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Menopause is defined as the period of transition where a women’s body undergoes numerous transformations post their menstruation ceases. In India, health status of the tribal women has been a growing concern among researchers especially with respect to their nutritional status. Undernutrition and obesity have been linked with multiple health complications and similarly, vulnerability to chronic diseases like osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, diabetes have been associated with menopause. Therefore, to access the nutritional status of post-menopausal Bhil women using anthropometric measurements like weightheight, body mass index (BMI), a cross-sectional study was undertaken among 397 participants, out of that 183 women were premenopausal and 214 women were postmenopausal to determine the prevalence of undernutrition and obesity among premenopausal and postmenopausal women from the Bhil tribe in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra within the age group of 35-64 years. The two criteria were used for assessing nutritional status namely, Standard WHO guidelines and modified WHO consensus for Asian population that were assessed and compared to identify the burden of undernutrition, overweight and obesity among premenopausal and postmenopausal women from Bhil tribe. The study results heighted that more than 34% of the women study participants from Bhil tribe falls under the underweight category that is extremely alarming from health status point of view requiring intervention the revised consensus for Asian population identifies the Bhil women who are in the obese category that are not recognized under standard WHO-BMI values. Therefore, it becomes extremely important to assess the population through population specific cut off values to avoid underreporting of nutritional status. The findings also reveal that more than 30% of the Bhil women from both the groups are underweight. This puts them at risk of various health disorders and therefore, an intervention design focused to improve their health awareness and nutritional outcomes is required especially among the aging Bhil women.

Keywords: Menopausal health, Nutritional status, Bhil tribe.

Kurukh language belongs to the Dravidian speech family, specifically the north Dravidian branch. It is the mother tongue of Oraon community. The Oraons are Adivasi community residing in the area of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The life of the tribals is interwoven with nature. Songs are sung since time immemorial. There are various genre of songs such as seasonal songs, marriage songs and love songs but there are also such songs which instils strength amongst the community and tells the story of valour and resistance. Thus, this paper is an attempt to showcase the conscience of the Kurukh people through the song Oh re Nagapuriyar, ekaa taraa kaadar? : A Cultural Reflection on the Kurukh song of Conscience.

Keywords: Kurukh song, Struggle, Conscience

The paper focuses on the linguistic anthropological characteristics of the Clan system of Toto. Apart from the description of the clans the paper discusses a few morphological properties of the lexical items related to clans. Toto is one of the smallest indigenous people of Alipurduar district in the state of West Bengal, India. The community members interact in their own language which is called Toto but do not have any written literature or a script. In terms of the population, Toto is one of the smallest language communities in our country. A linguistic anthropological survey was conducted among all the households of the Totopara village of Alipurduar district of west Bengal with the help of structured and open-ended questionnaire schedules. The Totos are divided into thirteen clans like /bo?-go-bei/, /boud?ubei/, /bud?ubei/, /??nk?bei/, /mo?to-bei/ etc. These clans are patrilineal and totemic. The tribe is endogamous in nature but strictly follows clan exogamy. The member of each clan respects their clan totem that is inevitably non-human in nature. From the data, it is evident that the clan names belong to fauna semantic domain. However, use of a single entity as two different clan names can be observed as the following: • ?ant?r?-be Elephant • d?iringt???nk?-be Elephant • nurint???nko-be Elephant The clan names end with the suffix -be or –bei to indicate genericness. a. l?nk?id??i-be ‘Snake’ b. mo?to-bei ‘White goat’ Generally, the clan names in Toto have descended through the male line i.e. from father to son. The community believes that its relation with these totemic objects is mysterious. Unmarried daughters may retain their father’s clan till their marriage. Married women are found to imbibe the clan names of their husbands belonging to different clans. Some of the clans are reported to split up into different number of sub-clans.

Keywords: clan, morphology, linguistics, anthropo-linguistics, totem, Toto.

