Anthropological Survey of India, for the past few years, has taken a number of steps to intervene in policy matters, be it the Matters related to Human Genome Diversity, under the broad aspect of Biodiversity, or matters related to Cultural Diversity, including the man and nature interaction for sustainable development.

A Panel Discussion ‘A Model for Prevention of ß Thalassaemia and other Haemoglobinopathies in the Country’ at the end of the National Conference on Community Genetics Approaches in Prevention of Beta Thalassaemia (7th to 9th March 2008). The issues discussed include

1. The epidemiology of Beta-Thalassaemia and related genetic diseases is poorly understood in the country and health burden is most glaringly underestimated.

2. Earlier population specific surveys in the country and the recent studies by the Anthropological Survey of India in rural West Bengal, have shown that the trait frequencies range 3 to 16% in communities and is more wide spread than anticipated.

3. The socio-economic status of communities reveal that the prevention based on prenatal diagnosis, is most in appropriate.

4. Population based screening programs are not modeled with community as basis and the school based surveillance programs with counseling are largely in effective.

The recommendations that emerged after the Panel Discussion are 1)Community based population screening with a strong inbuilt awareness program (as has been very elegantly applied in rural West Bengal by the Anthropological Survey of India) should be the preferred model for prevention of this dreadful disease in the country 2) The strategy for population screening need to have two pronged approach a) Community based Massive Screening Program: Already identified high risk communities should be immediately taken up for massive screening program with inbuilt highly professional awareness program and population Genetic Counseling b) A sample of 200 unrelated individuals from representative ethnic communities at an all India level should be immediately undertaken for screening. The priority will be in those areas where no previous work has been done 3) It is known that certain ethnic communities like Austro-Asiatics in east and north east India harbor G6PD deficiency at high frequencies and in these areas the malaria is rampant and anti malarial drugs are distributed to populations freely. In these areas the child mortality, is routinely attributed to jaundice 4) The population screening (both approaches), should have a standard protocol, which is cost effective, and a network of laboratories with a central advanced laboratory with DNA sequencing facility and dedicated sample storage 5) The panelist after a long deliberate discussion on the issue of whether existing peripheral health system should be integrated with the program, were equivocal in emphatically recommending that ‘this should be an independent program, which is essentially considered as a time bound research program spearheaded by the Anthropological Survey of India, with the support of ICMR’. This is due to the fact that the Anthropological Survey of India has already established a net work of DNA laboratories with dedicated storage facilities in eight regions of the country; including remote areas like Port Blair and Shillong.

Prof D.P.Mukherjee and Dr. (Mrs.) Dipika Mohanty jointly chaired the Panel Discussion. Discussants were Prof I P Singh, Prof A Kalla, Prof S L Kate, Prof P S Chauhan, Dr Ajoy Sinha, Dr V R Rao, Prof S B Roy, Dr Roshan Colah and Dr B N Sarkar.

Anthropological Survey of India has organized an International Conference on ‘Identity, Cultural Pluralism and State' involving South Asian Countries To manage the Cultural Diversity of the Country and other related issues. This has helped in initiating a dialogue in the open forum and also focused on deliberations through panel discussions. The recommendations of the expert panelists on issues like, ‘Identity, Nation, State, Citizenship', ‘Management of Cultural Diversity vis- a- vis Biodiversity' and ‘Language Diversity and Mother Tongue' are being submitted to the Government in terms of initiating inter-ministerial dialogue.

The panel discussion on “Management of Cultural diversity in the context of Globalization” during the international conference on “Identity, Cultural Pluralism and State” held in New Delhi. Prof. T.N.Madan chaired the session and initiated the panel discussion. Shri K.Jayakumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, delivered the valedictory speech. Recommendations of the panelists are:

The panelists unanimously agreed that Cultural Plurality, metaphorically and literally, is one of the burning issues of the world today. Ethnic identities have come to define society virtually everywhere and everywhere they confront the state. It was felt that not multiculturalism, but the issues of cultural pluralism, local cultures and all layers of identities are relevant in the Indian society; multicultural citizenship and the issue of dual citizenship is also being discussed. In India, citizen was never linked conceptually to national or cultural identity. When we discuss people’s cultures (often described as folk cultures) we come across syncretic traditions that bring together traditions drawn from different sources. Indian Constitution provides protection to disadvantaged sections like Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Castes (OBC). Besides the term ‘tribe’ and ‘caste’ generally refer to common biological origin. Recent developments in human Genome studies have generally shown that the terms like ‘tribe’ and ‘caste’ are often value loaded and we should rather adopt some value free and neutral term like “community” to describe the groups of people.

