The quaint tribal communities of Odisha, including the Dongria Kondh, Juanga, Lanjia Saura, Saura, Didayi, Paudi Bhuyan and Kandh, have widely adopted the concept of labour cooperatives. This ingenious system has not only emerged as a solution to labour-intensive farming in challenging terrains but also fosters a sense of community among its members.
Understanding the Need for Labour Cooperatives
Farming on steep hill slopes involves an immense amount of labour that often surpasses the capacity of a single family. As a result, these tribal communities have devised an ingenious system of engaging available community labour to meet the agricultural requirements of all families in the village.
The Benefits of Cooperatives
These cooperatives come with numerous advantages. Firstly, they ensure all community families are guaranteed food, while preventing any fields from becoming barren. Secondly, they reinforce a feeling of collective belongingness among their members, thus strengthening community ties.
Cooperatives Across Different Tribes
Different tribes employ different methods of cooperative work:
– Lanjia Saura: In this community, all members participate in constructing terraces for slope farming and in designing and creating traditional irrigation systems, thereby exploiting hill streams.
– Juanga Community: Here, all villagers work together to trek hills, clear trees and create crop fields. The village council oversees the fair contribution of labour by all members.
Origins of the Juanga and Saura Tribes
The Juanga and Saura tribes are Munda ethnic groups hailing from Southern Odisha and are part of the Austroasiatic tribes. These tribes are believed to have been part of the first wave of migration out of Africa approximately 60,000 years ago.
The Cooperative Practices of the Dongria Kondh Tribe
The Dongria Kondh tribe is known to practice at least ten different forms of cooperative labour sharing within their community. They utilize three distinctive types of cooperatives:
– Sahabati: A cooperative where all households work in turns for a day on the land of one villager.
– Daasibati: A cooperative comprising younger, unmarried girls who perform less strenuous yet tedious tasks such as weeding, fencing fields, cleaning or crop harvesting.
– Dhangdabati: This involves young bachelors undertaking tasks such as tree felling, hoeing, log carrying and pit digging.
General Information about the Dongria Kondh Tribe
The Dongria Kondh tribe, deriving its name from ‘dongar’ meaning ‘hill’, belongs to the Khond tribe and is enlisted as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group. The tribe is concentrated in the Niyamgiri hill range of Odisha, at an elevation of about 4,500 ft above sea level. While they communicate in the Kui language (which is only spoken, not written), they worship Niyam Raja, the god of the Niyamgiri Forests. Their livelihood is largely dependent on horticulture and shifting cultivation practices in the Niyamgiri forests. However, they now face challenges such as displacement due to Bauxite mining and severe health issues resulting from dust coming from the red mud pond, a byproduct of refinery operations.
The Rich Tribal Diversity of Odisha
Odisha is home to 62 tribal communities, making it the state with the richest diversity of tribal populations in India. Out of these, 13 tribes, including Bonda, Birhor, Chuktia Bhunjia, Didayi, Dungaria Kandha, Hill Kharia, Juang, Kutia Kondh, Lanjia Saora, Lodha, Mankirdia, Paudi Bhuyan and Saora, are considered Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. These tribal populations predominantly inhabit seven districts: Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Nabarangpur, Koraput, Malkangiri and Rayagada, and portions of six other districts.