Tribals/Indigenous People: the most Marginalized in the World

The World Scenario¹

Owing to diverse socio-economics and political processes, indigenous peoples are among the most marginalized sections in the world today. They stand on the cusp of the crisis in sustainable development. Their communities are concrete examples of sustainable societies, historically evolved in diverse ecosystems. Ecosystems have been, and still are, an inalienable part of their social and cultural life. Today, they face the challenges of extinction or survival and renewal in a globalized world. Globalization has the strongest impact on these populations, perhaps more than on any other, because their communities have no voice and can be easily swept away by the invisible hand of the market and its proponents. Globalization does much more than marginalize indigenous peoples; it launches a multi-pronged attack on the very foundation of their existence and livelihood.

       By luck or providence the tribals/indigenous people throughout the world sit on the "frontiers" of globalization's expansion, occupying, as they do, the last pristine places on earth where resources are rich and abundant: forests, minerals, water, landscapes, and living creatures thrive in all their genetic diversity. All these are ferociously sought after by global corporations, which are trying to push them off their lands. Examples of this are available from practically every continent save Antarctica: the Bayaka in Central African Republic whose community is being destroyed by logging; the Dinka and Nuer in Sudan whose lands are being taken over for oil reserves; the Wichi in Argentina facing a major highway through their territory; gold mining on Miskito lands in Nicaragua; eco-tourism on Kuna land in Panama; mining on Australian aboriginal lands. The list is long: industrial plantations in the tropical forests of the Dayak people in Indonesia; export coffee plantations evicting Montangards from their homeland in Vietnam; uranium mining generating toxic waste that destroys ecosystems in Dene and Cree in Canada; over-fishing jeopardizing the survival of the Chukchi and Eskimos in Russia; mining in North American Indian lands that affects the Western Shoshone, Quechan Nation, Mohawk, and Zuni peoples.

        The situation in India is no less grim. This paper is concerned with land acquisition and displacement of tribal communities caused by mining and large industries in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra in India. Multinational Companies (MNCs) such as TATA, MITTAL, JINDAL, ESSAR, POSCO, VEDANTA have taken over the agricultural lands and forests of the tribals.

The Indian Scenario

        India has 84 million tribals ( 8.10% of the tribal population) according to the 2001 census, though some demographers estimate it at around 90 million. They inhabit resource-rich lands but are poor and exploited. The major tribal groups are Santhals, Munda, Oraon, Kharia, Ho, Gonds, Bhils, Meena, Lodha. They are also spread over the neighbouring countries of Bagladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, places to which they migrated in the early colonial period in search of jobs.

       When industrialization led to the commercialisation of natural resources, tribal/indigenous people were harassed and marginalized. They were dispossessed of their lands and forests and therefore of their sustenance. The global economic policies of institutions like the GATT, World Bank, and WTO which were adopted by major world agencies have had a drastic effect on the tribals who are now even further are further marginalized. Today advanced technologies oriented towards export-led development to satisfy world markets threaten to exterminate the native tribal communities that lie in their way. Extraction of natural resources from erstwhile inaccessible territory has pushed the people to the wall in defence of their homeland. In India hundreds of hectares of tribal lands have been acquired in the districts of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Lalgarh in West Bengal, Singbhum in Jharkhand, and Kalahandi, Lanjigarh and Belangir in Orissa. The land is handed over for mining, industry, development projects and big dams. From Independence in 1947 down to the present day about 5 million people have been displaced, out of which 50% are tribals. Forcibly displaced without any provision for proper rehabilitation, they are unable to fight for their rights, even the fundamental right to make a decent livelihood.

       The unprecedented rate and scale of invasion of tribal homelands for building mega dams, mines, pipelines, roads, energy developments, animal sanctuaries, reserve forests and military manoeuvres are startling. Big global corporations are engaged in exploiting resources that rightly belong to the indigenous people - forests, minerals, oil, fish, and wildlife. Development agencies and governments launch and develop giant infrastructures - pipelines, dams, water ways, ports, roads - which not only damage tribal land and the environment but also displace the rightful owners and settle a new alien population on their land. These projects have been encouraged and financed by global financial institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other credit agencies.

       The rate of land acquisition accelerated after liberalization. A study of land acquisition in the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh by Action Aid accounted for a total of 314700.31 hectares of land as of 2007. These lands were for water sourcing, industries, mining, and non-hydro power plants, not counting land acquired for defence and other development purposes. They contain 80 % of the tribal population of the country. The lands 'acquired' belonged to tribals and forest dwellers (Source: State Gazettes). It is worth noting that more than 60% of India's industries and mining are located in these regions.

       The land is acquired by anti-tribal groups who seek control over these resources to feed the demands of global trade and urban dwellers in cities. Efforts by hundreds of indigenous groups to defend themselves have gained little attention from the media, NGOs, and most importantly, the state governments. It hardly needs to be said that such projects impinge upon the ecosystem and environment of the native tribes. Water shortages, pollution, agricultural land scarcity, and deforestation are devastating the habitat of the indigenous people, who are then forced to migrate to cities and towns to seek unskilled jobs and live in misery. Today more than 300,000 young women are engaged in domestic work in Delhi alone, or work as unskilled and unorganized labourers. Almost the same number of young male tribals have shifted to the modernized agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana to work as agricultural labourers The reality is that unless rapid and urgent action is taken these tribal communities will disperse and be wiped out, taking with them vast stores of indigenous knowledge, rich culture and traditions. With them will disappear any hope of preserving the natural world and a simpler more holistic way of life for future generations.

