Dangs: Anatomy of Religious Terror

Dangs is one of the most remote districts of Gujarat, with a huge tribal population. It is also incidentally the district in Gujarat which has suffered from massive attempts of forceful and violent Christian conversions, many of which have been successful. Dangs lies in a forested tribal belt in a tri-state area, with adjacent areas of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh also gifted by nature in great resources but also suffering from the same problems of lack of development and the rampant presence of Christian missionaries. As a result Dangs has been a haunt of missionaries for a few decades. While sustainable development is missing from the area, haphazard attempts at development often result in an extraction economy with very few gains for the native population. However, the lure of civilization becomes so great that many ape westernization, resulting in great cultural loss. The present study at Bodha aims to document all the complex dimensions of the problem that exists in Dangs and also factor in the dimension of religious conversions and its impact on the culture and communities that live in the Dangs.