Indigenous peoples in India: Scheduled Tribes and their Self-Governance.

This article briefly summarises the position of India's indigenous peoples, with a focus on the "Adivasi" people, who live in various Indian states. India is home to the world's largest indigenous population, and in addition to Adivasis, India is home to various additional indigenous communities. Although this essay focuses on Adivasis and their rights, it also parallels the suffering of Indian indigenous people to that of the Nordic "Sami" people. The article's major point is for the restoration of the human rights agenda and the development of rule of law for indigenous peoples, preferably through judicial or quasi-judicial bodies at both the national and international levels. Indigenous peoples' and minorities' rights are integral to human rights, and they should be regarded as such.

Introduction

The Republic of India is one of the world's largest democracies, sharing borders with the People's Republic of China in the north, Nepal and Bhutan in the west, Burma and Bangladesh in the east, and Pakistan in the north-west. Primarily in India, the main minority groups are Dalits 16%, Muslims 13.4%,?Adivasis?(scheduled tribes) 8%, Nagas 0.1%, Christians 2.4%, Sikhs 1.9%, Kashmiris 0.9%, others include Buddhists, Jews 6,000 (BBC News, 2008), Anglo-Indians, Andaman Islanders, Parsis.[1]

India recognises 461 ethnic groups as Scheduled Tribes, which are considered India's original peoples. When discussing indigenous peoples in India, the term Adivasis (indigenous peoples) is always used. There are, however, many more ethnic groups that would qualify for Scheduled Tribe status but which are not officially recognized.[2]?It is estimated that there are close to 635 tribal groups in India stretching from Rajasthan to West Bengal that is called “Central tribal belt”.[3]?All of them face an uphill struggle as to the legal status and political or legislative influence.

Historical context

Adivasis?are the oldest habitats of the subcontinent and once they controlled much larger areas than do at present. There is history that is not known a lot, although it is assumed that they were pushed to hills after the invasions of the Indo-Aryan tribes 3,000 years ago.?[4]?Adivasis?is the symbolic name of the many indigenous tribes present in India. The term Adivasi has been taken from the Hindi word ‘adi’ which means very old or from the beginning and ‘vasi’ stands for dwellers. This word was coined in the 1930s because there was a political moment and a sense of identity was evolving among Adivasis.[5]?

The Indian government and Indian Constitution recognise?Adivasis?as scheduled tribes. This recognition varies in India from state to state and area to area, hence some groups are excluded as indigenous people.?Adivasis?are not an identical group they differ in culture, and language and over 100 languages they speak around 200 distinct types of?Adivasis?are there hence their culture and ethnicity vary greatly. However, there are similarities in the way of living of?Adivasis?and their oppressed position within Indian society.?[6]?There is a lack of social cohesion among?Adivasis?in Hindu society, but there were many points of contact because indigenous religion contains many aspects of Hinduism. There was always a close interaction between?Adivasis?and the people of the plains.?Adivasis?used to trade with the settlers of plains and sometimes Adivasi rulers conquered and ruled over non-Adivasis?and some?Adivasis?permanently settled and entered caste society.[7]

The British Empire first time unified India politically and from the beginning of the 18th century, they started making substantial encroachment on Adivasi society and their lands. British regime brought money, and government officials and created a class that was a money lender. All these denominators started working for the infringement of the Adivasi lands and defragmenting their culture. The outcome of this inroad into?Adivasis?lands erupted the revolts against the British in several parts of the country and this forced the administration to recognize the vulnerable position of?Adivasis?and pass laws to protect their lands from outsiders. The laws barred the sale of the indigenous lands to non-Adivasis and also made a law to restore the alienated land. However, most of the laws seem very strong on paper but their execution is very poor grounds. The moneylenders and rich persons find some ways to buy their land by circumventing the law. Today?Adivasis?feel a lot of heat in the era of globalisation and privatisation where the big companies and state corporations need land for the establishment of factories and other modern-day institutions.

The indigenous persons of India claim that they are still victims of colonial repressions although; colonizers have left the country a long time back. While the exploitation of?Adivasis?has been a historical as well as a contemporary phenomenon, their exploitation has gained no respite from developments in post-colonial India. The?Adivasis?are still the victims of segregation and marginalisation because of the discriminatory caste system of India. This discrimination against?Adivasis?is rampant in both public and private life in the country. The?Adivasis?who have historically been deemed as outside the ambit of the Hindu Caste system are consistently discriminated against and suffer from socio-economic marginalisation.[8]?This social ostracism deprives them of accessing adequate access to the health facility, education and other social services.?

