India has 705 tribal communities. Every tribal community has their own culture and tradition. This culture is well reflected in their food habit, attire, art, architecture and even in their settlement layout. For example in some tribal village, mud is used, which is locally found and are good insulator and binder. This keeps the house cool in harsh summer. In the centre of Gadaba community village(Mountain ethnic groups), stand the sadar, the community meeting place. Near to which the village deity is found where all the function takes place. Dongria tribe settlement pattern is linear and is constructed in accordance to sun path and wind direction. Different communities have their different number and size of the room, which generally depends on their community occupation.
The vernacular architecture of these tribal reflects their occupation, region, climatic condition, daily activities and many more. Every vernacular practice including building material, food or colour, respect their immediate environment. Years of experience and indigenous knowledge have resulted in such a beautiful practice. But people from the high-rise building, who have adopted many things from the foreign world, have the same parameter to measure everyone. A person rich with indigenous knowledge is judged by the literacy criteria of whether he/she can read or write a foreign language or not.
Government/ NGOs have many schemes for housing for both rural and urban. And they come with a particular amount of money and at times with a particular design from somewhere. It does not consider the local context. Though the initiative is nice about providing housing for all, the question of uplifting at what cost remains unanswered.
Although PMAY, IAY and some state housing board have mentioned of designing as per local technology, the reality takes a different course. In south India, a good amount of research is done on vernacular architecture. But places like Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Northeast India, where housing itself is a problem and number of tribal community is large, researching on vernacular architecture remain concealed. In short-term such initiatives look really good but in long-term, it just kills some proficient practice, culture, tradition, and knowledge.
The concrete industry is one of the leading producers of greenhouse gas and has the power to damage the most fertile layer of the earth, the topsoil. Concrete look fancy and the only medium to save from natural disasters, but studies are there that show how vernacular architecture protect from harsh natural calamities. For example in the coastal region of Odisha kadi and Baraga (no reinforcement) are applied. Such structure prevented loss of life during 1999 super cyclone of Odisha. Even vernacular architecture is itself a medium to avoid natural disaster and a way to tackle climate change.
Now all the tribal villages that are connected by roads have brick walls and concrete/tin roof. Connecting tribal area with the mainstream should not mean destroying their practice and beliefs but should be looked as an opportunity to learn more and to rejuvenate the learning that we have unlearned. At the same time, this should be treated as a medium to give them the opportunity that they deserve.
