India ratified the ILO’s Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Populations, 1957 (No.107) in 1958. This country has the largest indigenous and tribal population in Asia (over 80 million), comprised of over 500 distinct communities (the size of which varies from less than 50, to 7 million), speaking a plethora of different languages. As a legally recognised social group, they are referred to as Scheduled Tribes (STs) and as such are accorded special status in the Indian Constitution on account of their deprivation and centuries of exclusion. While the government of India avoids the terminology ‘indigenous’ to refer to these communities, they are popularly known as adivasis (meaning original inhabitants).1
Scheduled tribes are found across the country, but are mainly concentrated in the north-central belt of India (often known as the tribal belt), which covers Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, north-western part of Bengal and North Orissa. Some states and Union Territories - such as the North-Eastern states – are predominately inhabited by adivasis.
Along with being geographically and socially isolated, the adivasis have historically been politically underrepresented and the regions they inhabit economically underdeveloped. Scheduled tribe status under the Indian constitution means that seats are reserved for adivasis in political fora such as the Parliament, along with job reservations in the civil service and educational institutions. Policy for Scheduled Tribes is administered by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA).
However, despite over 50 years of targeted interventions the socio-economic development of most adivasis has not seen a significant improvement.2 Legislative and policy initiatives such as the Fifth and Sixth schedules, Pachanyat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA), draft National Policy on Tribals and the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, reflect an important shift towards more rights-based approaches to tribal development.3
In India, PRO 169 has been working, among other things on:
Awareness raising on ILO standards on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, among government, donors and civil society;
Dialogue with government on ILO Convention No. 107;
Technical support on policy development (as and when requested);
Mainstreaming socially excluded groups into ongoing ILO projects;
Case studies on best practices for implementation of principles of ILO Convention No. 169;
Training and capacity building of representative indigenous and tribal organizations.
1 The Government of India adopts the stand that all citizens of India are indigenous.
2 Draft National Policy for Tribals, MoTA, 2004.
3 The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act is a historic development, which proposes to make amends for the “injustice” done to India's tribal people by restoring their rights to traditional means of livelihood.