Anthropological Survey of India
Why in News?
The Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) is in the news because the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officially transferred the ~5,000-year-old human skeletal remains excavated from the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, Haryana, to AnSI for advanced scientific research.
About AnSI
- Nodal Ministry: Functions as an autonomous apex research organization under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
- Establishment: Founded on 1st December 1945 in Varanasi, later shifting its headquarters to the Indian Museum in Kolkata in 1948.
- Genesis: It evolved out of the Zoological and Anthropological section of the Indian Museum, which had previously merged into the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in 1916.
- Founding Leadership: Celebrated anthropologist Dr. B.S. Guha served as its founding Director, with renowned scholar Verrier Elwin as the Deputy Director.
- Core Mandate: Conducts advanced, holistic bio-cultural and socio-cultural research on the highly diverse human populations of India.
- Regional Setup: Headquartered in Kolkata, it operates via regional centres across India, including Shillong, Dehradun, Udaipur, Nagpur, Mysore, and Sri Vijaya Puram (Andaman & Nicobar).
Primary Areas of Research
- Physical Anthropology: Houses cutting-edge facilities including DNA laboratories, paleoanthropology units, biochemistry sectors, and statistical divisions.
- Cultural Anthropology: Focuses on human ecology, linguistics, psychology, and maintaining specialized indigenous ethnographic museums.
- Documentation & Media: Includes specialized units for Visual Anthropology, high-grade photography, and audio documentation to record vanishing traditions.
Major Historical & Landmark Projects
- People of India (PoI) Project: A massive, generation-defining survey mapping 4,635 distinct communities to document the socio-cultural, religious, and genetic diversity of India.
- PVTG Mapping: Carried out comprehensive ethnographic profile studies of all 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) to evaluate their socio-economic vulnerabilities.
- Tribal Heritage Replicas: Built authentic, community-collaborated tribal hut replicas (such as Jarawa and Shompen huts) across its zonal centres to conserve indigenous architecture.
- Denotified & Nomadic Tribes Survey: Completed exhaustive field research on 280 De-notified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic communities for NITI Aayog policy inputs.
Download Pdf
