Context:

The Jharkhand government passed a resolution to send the Centre a letter to recognize Sarna religion and include it as a separate code in the Census of 2021.

The Sarna religion

• The followers of the Sarna faith believe pray to nature.
• The holy grail of the faith is “Jal, Jungle, Zameen” and its followers pray to the trees and hills while believing in protecting the forest areas. Jharkhand has 32 tribal groups of which eight are from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.
• While many follow the Hindu religion, some have converted to Christianity — this has become one of the planks of demanding a separate code “to save religious identity”— as various tribal organizations put it.
• It is believed that 50 lakhs tribal in the entire country put their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the 2011 census, although it was not a code

The need for a separate code

• The protection of their language and history is an important aspect of tribals.
• Between 1871 and 1951, the tribals had a different code. However, it was changed around 1961- 62.
• Today, when the entire world is focusing on reducing pollution and protecting the environment, it is prudent that Sarna becomes a religious code as the soul of this religion is to protect nature and the environment.