Tata Steel announces Samvaad Fellowship 2020 results at finale of tribal conclave

The Samvaad Fellowship provides critical gap funding and also works towards facilitating platforms at national and international levels for providing enhanced inputs to the fellows. This year, the Fellowships were awarded to:

1. Deepa Pawar from the Gadiya Lohar tribe for the project on Documentation of Traditional Art of Iron Weapons and Tool Making of the Gadiya Lohar.

2. Taukeer Alam from the Van Gujjar tribe for the project on Mari Birsa (Our Heritage), an Initiative to Conserve the Language of Van Gujjar.

3. Bibtha S from the Kadar tribe for the project on Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Kadar Community.

4. Lalremruata Ngamlai from the Biate tribe for the project on Documentation of Biate Indigenous Sports and Exploring its Role in the Cultural Revival & Preservation of the Tribe.

5. Ariba Anar from the Sangtam tribe for the project on Revival of Folk Songs and Folklores of Sangtam Tribe.

6. K Bowang Kho from the Poumai Naga tribe for the project on Reclaim the Past and Empower the Present: Pouli (The Earthen Pot of Onaeme).

Samvaad, a pan-India tribal conclave organised by Tata Steel Foundation, concluded on November 20 ushering in an online format the brought together tribal communities from across the world. More than 3,000 people of 114 tribes from 23 states of India, 5 Union Territories and 17 countries including Sri Lanka, South Africa, Nepal, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand and Tanzania among others converged this year.

A musical evening by Samvaad’s musical collective, Rhythms of the Earth, took the viewers into a melodious journey. On the occasion, two compositions by ROTE created in collaboration with folk rock band Atript were also released.

During the conclave, experts and tribal leaders came together to recognize how traditional models of governance have worked during challenging times, to explore innovative ways of governance to bring communities together, and to understand sync between parallel governance systems in resolving crisis.
Screenings were held at 23 locations across eight states of India. These screening were specially facilitated in rural tribal hamlets to ensure that more and more people get an opportunity to join the conclave.

“We set out in this quest to ensure that dialogue continue despite the pressing times and also wanted that the people of Jamshedpur who look forward to the conclave does not miss out this year. We were finally able to continue the dialogue and experts and tribal leaders from very far-off places joined us. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who have helped us in making this a success,” says Sourav Roy, Chief (Corporate Social Responsibility), Tata Steel.

The many offshoots of Samvaad such as tribal handicraft, tribal film screenings, tribal cuisine and the cultural performances from various tribes that contribute significantly to the essence of Samvaad brought the traditional practices and rich heritage to the common masses through its YouTube channel.

The Samvaad ecosystem has brought together more than 30,000 people from 117 tribes across 27 states of India and 18 countries in the last 6 years, and is also an event that the citizens of Jamshedpur keenly look forward every year. Samvaad encourages tribal communities to take the lead in initiating discourse on issues that govern their social sustenance and development.

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