Indigenous people regard education as a critical instrument for improving their general circumstances and the social position of their children. Indigenous children, on the other hand, suffer numerous barriers to participation in formal education systems. Some of these impediments stem from their marginalised status, while others are the direct result of national policies. The report of the department of economic and social affairs of the United Nations outlines the reason for the low level of education among indigenous populates are as follows -

Poverty, discrimination and marginalization are the leading causes of low educational performance which further exacerbate indigenous children’s vulnerable status. Indigenous children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of marginalisation from the minute they are born and throughout their lives. They are less likely to obtain sufficient health care since they are frequently not registered at birth or, in certain cases, refused citizenship by the national state in which they reside; as a result, they may face difficulties accessing schooling and other public services.[9]

Adivasi?women?face‘ double discrimination based on their caste as well as gender and they are deprived of education and basic health care they were frequently forced into slave-like work and menial labour. Before the interference of the British and now Indian administration?Adivasis?had a very nice and sustainable self-governing system. It was quite developed and self-sustainable, too. The power was not centralised to one unit rather it was decentralised into three bodies of decision making. Their self-governing system is here briefly explained.

The decision-making process was divided into three parts and this process is known with the name of the Traditional Decision Making Process. This system was divided among village level, cluster level and community level.

Village Council: In the village whole unit was included in this system. All the persons living in the village were part of it and each village was its one head or chief those were known by the name of?Munda,?Manjhi Hadam?or?Mahto.?This decision-making process was known as village council or Hatu Dunub.[10]

A cluster of Village level/ Parha: The village cluster is known by different names in all the communities like five Praha, Mauja Guria Parha. The Parha system is based on clan i.e. a clan is Parha which includes many villages.[11]?

At the community level: At the community level, the Adivasi self-governing system is known by different names such as among Oraon-Raji Parha and the post holder – Raji Parha, among Munda community Munda Sangh and so on.

The?Adivasi?decision-making process was based on a people-centred approach and was very democratic. There were three sections Karyapalika (Administration), Vidhayika (Parliament) and Nyayapalika (Judiciary) that exist from the level of the village to the community level. The decision-making process was based on the collective decision. Moreover, the decision-making process was non-hierarchical and power was decentralized.?Adivasis?used to believe that power should be equally distributed among all hence there is no hierarchy in their community. This is the reason Adivasi village is called a small republic.[12]?Overall the decision-making process was based on the way of the life of?Adivasis.?They are largely connected with land, water, forest and other natural resources. They were socially, religiously and politically well integrated among themselves. The whole natural resources were closely connected with human beings and spirits. Their self-governing system was based on mutual consent and a non-hierarchical system. The main idea of their decision-making process was getting mutual consent from the community which was a sign of the decentralization of the decision-making process.

The fall of the 19th century brought a change in the decision making process for?Adivasis. It was primarily because of the arrival of the British and the introduction of the administration system of the Indian government. The whole process of the traditional decision-making process of the?Adivasis?was affected by the negligence and non-priority of the governments. In the race of industrialization and urbanization, the interest of?the Adivasis?system was completely ignored and it led to the fatal end of the traditional self-governing system of?Adivasis.?[13]?Even the national law the Provisions of Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA) does recognize the traditional system of the decision making process and stands for the people's self-governance of the defined sections in it.

The?Adivasis?are always exploited in the name of development and directly or indirectly been displaced, marginalized and victimized by the development. It can be seen with this data that today in India there are over 3600 dams and more than 3000 were built after the independence. The population of?Adivasis?only constitute 8% of India’s population but the 40% to 50% of displaced people because of the dams’ construction are?Adivasis. This figure shows how the?Adivasis?have suffered the trauma of development.[14]?More than 95 % of the scheduled tribes are dependent on natural resources and most of them stay in rural areas. Less than 10 per cent are hunter-gatherers but more than half depend on forest produce for their livelihood, many in the form of the tendu leaf, used for the production of bidi. From the time of the British administration, there have been laws regulating the ownership and use of the forests, and today most forest land has been nationalized, with large areas contracted out to private commercial interests. This has progressively deprived Adivasi communities of rights in the land, and they can be fined or imprisoned for taking forest produce which has traditionally been theirs.[15]?

