The tribal knowledge system refers to the collective knowledge, beliefs, practices, and wisdom that are passed down through generations within indigenous or tribal communities. It recognizes the intricate relationships between ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being, and often incorporates traditional ecological knowledge, which includes detailed observations and understandings of local flora, fauna, weather patterns, and ecological cycles. Nearly 84.3 million people in India are Adivasis or Scheduled Tribes as per the Census of 2011. They constitute about 8.2 per cent of India’s total population. Typically they are spread over wide ecological and geo-climatic regions like hilly and mountain terrains, forest, sea coast and river banks. The tribes in India form a distinct cultural category with their unique values and traditions, beliefs and cosmology, customs and costumes, and perception of health and diseases. The recent forces of globalization and consumerism have brought significant changes in their ways of life and culture to an extent that their core cultural elements are getting transformed. The present book is an important contributions towards understanding the trends of change in the tribal ways of life resulting from the impact of external contacts, urbanization and industrialization among various tribal populations inhabiting different States and Union Territories of India.

Chandra Shekhar is a dedicated researcher focusing on biocultural knowledge systems within Indian tribes. His interdisciplinary research integrates ecology, anthropology, and cultural studies to explore indigenous wisdom and environmental sustainability. Shekhar's publications include studies on traditional ecological knowledge and community-based conservation, advocating for the preservation of cultural heritage in environmental governance.