UP government launches scheme for Tharu Tribals

UP government launches scheme for Tharu Tribals

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I – Society

In news

• The Uttar Pradesh government has recently launched a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.

Key takeaways

• The state government is working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the home stay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
• The idea is to offer tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.

Important value addition

Tharu tribe

• The community of Tharu people belongs to the Terai lowlands.
• Most of them are forest dwellers, and some practice agriculture.
• Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev, and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.
• The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. 
• In the Indian terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
• A majority still lives off the forest.

Do you know?

• They speak various dialects of Tharu which is a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi. 
• In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
• Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.