The Indian government has not ratified ILO Convention No. 169 because once this convention has been ratified government has to give the land right to indigenous people. Hence Government is afraid and they have not ratified it. On the contrary, the government has ratified ILO convention 107 and it mostly talks about self-determination. India is a free country and there is no presence of a colony. In that case, 107 convention has the least benefit for the indigenous population. Self-determination is more important when the nation is not free. It shows the intention of the government that is not good towards indigenous persons. The Supreme Court of India has shown significant hope for the?Adivasis?and their betterment. The recent two cases in favour of the?Adivasis?have caught a lot of attention. The first case is about the Vedanta multinational company in the UK.?

A 670-hectare bauxite mine was due to have been developed on the Dongria Kondh Indigenous community’s traditional lands and habitats which they consider sacred. "The Dongria Kondh community, whose identity is fully dependent on these hills, has been fighting for the survival of their way of life for a decade. The mine would have devastated the rights of indigenous peoples. Their rights to water, food, health, and work amongst others. This ruling is hugely important for the Dongria Kondh people. The Court has ruled that the local Gram Sabha of two villages will decide the future of the mining company. If the mining company is not in their interest can reject the construction of the mines in their region and they have to share the report with the Central Government. The Court has also decided and made a new law of India’s Forest Rights Act that the authorities have to settle the community claim before displacing them from their lands. The principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is recognized by the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People, 2007, as central to the protection and realisation of the rights of Indigenous communities.?[16]?

The Indian Judge of the Supreme Court has been recently quite appreciated for their judgment. It was groundbreaking for the judicial system of India and carried a lot of hope for the indigenous people of India. During the hearing of an appeal case of Bhil women (Adivasi), who was reported to be stripped, beaten and paraded naked for having a relationship with a man of an upper caste. The judges proclaimed that the sentences given to the men involved were too lenient and that the crime was shameful, shocking and outrageous and unacceptable in modern India. The judges also praised the tribes of India for their existence and their culture for a long period although there was hostile behaviour of the government toward?Adivasis. The court also quoted that?

the injustice suffered by the?Adivasis?is not yet a thing of the past and that ‘now efforts are being made by some people to deprive them even of their forest and hill land where they are living, and the forest produce on which they survive.’ The impacts of being removed from their land can be devastating for tribal communities.?[17]

Conclusion

The Adivasi condition can be well compared with the indigenous population of Finland. These people are known as Sami and it is the only recognized indigenous population in Europe. Traditionally, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding, with which about 10% of the Sami are currently connected and 2,800 are actively involved on a full-time basis. For traditional, environmental, cultural and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sami people in certain regions of the Nordic countries but in Finland, it is not protected for Sami only. Although the Finnish government has not ratified ILO convention 169 still these indigenous people enjoy a lot of rights and can be said better than?Adivasis.?

The Finnish constitution of Paragraph 17, Section 2 gives full right to develop and foster their language. Hence in Inari, the education is also provided in the Sami language. Also Sami Language Act 1086/ 2003 maintains the language and culture of the Sami people. Sami speaks mainly three languages that are Inari Sami, North Sami and Scott Sami. These people were never involved in agriculture and farming hence they were pushed towards the north of Finland. It is a matter of fact that no right to indigenous people has been given for their territorial or self-government under Public International law. Also, the Finnish government has done a lot for the livelihood development of the Sami people by preserving and protecting their culture, handicrafts and language with the help of education. This institute was established by the Finnish government and provides free education and accommodation for the Sami person who wants to study here. They can learn several skills here from shoemaking to silver jewellery designing. This education aims to increase the vocational skills of the Sami people and to further improve skills for the needs of the Sami way of life and increase employment and preserve and develop the Sami culture. Slowly and slowly we were heading for our next adventure. These examples can be well incorporated in India, too. The same model can be replicated in India and institutions should be opened for the skills development of the?Adivasis?culture and their traditional skills.?Adivasis?are mostly dependent on forests and the products of the forests. So these should be educated to these people for the preservation and protection of the forest for the sustainable use of the land and forest.

Other than giving the vocational training, the government should again try to rebuild the self-governance system of?Adivasis.?While the government has ratified several conventions and is also party to the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) but the government has not ratified the convention 169 of ILO. It will give a lot of rights and strengthen the condition of the Indigenous persons. They would be able to enjoy their land right and can easily fight against the discriminatory system of Hinduism. At last, corporate greediness should be controlled by the court and the government. They should honour the cultural heritage of the?Adivasis?by protecting but not by destroying it.