Dietary diversity includes various food groups in daily consumption, ensuring adequate nutrient intake for growth and development. Adolescence is a critical life stage that demands a nutritionally rich and well-balanced diet comprising essential food groups such as vegetables, fruits, grains, and animal products. However, many tribal communities primarily depend on monotonous, starchy diets, which often lack diversity and contribute to micronutrient deficiencies and malnutrition. Limited access to diverse food sources and socio-economic constraints exacerbate these nutritional challenges.

This study aims to assess the dietary diversity among adolescent students from tribal ashram schools in Pune district, Maharashtra, to identify prevalent dietary patterns and associated factors influencing their food consumption.

A cross-sectional research design involved 1,292 adolescent students from tribal ashram schools. Dietary intake data were collected using the 24-hour dietary recall method, supplemented by demographic questionnaires and structured interviews. The data collection process was facilitated through the Epicollect5 online platform, ensuring systematic and efficient data management. Post-collection, the data underwent a thorough cleaning process before being analyzed using SPSS (Version 2021) and Microsoft Excel.

The findings indicate notable gender-based differences in dietary habits. Female students demonstrated a more balanced dietary intake, exhibiting greater dietary diversity than their male counterparts. In contrast, male students consumed more oily foods and displayed fewer protein sources, potentially affecting their nutritional status. Specifically, 32.97% of girls achieved a high dietary diversity score compared to 24.15% of boys. Meanwhile, 41.72% of students, 18.27% of boys, and 23.45% of girls fell into moderate dietary diversity. A small fraction (1.16%) exhibited low dietary diversity, with 0.31% of boys and 0.85% of girls falling into this group. These findings suggest that while dietary diversity is relatively moderate among many students, there remains a need for targeted interventions to improve overall nutritional intake.

This study highlights that female students tend to prefer a more diverse and balanced diet, whereas male students tend toward diets high in fats and lower in protein variety. Food availability and personal choices significantly influence these consumption patterns. The results underscore the necessity for nutrition-focused programs and interventions to enhance dietary diversity among tribal adolescents to improve their overall health and well-being.

Keywords: Dietary Diversity, Adolescent Nutrition, Tribal Communities, Ashram Schools, Food Consumption Patterns

The phenomenon of preferring a child's sex is a ubiquitous and culturally diverse global occurrence. This study undertakes an in-depth examination of the prevalence of son preference and gender discrimination and the impact of these on demographic trends and ideal family size among the Kisan claimants of Bhutni Chor, Malda, West Bengal. As a patrilineal community, they exhibit a pronounced preference for sons, as evident in the demographic data. Families show a marked preference for sons over daughters due to factors such as the perpetuation of dowries and women’s limited rights to inherit property. Notwithstanding a comparatively even actual sex ratio, mothers prefer fewer daughters than sons. This preference remains strong even among well-educated parents. Positive correlations were found between demographic variables and the ideal number of sons, while increased levels of maternal education were related to a desire for more daughters. The ideal number of daughters did not strongly correlate with most demographic variables. In conclusion, these results demonstrate the deeply entrenched son preference and gender bias in the community, emphasising the need for interventions aimed at curbing gender inequality.

Keywords: Gender Discrimination, Son Preference, Kisan claimants, Demography.

