals in these areas of benefits given to the adivasis by the government, he added.
Other communities such as OBC, SC and ST living in the tribal regions will also be covered under the social census to bring out an authentic demographic situation in the region, he said.
Veteran tribal leader of Bastar and former Union minister Arvind Netam strongly backed the social census being conducted by the tribal body in Bastar division.
“This is a new experiment for the tribal community. I support it. The social census will serve the cause of the tribals in Bastar, helping preserve their identity and culture”, he said.
Mr. Netam said many villages in Bastar were deserted as the local tribes migrated to other states during the Salwa Judum, the civil vigilant movement against the Naxals, in Bastar in the first part of 2000.
Hence, the last government census could not cover them at the time, Mr. Netam claimed.
“The social census will help protect rights and culture of the tribals”, he said.
According to him, there are about a dozen tribes in Bastar.
Four tribe groups, Gond, Halwa, Muria, and Madhia, are considered the major tribal communities.
Chhattisgarh tribal affairs minister Ram Vichar Netam said traditionally, the tribal communities and their representatives maintain a record about the local population and it is updated from time to time.
He said there is nothing wrong in the Sarva Adivasi Samaj conducting social census.
The minister however said the authenticity of the government census should not be questioned since it is done with a lot of responsibility and the data is cross-checked at many levels.