The Toto is an isolated tribal group residing only in a small enclave called Totopara in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India. Totopara is located at the foot of the Himalayas just to the south of the borderline between Bhutan and West Bengal (on the western bank of Torsa river). Geographically the location is 89° 20’E 26° 50’N. Totos were nearly becoming extinct in the 1950s, but recent measures to safeguard their areas from being swamped with outsiders have helped preserve their unique heritage and also helped the population grow. The total population of Totos according to 1951 census was 321 living in 69 different houses at Totopara. In 1991 census, the Toto population had increased to 926 who lived in 180 different houses. In the 2001 census, their number had increased to 1184 – all living in Totopara. Anthropologists agree that the Toto culture and language is totally unique to the tribe, and is clearly distinguished from the neighbouring Rajbongshis, Koch, Mech or the Bhutanese Sharchop tribes.
The Toto is an isolated tribal group residing only in a small enclave called Totopara in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India. Totopara is located at the foot of the Himalayas just to the south of the borderline between Bhutan and West Bengal (on the western bank of Torsa river). Geographically the location is 89° 20’E 26° 50’N. Totos were nearly becoming extinct in the 1950s, but recent measures to safeguard their areas from being swamped with outsiders have helped preserve their unique heritage and also helped the population grow. The total population of Totos according to 1951 census was 321 living in 69 different houses at Totopara. In 1991 census, the Toto population had increased to 926 who lived in 180 different houses. In the 2001 census, their number had increased to 1184 – all living in Totopara. Anthropologists agree that the Toto culture and language is totally unique to the tribe, and is clearly distinguished from the neighbouring Rajbongshis, Koch, Mech or the Bhutanese Sharchop tribes.
Nestled among this beauty is the village of Totopara. For centuries it has been the home of the Toto, a tribe that sustainably hunts and farms within the region’s diverse ecology, and resides in raised bamboo huts that skim the treetops. The Toto knew this land when its native species were not endangered by illegal poaching, and thrived when the forests were free from clearcutting. With a population that hovers around 2,000, the Toto are today considered one of the world’s smallest ethnic groups, and, like their fellow Indigenous peoples from the Amazon to Australia, are experiencing the consequences of extractive industries. The Toto’s new and unwelcome neighbors are the quarries that have been erected across the border in Bhutan’s Tading hills. Since 1987, the nearby hills have provided dolomite, limestone, and now, most profitable of all, quartzite. Extracting these materials requires substantial water usage, and to meet these needs, miners and workmen have been diverting the brooks and channels upstream from Totopara.
As the saying goes “culture doesn’t make people, it is the people who make culture”. The are several tribes living in India and are trying to preserve their rich cultural heritage. Toto is an aboriginal Indo-Bhutanese tribe found in some parts of Alipurduar district in North Bengal. Unique to their culture is the idea of having only single wife and strongly advocate anti-dowry system unlike neighbouring tribal practices. As per the reports they are recognized as the smallest tribe on the Earth and are on the verge of complete extinction. Various cultural transformation and other developmental activities around the region is leading to declining Toto’s population, which is further aggravated by Thalassemia virus, which is one of the silent killers of the tribe. It is alarming that an average lifespan of Toto’s has suddenly declined to 35 years over the years. The basic objective of the study is to identify reasons beneath transformations of traditional livelihood and sudden decline of Toto tribe. Based on different research, global understandings and valuable readings, what instrumental steps can be taken to preserve and protect them. Primary survey and secondary data sources have been used for the data collection. A household survey was executed with the help of snowball sampling in December 2018 at Totopara in Madarihat block of Alipurduar district, West Bengal. Remedial and descriptive methods and qualitative techniques have been used for analysis of data. After the analysis, it was concluded that increasing the education and awareness level through workshops, documentaries, camps, public meetings, discussions, discourse, rallies, seminars and cultural programs would play an instrumental role to put a cap on the declining population of the locals and would lead to their sustainable growth and development.
