LEH: Two girls from the Union Territory of Ladakh are among seven tribal youth who have been conferred Samvaad Fellowship 24 by the Tata Steel Foundation in Jamshedpur during the Samvaad held from 15-19th November, 2024.
Padma Lhamo and Sonam Dechen, both from Bot Tribe of Ladakh, were selected for the prestigious Samvaad Fellowship from 316 applicants across the country.
Padma Lhama from Sakti village will be documenting the famous tale of Jo Bongskangchan in Ladakh and neighbouring regions, and Sonam Dechen from Matho will be working on the documentation of the rituals and folklore related to traditional farming in Ladakh.
This year drew 316 applicants from different tribes from several states and union territories. These applications were scrutinized and evaluated internally, after which thirty two proposals were given to the jury members, who scored them and selected the top eighteen to present their projects to the panel.
Finally, seven candidates from Nagaland, Meghalaya, Kerala, Ladakh and Jharkhand have been chosen by the jury members after two days of pitching during the Samvaad.
One of the jury members of the Samvaad Fellowship, Dr. Sonam Wangchok, founder of HCHF and the president of the Ladakh Cultural Forum appreciates the Tata Steel Foundation for providing the fellowship to encourage young people from tribal communities to work towards the urgent need of preserving, promoting, and reviving their natural and cultural heritage.
“Samvaad, which has been celebrated for last several years, has transformed into an ecosystem where tribal people from all across the country gather to celebrate their culture and discuss about issues that are significant to their communities in an era of rapid development and globalization”, said Dr. Wangchok.
On the final day of Samvaad 2024 five books were launched which included the book on “Traditional Kitchen and Ethnic Food of Ladakh,” authored by one of the earlier fellows, Rashida Kousar.
The Samvaad 2024 also witnessed outstanding tribal artists, healers, home cooks, cultural crusaders, experts, and leaders from various tribal communities around the country.
The Samvaad Fellowship is an initiative that was launched in 2017 to address one of the ecosystem’s core objectives to document and, hence, preserve a body of knowledge and a world view that runs the risk of being obliterated.
The Fellowship envisions supporting initiatives and ideas which are aligned towards conservation of lesser-known indigenous practices from tribal cultures which are vulnerable and are not part of a large conservation effort and thus run the risk of being lost.
