Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik releases 5-volume 'Encyclopaedia of Tribes'

Bhubaneswar, Sep 26: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday released the 'Encyclopaedia of Tribes' in Odisha, covering the traditions and cultures of all the 62 tribal communities living in the state.

The five-volume encyclopaedia, prepared by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute and Odisha State Tribal Museum, contains 3,800 pages and 418 research articles on the tribals, including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups.

"These books will serve as a treasure and repository for all academicians, researchers, policymakers and those interested to know about the tribal communities of the state," Patnaik said.

The chief minister applauded the research institute and said that the 418 articles in the encyclopaedia were published in Adivasi journals and other publications in the last six decades.

The painstaking job of editing, compilation and republication has been carried out by SCSTRTI Director Prof AB Otta and his Consultant SC Mohanty in the last four years.

Patnaik also visited the galleries of the museum and appreciated the newly built projection mapping unit in another museum for particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG).

The tribal museum here has rare collections of exquisite arts and crafts of tribal communities, Prof Otta said, adding that it is regarded as one of the best interactive ethnographic institutions in the world.

"The interactive technologies used in this museum are outstanding," he said.

The chief minister inaugurated the tribal museum in 2001, and the second one in 2009, which is exclusively devoted to the PVTG.