Anthropology, Development and Nation Building

In the colonial period, ethnographers generated information about people and their customs for the benefit of raj. After independence, anthropologists have got together frequently to explore the relevance of their studies to the growing challenge of development. In recent years, path-breaking researches have been undertaken in the field of physical anthropology, which are immensely relevant to the task of upgrading the status of health and nutrition for a vast number of our people living below the level of poverty. Similarly in the area of social and cultural anthropology a good deal of work has been done that offers valuable insight into our people's traditions, attitude and behaviour which are now considered as an essential social input in planning and development. Accordingly, a National Seminar on 'Anthropology in the Service of Nation' was jointly organised on 1921 November, 1986 by the Indian Anthropological Association and the Anthropological Survey of India to explore together the latest trends of research which have significant implications for the urgent task of nation building in all its aspects. This volume contains the papers presented by the participants in the Seminar. The papers fall into five major concerns. These relate to health and nutrition, genetic structure and well-being of weaker sections, problems of women and children, development of backward areas and backward communities, conservation of ecology and environment and inter-relationship of ethnicity, secularism, communal harmony and national integration. These researches are symbolic of the Indian anthropologist's commitment to nation building.