THE TRIBAL RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CASE STUDY OF GALO TRIBE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH

Abstract:
The COVID-19 has engulfed and seriously affected the entire world, bringing a complete halt to the movement of people, and at the same time, equalized all people and countries, both rich and poor. The dichotomy between rich and poor was reduced, and the value and utility of money and other material possessions of people were temporarily rendered worthless or of lesser value. Different countries adopted different strategies to cope with the situation. The Galo tribe, one of the least known tribes in the easternmost part of Himalaya, was not lagging behind in the fight against this virus, and rather they came up with several activities under the aegis of its apex organization, the Galo Welfare Society. Without being scared away by the virus spike, they took up several welfare initiatives for their own community people, especially those Galos who were stranded across the states. This paper attempts to give some information about how the apex organization of this small tribal community, even during the lockdown period, put ardent efforts to do something for their own community people in particular and people of Arunachal in general while firmly obeying all COVID-19 Advisories. It further tries to analyze how practical and useful the apex body was for the people in such a precarious situation like the COVID-19 pandemic. They extended small financial assistance to the students of their community, people stranded outside the state, created barricades and adopted indigenous rituals to protect themselves. And in terms of other people, they successfully organized different activities ranging from mask distribution and meal arrangement to voluntary blood donation program.

Keywords: Indigenous, Lockdown, Rituals, Mask, Warriors, Volunteer

https://doi.org/10.37948/ensemble-2021-sp1-a003