Thadou People:
A section of the Thadou tribes represented by the Manipur-based Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) has formed a global platform to look into critical issues facing the community, particularly in Manipur.
- Thadou people are an indigenous people who live in the hill country adjacent to the Imphal Valley in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur.
- They are the second largest in terms of population in Manipur, next to Meitei,according to the Manipur Census 2011.
- They are also found in Assam, Nagaland, and Mizoram in India, and in Chin State and Sagaing Division in Burma/Myanmar.
- The Thadou language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of the Sino-Tibetan languages.
- Thadou subsistence activities include animal, cultivation, hunting and fishing. Jhum (slash-and-burn) agriculture is predominant.
- Thadou settlements are located in forests. Sites on the tops of ridges or just below ridges are preferred.
- Villages are not arranged according to an established urban plan, and there is no marking of the perimeter of a village.\
- Almost all Thadou claim to be followers of Christianity.