Cultural Transformation

        Culture can flourish only in a society with a clearly defined territory, social system, traditional economic activities and its own art and literature. In the current circumstances, the native tribals are uprooted from their environment and social system, deprived of their land and resources and displaced from their habitat. Due to migration, new cultural contacts, industrialization, urbanization, and changed economic settings, to say nothing of westernization and globalization, there has been a sea change in their social and cultural heritage.

       The tribals, once confined to hills and forests, have now sought to be absorbed in the regional and national mainstreams. Here they occupy the lower rungs of the social hierarchy. They tribals have now shifted from their traditional subsistence economy to a market economy that encourages consumerism. The impact of liberalization and the opening up of the market in the economic reforms of the 1990s pushed them to the industrial belts and urban cities as cheap labour. The consequence - social and moral disintegration-has been disastrous. P.C. Jain, who visited the Jharsugura district of Orissa on 4 April 2009, comments on how "the collective and commune culture of the Kharia tribe has been badly distorted by 'demon culture of globalization' where there is no feeling, no sentiment, no emotion, war footing destruction. Ultimately the free and frank culture of tribal society is being converted into child sexual abuse practices by state and non-state actors knowingly and unknowingly." This is the dismal reflection of what is happening to tribal society across the country.

       Tribal culture has been based on agriculture and forests from time immemorial. The tradition in which their resources were held in common by the community has been replaced by the new economy of private ownership and money-oriented production. Migration forced on them by development projects added to alienation from their land and forest produce. Tribals in the city can no longer retain their agricultural and forest-based festivals, worship and traditional customs. Their culture, language and traditions, including their arts, are all disappearing. Tribal identity is doomed to vanish under the new economic liberalization.

       The process of migration to cities and industries starts from the loss of their economic base. The taking away of land leaves them without employment; they then move to big cities and industrial areas in search of jobs, more often than not as cheap labour. The emigration of tribals started some two hundred years ago from the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. They settled down in their new homes but as labourers. The process of outmigration continues even today, accelerated by the new forces of globalization. Young unmarried boys and girls from rural areas are cut-off from their family and many of them are lost in the crowds of big cities like, Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Bangalore. These groups are vulnerable to malpractices - slave labour, sexual harassment, human trafficking, prostitution, human organ trading rackets, even drug peddlers.

       Back home in a mainly rural agricultural setup, there are fewer opportunities for employment because most of them have lost their land; traditional agriculture has little scope to absorb them all. Male school dropouts are not motivated to engage in agriculture, but prefer to go out in search of non-agriculture occupations in industries located in the cities. A large number are lured by Naxalites (extremists groups) to join their movement, which is based on violence. Many young boys and girls are new recruits in the movement and are getting killed. This trend leads to the social disintegration of the tribals who have little or no education.

Ecological and Environmental Degradation

       Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, to combat which calls for strong political will among world leaders. The world leaders gathered at Copenhagen ended the convention with this resolution: "We emphasize our strong political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. To achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, we shall, recognizing the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius, on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development, enhance our long-term cooperative action to combat climate change. We recognize the impacts of climate change and ...the need to establish a comprehensive adaptation programme including international support," (Draft Decision -/CP.15, Copenhagen Accord, 18 December 2009). It sounds impressive, closing with a solemn pledge, but time and political will power alone will show how determined world leaders are to redeem this pledge.

       About the time India became independent, forest cover in the country accounted for more than 40 per cent of the total geographical area. Today, according to the 2001census, it has been reduced to 20.55 per cent. This statistic is enough to explain the ecological and environmental change in the country. Two regions in India which are rich in forestation and water sources but have suffered devastating denudation and the construction of big dams are the hills and river valleys of Arunachal Pradesh in Eastern India and Uttaranchal in Northwestern India. There are plans for constructing major hydroelectric dams in these two areas, both of which are extremely rich in greenery and biodiversity. In the Brahmaputra river basin 168 dams are to be constructed generating 63,328 MW of electricity power. Out of these 87 mega dams are located in a single state - Arunachal Pradesh (Menon et al, 2003). In 2003 the then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee launched 50,000 MW power plants for the entire Northeast (The Telegraph May 24, 2003). Most of these dams are located in tribal areas where land is community owned by their customary law. Since the state of Arunachal Pradesh is not covered under the Sixth Scheduled area of the Indian Constitution, the protective customary law is not effective unlike in other Scheduled areas. These projects have severely eroded the forest cover in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh. Its rich bio-diversity will be lost. Once the means of livelihood of hill tribals are taken away, they will resort to cutting the forests for their survival. This drastic step was taken by the Khasi hills tribes of Meghalaya in Northeast when they learned that they were prohibited by legislation (the Supreme Court verdict of 1996 to tap benefits from the forests around them. So they started cutting the trees before these we) re sold out. After all, they had nurtured it for centuries like their children. It is clear that the local communities are not taken into confidence before passing legislation that bans means of livelihood; and no alternatives are offered for their food production and use of forest produce.

