Kanti Singh releases book on Bihar

Union minister of state for tourism Kanti Singh on Wednesday said that as many as 261 castes/communities and tribes still exist both in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Singh releasing the much awaited Anthropological Survey of India (ASI)-sponsored "People of India -- Bihar and Jharkhand" volume (I & II) here said that this book would be immensely beneficial to a cross section of the people. She said that it is a landmark book for those studying the contemporary society of Bihar and Jharkhand.

The minister also inaugurated the photo exhibition on "Festival of Diversity: Communication and Empowerment" here at Hotel Pataliputra Ashok. This exhibition will be put up at Patna's Gandhi Sangrahalaya for a month.

It was a dream project of the late PM Rajiv Gandhi. He had mooted the idea to trace the various castes and communities in India by publishing statewise `People of India' way back in 1990s.

Former bureaucrat and academician the late Kumar Suresh Singh was entrusted with the job of publishing this magnum opus and was appointed the director general of ASI. To date, 72 volumes of People of India project has already been published. It took nearly two and half decades to publish the Bihar volume.

Bihar volume (two volumes) was published by a Kolkata-based publication. Bihar's two noted social scientists namely Surendra Gopal (historian) and Hetukar Jha (sociologist) have co-authored the Bihar volume.

Director incharge of the ASI V R Rao said that this book would be translated into Hindi soon. Speaking on the occasion, RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav said that this book would be immensely useful for all in a state like Bihar if it is translated into Hindi.

Joint secretary, ministry of culture, GOI, Luv Verma welcomed the guests. This volume would be a readymade reference book for policy makers, social scientists, bureaucrats and politicians.

The editors have also included communities such as Marwari, Sindhi, Sikh, Jain, Khatri, etc. since they have become a visible feature in the present social set up.

It has been found that around 40 languages and dialects are spoken in Bihar and Jharkhand, they said. Each write up describes the major features of lifestyle, religious views, life cycle rituals, major occupations, customs, traditions, marital practices, etc of the people of Bihar and Jharkhand.