The self-governance (Pirha) system is the backbone of Paudi Bhuyan society, which helps sustain their different aspects of culture, i.e., values, customs, and ethics. Tribal political life requires self-governance because it gives them the ability to stand up for their rights, protect their cultures, and create a future that is consistent with their beliefs and customs. The chapter is very essential to knowing about the Paudi Bhuyan community and how to regulate the behaviour of individuals and ensure the smooth continuation of society in the contemporary era. The fieldwork was conducted among the Paudi Bhuyan community of Banspal block, Keonjhar district, Odisha. The Paudi Bhuyan is one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) inhabiting in the Keonjhar district of Odisha. They are also found in Mayurbhnaj, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Deogarh and Angul districts. The Paudi Bhuyan are shifting cultivators, and they are also known for their traditional basketry work. They consider son god (Dharam Devta) as Supreme Being and Earth Goddess (BasukiMata).This chapter explores the life and culture of Paudi Bhuyan as well as the significance of the Pirha system. The Paudi Bhuyan Pirha Mechanism, rooted in norms, values, and spiritual beliefs, which shapes customary laws, maintains social structure, and preserves cultural identity. Pirha is a wider territorial organization composed of a number of villages that act as a traditional administrative unit. Sardar is the headman of the Pirha structure, who holds a hereditary position, but now a days the Sardar is chosen by the opinion of Pirha members (headman and elder members of the villages coming under the Pirha structure). The chapter highlights the structure and functional mechanisms of the Paudi Bhuyan Pirha system. Pirha is composed of key members who have been entrusted with certain prescribed functions, such as Pirha Bhandari, Behera, Jati Behera, and Pirha Brahman, etc. The offenses like incest taboo, adultery, killing of cows, marriage outside the community, and disposal of property of an heirless person have been referred to the Pirha Council. The continuity and change provide a holistic understanding of the dynamics within the Paudi Bhuyan community. The Paudi Bhuyan community is somehow influenced by the modern system of political institutions, but still, the community adheres to the traditional one. This chapter contributes to the broader field of contemporary indigenous research by offering insights into how indigenous communities navigate the challenges of cultural continuity and adaptation in the 21st century in the context of customary law and traditional governance structures. Paudi Bhuyan has its own traditional political council (Darbar) at the village and Pirha levels to decipher disputes and maintain peace and harmony within the society.

Keywords: Self-Governance, Pirha, Customary Law, Tribal, PVTGs, & Identity

Manipur presents a rich cultural mosaic with the distribution of tribal and non-tribal communities of various ethnic affiliations following differing social structures and cultural heritages. Almost all the tribal populations of this region traditionally profess animistic religion, reflecting their pristine customs and beliefs. During the early 20th century, Christianity paved its way among the Kharam of Manipur. It was Christianity that brought a tremendous change in the culture and tradition of the people. This paper will look into the pattern of changes in the socio-cultural life of the Kharam tribe; it will also highlight the impacts on their life.

Keywords: animism, customs, belief, Christianity, and socio-cultural.

Tribes in India constitutes the second largest population, next to Africa. The state of Andhra Pradesh consists of 34 tribes with the population of 27,39,919(5.53%) as per the 2011 census. Tribal population in Andhra Pradesh state is distributed in almost all the districts, but large chunk of tribal population is concentrated in Eastern Ghats forest environment. The scheduled tribes are considered as one of the excluded communities or social groups, experiencing the severity of social exclusion due to geographical isolation, segregation and sparsely distributed, added with deprivation, marginalization and impoverishment. The scheduled tribal population stand at the bottom most position of human development index. Among the total 635 tribes of India 75 tribes has been classified as particularly vulnerable tribal groups based on the criteria of pre- agricultural stage of economy, low literacy, stagnant or diminishing population and living in most economic backward condition. These tribes are unable to participate fully in the ongoing development process, and not access and availing the development schemes because of illiteracy, innocence and ignorance. Many PVTGs habitats are not having proper infrastructural facilities. After India’s independence, Indian Government focus much attention
towards tribal development (including PVTGs) by allocating certain amount in each five year plan periods but the development among them stand still. This research paper content provides the details about the impact and effect of development sachems among PVTGs in Andhra Pradesh state based on the empirical anthropological study. It explains anthropological perspective of tribal development in India, population of PVTGs in Andhra Pradesh, who are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, development situation among PVTGs in India and state of Andhra Pradesh, impact and effect of development scheme among PVTGs in A.P state livelihood
activities and new strategies for PVTGs development. The paper reveals that is the impact and effect development scheme among PVTGs , how to develop them in future with effective development policies and programmes considering both etic and emic perspectives.

Keywords: Development, Anthropology, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, Tribal Sub-Plan Areas, Integrated Tribal Development Agencies.