PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE ........TRIBAL GROUPS (PVTG)

PVTGs are tribes who were 10 years ago called officially 'primitive tribes' as they have lived by using what they find from the jungles and have thus adapted to survive with smallest amounts of money.

They have been thus classified as the poorest tribes among Adivasis. In Chhattisgarh there are 5 PVTG tribes, namely Baigas, Pahadi Korbas, Birhors, Kamars and Abujh Madias. Adiwasi Samta Manch focuses currently to support Baigas, Pahadi Korbas and Birhors

As PVTGs have been most adapted to find from the regenerating jungles all what they need for their living, they also suffer the most if jungles are taken away from them by the currently expanding industrial or commercial take-over of their lands.

PVTGs and their forests have survived for ages with their traditional occupations like gathering, shifting cultivation, rope-making, bamboo work, traditional healing, etc, but recently India has made the practice of these however increasingly difficult.

Whereas India suffers more than any other country from the malnutrition-caused childrens' stunting and wasting and in India the Adivasis suffer more than others, still even among them the PVTGs have the worst condition.

Deprived of their land, home and sources of their forest life PVTGs are exposed to malnutrition. They belong to some of the poorest, most deprived and undernourished people in the world. Children's stunting & wasting is worse among them than among the children in Sub-Saharan Africa in average.

More than 10% of the PVTGs die before 5 years age and their population generally decreases among those whose land or forest has been taken away.

ASM builds PVTGs' awareness on their rights to food, water, health, gender, shelter & culture of their biodiverse life-heritage. It works to secure for Baiga, Pahadi Korba & Birhor their rights to their sustainable indigenous forest life and culture and to prevent commercial capture of their forest to unsustainable overconsumption.

It works to secure that PVTGs and particularly their women, persons with disabilities and others most vulnerable in their villages get their life back into their own hands also in terms of work, education & public schemes recognised for them.

Ca. 73 500 Adivasis have got their forest rights registered for their family or community by their claims made with the support of ASM and advocacy for their claims in 400 project villages in 12 districts of Chhattisgarh.

Awareness of more than 2000 Adivasis, mostly PVTGs & women, has been built by trainings on forest rights, human rights, women rights, indigenous rights and biodiversity.

ASM has facilitated public hearings, advocacy and women's interface with officials, helped to secure drinking water in 32 villages, registration under health insurance, housing or link roads in 66 villages.826 women have been supported to act in 78 self help groups to prevent middle men and corporates from exploiting community minor forest produce.

Ca. 218 villages have produced biodiversity registers and 48 PVTG villages have set up Forest Management Committees with rules to govern & protect forest. Minor Forest Produce cooperatives and seed banks have been formed in 14 villages, seeds exchange and awareness built on subsistence cultivation, food self-sufficiency, nutritional values and climate adaptability of mixed cropping. PVTG communities have planted 17500 MFP tree saplings and sustainable MFP collection has got allowed where state earlier prohibited it.

These efforts have helped beneficial indigenous trees and plants to reappear & become revived.

Main beneficiaries in the project have increasingly been Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups threatened for decades by evictions from their ancestral forests by mines, dams, forest industries, plantations & sanctuary tourism.

ASM has helped PVTGs to halt or reduce such evictions and to get recognised right to rebuild their destroyed homes. Also a film on threat of eviction of Baigas was made.

Rs.25million of neglected Employment Guarantee payments and 270 welfare scheme benefits were secured, Rs.16 million funds dishonestly collected by officials returned.

Education campaign & applications helped in opening/repairing several schools, improving pupil & teacher attendance and 300 PVTG youth getting involved in schools, skills training or employment.

165 ration cards got secured & People With Disability in 50 villages got registered access to government support.

PVTGs have started to produce their biocultural community protocols. In Finland public events, webpage & video documents on sustainable PVTG forest life have got produced & presented.