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The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed
on August 9 each year to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. This event also recognizes the achievements and
contributions that indigenous people make to
improve world issues such as environmental protection. It was first pronounced by the General Assembly of the
United Nations in December 1994, marking the day of the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous
Populations of the Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights, in 1982.
There
are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90
countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world's population, but
account for 15 per cent of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming majority of
the world's estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.
Indigenous
peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of
relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural,
economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the
dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences,
indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to
the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.
Indigenous
peoples have sought recognition of their identities, way of life and their
right to traditional lands, territories and natural resources for years, yet
throughout history their rights have always been violated. Indigenous peoples
today, are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of
people in the world. The international community now recognizes that special
measures are required to protect their rights and maintain their distinct
cultures and way of life.
In
India, they are known as Tribals or Adivasi
Perception is often at play when people imagine the
word “tribal” or “adivasi”. Are they those who have chosen to live away from
all of us, far in the jungle? Or, are they the people who have been
stereo-typically portrayed with their comic song and dance rituals in mainstream
cinema? Is it the tribal you meet as a captured caveman in an encyclopedia or
encounter in your everyday lives?
Our history books often don’t teach us much about where
and how tribal communities in India were once related to the other communities
in the country once. Other subjects more often than not incorporate their
economies, socio-cultural practices or political behavior. So it is hard to
even develop an interest in their lives. But, unraveling the space provided
for Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution of India, traversing through the
website of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs or watching online videos with
cultural expression can be a starting point.
Critical in our endeavor would be learning about their
historical struggles and current day articulations in a world we are equally a
part of.
Identity
India, does not recognize the word “indigenous” for any
tribal community as the government also considers many other communities as to
have been living in the country for as long as the tribal communities.
Politically, tribal movements have asserted their identity as “adivasi” as
those who lived before the arrival of the first colonizers, even before the
British.
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