The population structure of the Toto tribe at Totopara, a small village in West Bengal, District Jalpaiguri, is studied in this report. Since 1951 the Totos have been coming more and more in contact with the outside world and undergoing a process of cultural and developmental change. Using data from census records for the years 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931, 1951 and 1979-80, as well as interviews with all Toto heads of families or their wives, demographic data was collected on age sex structure, marital status, fertility, birth rate, death rate and population growth trends in the precontact and contact era. A total of 130 families and 697 people were recorded for 1980. 48% were under age 15; 44% were between 15 and 50 years old; and only 7% were over 50. No marriage was reported in the age group below 10 to 14 years. The male sex ration in 1980 was 104:100. Traditional practices still play a role in population structure. Individuals below 12 years of age are not considered responsible enough to be entrusted with tasks needing efficiency and experience on the part of the performer. Since most of the marriages are arranged on the basis of bringing in additional household help, this limits marriages in the younger age groups, starting from 10 to 14. Reproductive maturity appears rather late in both sexes of the Totos, confirmed by low fertility rates in the age groups 15 to 19 and 20 to 24. The crude birth rate has increased from 36.1/1000 in 1959 to 43.0/1000 in 1980. The Totos have a higher rate of fertility in the age groups 35 to 39, attributed to not using any known conventional contraceptive. The data are compared to fertility and demographic variables for other isolated groups, including the Asmats, Australian migrants, Hutterites and populations at West Bengal, Assam, and Mipur. At present the Toto population shows a trend towards increase.
Toto (Bengali: তোতো, Toto: 𞊒𞊪𞊒𞊪) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken on the border of India and Bhutan, by the tribal Toto people in Totopara, West Bengal along the border with Bhutan. It is also spoken in Subhapara, Dhunchipara, and Panchayatpara hillocks on India-Bhutan border in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal. Toto is listed as a critically endangered language by UNESCO, with perhaps 1,000 speakers. However, most families in the community speak Toto at home. Most children learn Toto at home, although they use Bengali in school. Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) set out to conduct a study on language of the Toto tribe, whose population has dwindled to 1,536, they did not realize that the language is more endangered than the tribe itself. Researchers as well the members of the Toto community admit that the language is under threat and the influence of other languages, particularly Nepali and Bengali, is increasing day by day.
Totopara name comes from the Toto tribes. The majority people lived in Totopara belong to the Toto community. Some Nepalese are also there, but it is very minimum populous. The total area of Totopara is nearly 8 square kilometres, which is located on the northern fringe of Jaldapara National Park (formerly Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary), one of the famous wildlife in Dooars and Southern area of the indo-Bhutan borderline for the largest population of the Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros in West Bengal. There is a river Torsha flowing to the east of the village. Totopara divided into six small parts or sectors; they called it Gram or Gaon (Villages) namely, Panchayatgaon, Mandolgaon, Subbagaon, Mitranggaon, Pujagaon and Dumchigaon. Subbagaon is a Nepali-speaking dominated village and the people belong to the Limbu community of Gorkha. A primary school, a High School with hostel facilities and a primary Health Centre are there in Totopara. Total numbers of 1,184 Totos (according to with 2001 census) live in nearly 200 houses in Totopara. As on 2013, the numbers of Totos had increased to 1,346 (unauthorised source) and all of them lived in Totopara.
The Toto tribe of West Bengal lives in a remote village near the border with Bhutan. They are one of the most endangered tribes in the world, with just over 1,600 members surviving. Younger generations strive to maintain a balance between the world of their elders and the world of today. Some use their Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts to talk about their unique culture. Abhijit AA, a photojournalist and former communications executive, spent five years documenting the Toto tribe’s way of life. In April 2022, he published his work as a photobook called Totos of Totopara: An Indigenous Tribe in a Globalised World. Marua is planted, harvested, winnowed and threshed before it is brewed into Eu. It used to be stored in earthen pots, and is now stored in large aluminium ones. The Totos drink Eu on all important occasions, from birthing ceremonies to funerals. When a marital match is fixed, the two families also exchange large pots filled with freshly soaked marua seeds. No Toto wedding is complete without the exchange and consumption of Eu.
Totos, one of the least populous tribes in the world, have been hit hard by the lockdown in their abode Totopara in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district due to the unique geographical location of their village, residents said on Monday. Totos, numbering just under 1,600, are one of the three Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of West Bengal. They live only in Totopara. Nestled in a hilly region bordering Bhutan, Totopara is separated by Madarihat, the nearest town just 16 km away, by five mountainous rivers that flow only in monsoon. With Bhutan nearer to Totopara than other parts of India, many poorer Totos work as daily wagers in the Himalayan kingdom. However, due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the migrant labourers from Totopara are unable to go to Bhutan for work and those who were in the neighbouring country before the lockdown have got stranded there, panchayat pradhan (head) Sugrib Toto said.
