Indian Journal of Research in Anthropology

The study provides a glimpse of the maternal- child health profile of Baiga living in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh by highlighting the socio-economic and cultural variables of health. Community-based information always requires to comprehensive planning of health care strategy. The study has therefore conducted among the Baiga identified as one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of Chhattisgarh. Under 5 mortality rate is one of the important health indicators of Sustainable Development Goals index score. In this indicator, tribe is lagging far behind the national level. Under 5 mortality rate and Infant mortality rate in studied Baiga population is more as compared to state’s and country’s tribal population. The study shows that it is because of their isolated living in remote areas, poor economic condition of the family, lowest educational achievement of the mother and their ignorance about mother and child health care services. Therefore there is a need of educational empowerment of women, improvement in the economic condition of the family through income generated programme based on local resources and proper implementation of existing government programme, directly and indirectly, related to health such as Janani Surakasha Yojna, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram,Jan Aroga Yojna, Poshan Abhiyan, Sacha Bharat and Beti Bacho Beti Padao.

This paper is based on Tadvi Bhil tribe’s marriage rituals practices in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. This paper is an outcome of the fieldnotes like methodological notes, descriptive notes and analytical notes. It is an ethnographic study; an attempt has been made to understand and interpret the contextual and symbolic meanings of the Tadvi Bhil marriage rituals practiced. The methods like Boldhana, Futane, Nivtya, Bajarand lagnavidhiare pre-marriage practices which are described in details gives the idea and thought of the traditionalbelief system in Tadvi Bhil. The purpose of marriage in Tadvi culture is the creation of family. The central event in the Tadvi tribe is wedding the ‘nikah’. There is inclusion of some new rites in marriage method of Tadvi Bhil after conversion to Islam, once the tika method is over nikah a method starts which is done by Qazi.Tadvi’s marriage is a combination of Tribal rites and Islamic rites, which is found in this piece of research, explains various expressions of Tadvi Bhil towards marriage institution.

The Bhil, Bhilala, Barela and Patelia form the second largest tribal group in India after the Gonds, which is consisted of 45 sub-groups, according to the 2011 Census (Census of India 2011). The Bhil tribe has itself various sub-groups besides these three other tribal groups which have been clubbed with the Bhil tribe in Madhya Pradesh. The Bhil and the related tribes have their major concentration in the adjoining states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra which form the Malwa region. Malwa covers the whole of Bhil country, excepting some adjoining portions of Gujarat, which has a considerably large population of Bhil and related tribes. The population of the Bhil, Bhilala, Barela and Patelia in Madhya Pradesh is 59,93,921. The districts which were having more than one lakh Bhil population are Dhar (1200502), Barwani (952940), Jhabua (889582), West Nimar (713640), Alirajpur (647653), Ratlam (410992), East Nimar (230857), Indore (195663), Burhanpur (142179), Dewas (136289), and Guna (116239). The focus of the study is on the Bhilala tribe who inhabit largely in the districts of Dhar and Barwani. Although, they have been clubbed with the Bhil tribe, they have their own identity and there is a process of Rajputization among them. The Bhilala assume superiority than other groups in the local milieu of the tribes living there and claim to be the Rajputs. Hence, understanding of this tribal group can be made in the local perspective and their historical background in the present day situation. It is one of the progressive tribes of India.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality worldwide. Study shows that the use of oral contraceptives is inversely associated with the risk of ovarian cancer and is thought to be the most powerful known chemo-preventative agent. Oral contraceptive-associated risk reduction was also observed among women with a family history of ovarian cancer. Oral contraceptive reduces the risk in a duration-dependent fashion, as the beneficial effects of oral contraceptives remain for a long time even after cessation of use. This long-term protection may have significant implications for individual risk assessment and public health since the incidence of ovarian cancer rises with it.

It is a distinguishing human feature which separates man from the animal: just as use of contraception is found only in human society, abortion is also exclusive to it. It is the reason that human reproduction is not a bare biological process. Instead, biological process constitutes a fragmentary (though essential) part in the gamut of human reproductive system. The objectives of the study are to find out the incidences of fetal death and abortion and their associated bio-cultural factors. Objectives of the present study are to explore the incidence fetal death and abortion and to find out the associated causes of the incidence fetal death and abortion among the Baiga tribe of Chhattisgarh. Structured interview schedule and non-participant observation were used for collection and cross validation of data. The results were analyzed using the 16.0 SPSS package. 21.77% respondents, whose wives were pregnant in the past, had abortion. From the point of view of reproductive health, this figure is quite on a higher side and shows how serious is the situation regarding abortion in the Baiga tribe. Such a high rate of abortion is a pointer to stagnation in the population of the Baiga of Chhattisgarh. At least it can be said a major factor in its nonproliferation.75 abortion cases which actually come to 94.9% were the cases of miscarriage or what is called spontaneous abortion. The cases of induced or deliberate abortions were 4, which comes to 5.1%. On the basis of these facts, the possibilities mount up that malnutrition, anemia and morbidity among the Baiga women, are on an ascending scale. The gravity or seriousness of the prevailing condition makes the conjecture well- founded that the benefits of reproductive health facilities are perhaps not reaching the inmates directly and adequately.out of the group brought under study, one third respondents i.e. - 23.97%, whose wives had conception had delivered stillborn babies, such large number of stillbirths draws one attention to the seriousness of reproductive health problem in the Baiga. This also accounts for stagnation in their population growth.

The present study has been undertaken to estimate the hemoglobin content with the aim to find out the different levels of hemoglobin content among the Angami children (between 6-10 years) of Jotsoma, Kohima district, Nagaland. A total of 100 blood samples was collected from the children of various houses in different areas of the Jostoma village, Kohima district, Nagaland. Major percentage of children were normal and few under the category of moderate and mild. The boys and girls can equally have grouped into the same state of hemoglobin concentration, but no single girl found to be anemic in the age group of 6 and 10 years. However, more number of boys were anemic than girls.