The tribal heritage of India remains obscure and underappreciated across all corners, and that is precisely what The Forgotten Songs Collective aims to change.
"The socio-economic history of the tribe reveals how their sustained alienation from the rest of the population forced generations to turn into criminals."
CK Narayana Panicker is an 89-year-old farmer from Feroke in Kozhikode, who had to quit studies after being unable to even buy textbooks owing to severe financial shortcomings.
For over seven decades, the tribals, including school-going students, pregnant ladies, as well as the elderly used to walk for at least one hour to board a bus from Kadel Bavi thanda, six km away from their hamlet.
Kalupur co-operative bank has been financially empowering these communities since 2006 through loans of ₹50,000 to purchase houses under government schemes and ₹25,000 for expanding small-scale businesses at a rate of interest of 10 percent.