       In the State of Uttaranchal there are many dams and electricity supply projects coming up as proposed by National Hydro Project Commission (NHPC). In the whole of Uttarakhand there are 558 big dam projects for generation of electricity that will affect 20-22 lakhs people in about 5000 villages. The water levels are decreasing and the effects of global warming and climate change are palpable. Himalayan glaciers are melting away and the threat of rivers drying up looms in the foreseeable future. Dam construction is bound to affect river waters. The mighty rivers flowing down to the plains of north India, the Ganga and the Yamuna, will have less water as a consequence. Besides, the people will lose their land and ultimately face displacement. The state and the central governments have invited multinational companies as stakeholders in these profit-oriented projects (Jal-yatra 2009/3). A big protest rally of a few thousands of the affected people walked the path for one month till they reached the State capital in protest against these big dams and against climate change that would affect their agriculture and horticulture adversely.

The Present Juncture

       The tribal/indigenous people are today caught in the network of global economic competition and their resource-rich habitats are in danger. The entire globe seems to be divided into two worlds: the North consisting of developed nations, and the South consisting of the developing nations (with the exception of Australia). In the sphere of economic activities the North possesses advanced technology and the capacity to produce manufactured goods and services, while the South is relatively backward in technology but has all the natural resources, both above and below the ground and an abundance of cheap labour. Further, the rich easier to extract. The rich industrialists of the South are in alignment with the North, and both now are jointly pouncing on the resources of the indigenous people who have little social or political clout and are thus vulnerable and defenceless. All modern economic wisdom is against them, leaving them open to exploitation. It is a fight for survival of the richly endowed indigenous people with the developed powerful giants. Socialist governments, for example the Indian government, are committed to work for the welfare of all, especially the weaker sections. But the actual reality is that now governments also are joining hands with the economically and technologically powerful. Private and corporate interests are promoted over the public good in the very land of the indigenous tribal farmers. For example, the Sterlite-Vedanta group is given free rein to acquire tribal land in Orissa. In doing so the Company has infringed government guidelines, violating the Forest Act and the rights of the primitive tribals called Dongriya Khond (13 March, Times of India). This one example is only the tip of the iceberg of illegal activities. The whole move of the international companies signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the State and Central governments is alarming. Private profit interests have clearly taken precedence over public good.

Jesuit Commitment

       The Jesuit commitment to the Social Justice Ministry among the Tribal/Indigenous people needs serious renewal in the wake of aggressive globalization. One needs to understand deeply how these native industrialists and foreign investors are deliberately creating a situation in which the poor and the weaker sections are helpless and unable to defend their resources, even their constitutional rights. They are compelled take whatever is offered to them, evicted from their land and dumped in slums in cities where they are further subjected to exploitation, all sorts of abuse, humiliation, and finally extinction.

       It is imperative for the Society of the South Asian Assistancy to identify Jesuits with deep commitment, a clear grasp of the situation, and a readiness to work with enthusiasm, energy and a willingness to struggle. The united peoples' movements of the tribals and marginalized could be a direction for a positive socio-political initiative to save the vanishing tribals. Jesuits as a group should be challenged to take up this ministry among this group of the marginalized. The problems of Dalits and Christians are doubtless important but somewhat sectarian, whereas the problems of tribals /indigenous people are more fundamental and universal worldwide. This ministry has emerged today with a new dimension and urgent commitment to work among tribals who not only face impoverishment and marginalization, but whose livelihoods and very existence are in danger. In the real sense of the word, we need Jesuit enthusiasts! What a tragic history of tribals we will write if we let them go as a "dying species" while we remain mere spectators! They are like an "endangered species" and, unless there is timely intervention, are bound to be overpowered and decimated by the multi-national giants with whom local powerful industrialists and business houses are complicit.

Work Group in Conference

        The new structure of the Social Justice Apostolate is a new and most welcome initiative from which underdeveloped and developing countries stand to benefit most. Apart from the volume of work that it would undertake, I am sure the apostolate will be revamped with the induction of motivated people, and will bear much fruit. A good network developed internationally can be of immense help in this undertaking since problems today, as described above, are internationally connected and have a bearing on the future of the tribals/indigenous people worldwide. No longer isolated, they stand vulnerable and exposed to international interests; their valuable resources are eyed with greed, given the current direction of the world economy.

       There should be a proper choice of personnel who are qualified, interested and visionary; and, of course, spiritually committed to the work of the social apostolate. I received a list of names in the first draft, which was encouraging. This work requires younger blood with greater energy and dynamism. Decentralizing the justice secretariat is a very welcome step in its form and intent, thought the actual details of this structural adjustment are yet to be worked out. When it comes out in its operational framework we will be able to comment on it more concretely and constructively.

¹Chistopher Lakra, ex-Provincial of Ranchi, is presently the Director of the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.