Summary

Cultural Plurality, metaphorically and literally, is one of the burning issues of the world today.

1. Indian society is traditionally pluralistic and the same spirit is embodied in the Indian constitution.

2. The recent debate on ‘multiculturalism’ of the western societies is a non-issue in the Indian context.

3. In the Indian context cultural pluralism and the issues related to identity of all the sections of society should be value free. For example, terms like Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Castes (OBC) sometimes lack clarity and are often value- loaded. Though it is construed as a ‘social construct’, in reality it was based on the idea of ‘common biological origin’. The basis of common biological origin of ‘tribe’ and ‘caste’ has been disproved by recent Human Genome Research. In view of these facts the panelists unanimously recommended that value-free and neutral term like “community” should be adopted to describe all tribes and castes. However, the panelists were equally emphatic that the positive discriminations and the provisions mentioned in the fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution should remain in place.

It was felt that issues related to culture should be treated as part of the broader development issues. The policy promotion and protection of diverse forms of culture needs to be re-contextualized and must consider issues beyond folk forms of music and dance. The role of the State is not expected to be only that the facilitator of cultural programs. It was felt that the State has not taken adequate notice of all vanishing cultural traditions. There should be preservation, documentation and revitalization of these traditions before they die out or change under commercial pressure. In the context of Globalization, when indigenous knowledge systems are fast losing their relative isolation, it is essential that people’s knowledge related to biodiversity, the intangible cultural heritage, and the folk knowledge of sustainable development are combined with broader development issues. There are native institutions on habitat management and utilization of natural resources as per age old systems of knowledge. The tribal and rural communities possess indigenous knowledge systems aimed at conservation of the physical and cultural resources and assets around them.

Recommendation:

An inter-Ministerial Committee comprising the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Social Justice and empowerment, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, should be immediately constituted to examine the issue flagged by the panelists. This forum should also include representatives of the Universities and concerned research institutes.

The National Conference ‘Man in Biosphere Reserve’ concluded with a panel discussion of panelists, Prof Surendranath, Prof A.K.Danda, Prof R.K.Bhattacharya, Prof Sarnam Singh, Prof Jagannath Dash, Prof R.Basu, Prof Niraj Kumar, Dr Yogesh Dubey, Santosh K Mishra, Dr N.Kumar, Dr B.B.Goswami, Dr M.K.Raha, Dr Shibani Roy and Dr H.K.Mandal. Prof Yogesh Atal presided over the session and Dr V.R.Rao made the concluding remarks.

commendations of the panel discussion are:

1. Better management of different biospheres keeping the ground realities in view.

2. Need of the hour is not to control the needs of people but to control the greed of the people

3. An integrated approach need to be adopted to facilitate better policy formulations taking in to consideration factors like environment, displacement, migration and rehabilitation

4. Better forest management plans integrating all forms eco-development involving local communities in biosphere

5. Long term Master Plan for an all round development of forest eco-system ensuring the people a right to utilize minor forest produce

6. Generating employment for local communities with in the biosphere

7. To prevent the degeneration of eco-system, eco-tourism should be developed with the co-ordinated efforts of both forest and tourism departments, keeping the environment impact assessment in view 8) protection of cultural landscapes for an overall development of local populations

Experts are of the opinion that till now Anthropologists stressed too much on either preservation of environment or on survival of people, but the need is for a more balanced approach. Interestingly many experts said that there was no cause to panic, as far as conservation of biosphere is concerned. But developing better coping mechanisms for any crisis in future should not be overlooked. Another view that emerged stressed on the need for research on management of situations in natural disasters.

At the end of the workshop ‘Narmada Workshop-cum-Orientation Program’ organized in Bhopal (30th January to 5th February 2008), a resolution was adopted and signed by the experts for the Archaeological Survey of India to declare ‘Hathnora hominin’ site as a Protected Site.