The prevalence of anaemia among the tribal women of developing countries including India is in critical condition. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship between anaemia and different socioeconomic and anthropometric variables in female members of the Toto tribal community in West Bengal, India. A cross-sectional study was done in Totopara, within the Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India, among 163 adult Toto women respondents, ranging from 18 to 49 years of age. The connection between anaemic condition and a number of socio-demographic-economic indices and anthropometric parameters was estimated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r). The mean BMI for Toto women was 22.88 ± 2.70 kg/m2. According to the WHO standard for BMI-based assessments of nutritional status, the current survey’s findings showed that 73.01% of participants are of normal weight. Only 5.52% of the participants in the study were underweight, whereas 21.47% were overweight or obese. The Toto women’s mean haemoglobin value was 10.73 ± 1.07 g/dl. The Toto women has a greater frequency of mild and severe anaemia (88.35%) than other populations. In the age ranges of < 30, 30–39, and 40–49 years, the prevalence of moderate anaemia was 30.14%, 16.98%, and 13.51%, respectively, while the prevalence of mild anaemia in similar age groups was 54.79%, 73.58%, and 78.38%. This study demonstrated a relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and the Toto women’s BMI along with energy, carbohydrate and calcium intake. The prevalence of anaemia was observed to increase with age. The high prevalence of anaemia in Toto women may be attributed to poor dietary quality and iron deficiency, as well as hemoglobinopathies and persistent infections.
The Toto tribe were originally Rajbongshis who worked as porters for the Bhutanese kings. Once upon a time, and this is an actual once-upon-a-time story, some of them are said to have eaten beef unknowingly. So these Rajbongshis were ousted and they settled down at the foothills of the mountains that form the physical, very visible border between India and Bhutan. They came to be known as Totos. Totopara is accessible to outsiders only about six months a year when the rain gods are at rest. These six months also mark a severe crisis of water. “Bhutan is bursting dolomites somewhere in the mountains on that side. So the river has now changed its course. Water is a lot of concern here,” Bhakta Toto’s daughter tells us, stirring the rice on the handi above the outside unaan (chulha).
In North Bengal, the term ‘Toto’ refers to two distinct things. Firstly, it refers to a local tribal community and secondly, it refers to the popular eco-friendly motor vehicles that ply in the peripheral areas of Siliguri town. Both the Toto’s that is the tribe as well as the environment friendly cab are facing certain form of crisis at the present times. Toto’s as a tribe inhabit in the Totopara region of Alipur Duar district in West Bengal. This tribe is found only in Totopara and can not be found anywhere beyond this region. Numerically they are less than fifteen hundred and they are an endogamous group. The literacy rate among them is also very low with some graduates and about one per cent of this tribal population is employed in the government services. Most of them are pastorals and are involved in cow herding and pen pigs while others are involved in collecting sand and stones from rivers. Due to their endogamous marriage practices almost 80 percent of the Toto’s are or have the tendency to be infected by thalassaemia, an inherited form of anaemia. This genetic disease has negatively affected the life span of the Toto’s. The average life expectancy of Toto is only 35 years which is much lower than the national average. Thalassaemia has become a major disease which has caused the decrement of their population. The Toto tribe is often described as ‘a vanishing tribe’ on a verge of extinction.
Toto a small Tibeto-Burman language speaking autochthones tribe living in Totopara bounded on the north by Bhutan, on the east by the Torsha River and on the south by the Titi Forest. Toto people migrated from Bhutan to Totopara, after they had a feud with ‘Doya’ community of Mongoloid origin. After 1865 Indo-Bhutan war, few Totos migrated to the interiors of Bhutan and the rest of the population still resides at Totopara. Totos were on the verge of extinction. The population of Totos was always a concern. Their population in 1901 was 171, in 1951 it increased to 321. However, concerted efforts from Govt. has helped to conserve their unique culture and tradition and also augmented their population. As per2011 census, Totopara has a population of 2960.
World Mythology 
