The four concentric circles are an important symbol for us Indigenous peoples.  Similar symbols can be found in various ancient cave frescos and paintings around the world from present day Australia to Africa to Mexico.  They also exist in the thousand years old Karanpura rock paintings at Hazaribagh, Jharkhand (India) where our ancestors took shelter during transit.  In our Adivasi (the Indigenous Peoples of Jharkhand prefer to be know as Adivasi meaning first people) tradition white symbolizes death and the colour red, life.  Even today when a child is born and he or she dies and leaves our community, four dots in red and white are marked on the forehead, indicating that our presence on this earth is eternal.

The symbol among many other meanings symbolizes that our relationship with all life forms is egalitarian or non-hierarchical.  Individuality is a unique gift of nature and individualism is alienating and life threatening.

Present trends indicate that the expropriation character of Civilisation, Modernisation, Colonisation may soon wipe out our community, customs and traditions.  This symbol therefore has its importance in the work that we have set for ourselves as a Jharkhandi civil society organisation.

Background

The Bindrai Institute for Research Study & Action (B.I.R.S.A.) claims its history from the Jharkhand Movement. The Jharkhand movement was a struggle for reclaiming the history and protecting the property rights and human rights of Indigenous peoples. This struggle required the creation and maintenance of an independent knowledge base. Hence in 1989, Bindrai Institute for Research Study & Action – B.I.R.S.A. was planned as a Research, Training & Documentation Centre by a group of Intellectuals and Activists connected with the various People’s movements of Jharkhand including the Fifty Five year old Jharkhand Movement for a Separate State. These various struggles that included Human Rights, Labour Rights, Land Rights, Cultural Identity and other struggles against colonial interests required the maintenance of an independent knowledge base. While the history of Jharkhand has been a active and militant one, it lacked the resources for a reflective and analytical process to understand its history and the dynamics of the penetration of capital in a subsistence base economy. Realising the need of modern tools of research and analysis, and its own informed leadership the Centre was established.

B.I.R.S.A. is a registered under the Society Registration Act. It’s Head Office is based in the District Town of Chaibasa with Mines Monitoring Centre in Ranchi and Campaign for Forest Rights also in Ranchi the Capital of the State of Jharkhand. It has a Board of ten persons most of them comprising the team of that runs the Organisation. A majority of them being Adivasi and Dalit with a comparatively fair Gender balance.

Any institution working for the emancipation of its people should be run and managed by themselves and should create opportunities for growing leaders and resource persons within for its effective functioning. With this objective in mind B.I.R.S.A. set its goal to nurture its own leadership from amongst the Jharkhandi activists and in the ten years of its history is has achieved this to a good extent.

The B.I.R.S.A. team has evolved as a team of individuals capable not only of a conscious, mature and analytical mind, but also capable of administrative tasks and responsible financial management demanded of civil society organizations.

The Institute has been striving to provide the material, resources and structures to promote the development of a cadre of Indigenous intellectuals and build up leadership from among them.

Branches of B.I.R.S.A.

B.I.R.S.A. has evolved over the past 15 years and can be best understood by main areas of activities being undertaken. At present the four branches are,

Human Rights, Resource & Training Centre
A Resource Centre with Training, Documentation & Publication activites from 1988 at Chaibasa, Singhbhum (West) District.

Mines Monitoring Centre
A Mining Concerns Centre from 1990, presently at Ranchi city for the growing needs of Mining Community groups and organisations for a better equipped and functioning centre.

Campaign for Forest People’s Rights
A Forest Concerns Centre from 2001 at Ranchi City for Forest Policy Change in Jharkhand with a Special Attention to Women’s Initiative.

OMON Women’s Organisation
A Human Rights Centre with special focus on Women’s Empowerment from 1989 at Chaibasa the District HQ of Singhbhum West.

Each of these above four areas of activities have developed through their various programmes and interactions with the community, building up leadership and sprouting independent organizations.

Leadership within the Organization

B.I.R.S.A. works as a collective and on the basis of consensus. It stems from the traditional system of Administration i.e. the Munda-Manki System of Village Rule. The down to up, inverted pyramid.

Leadership is collective by a core team of the staff and some of the Board Members. The Directorship is in rotation. The Governing Board comprises of senior Indigenous Peoples’ and non-Indigenous Peoples, Concerned Citizens and members of the Staff team running the day-to-day programmes of the organisation.