Who is bothered about indigenous people?

Every year since 1994, the world has been observing August 9 as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples under the auspices of the United Nations. Though the UN has not adopted an official definition of "indigenous" in view of the diversity of indigenous peoples, the UN system has instead has developed a modern understanding of this term based on the following: (i) Self-identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member, (ii) Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies, (iii) Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources, (iv) Distinct social, economic or political systems, (v) Distinct language, culture and beliefs, (vi) Form non-dominant groups of society, and (vii) Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities. Given these issues, according to the UN the most fruitful approach is to identify, rather than define indigenous peoples. This is based on the fundamental criterion of self-identification as underlined in a number of human rights documents. India is home to a large number of indigenous communities which have been under serious threat; many have been pushed into extinction. India did vote in favour of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which the General Assembly adopted on September 13, 2007, on the condition that after independence all Indians are indigenous, and as such it does not consider the very concept of "indigenous peoples", and therefore the UNDRIP is broadly not applicable to India. If that be true, then the indigenous peoples in India are much more vulnerable than what the UN thinks. Taking the Northeastern region as an example, one can easily say that indigenous communities are the worst hit here than in anywhere else in India. Indigenous communities of the region have been facing this threat since Assam was with Eastern Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905, and the demographic changes that Assam and the Northeast have witnessed have now become totally irreversible. In Assam in particular, district after district has seen rapid demographic change in the past 100 years, be it in the pre-Independence era or in the post-Independence era. That was exactly why the Supreme Court had in July 2005 commented that Assam was facing a silent demographic aggression. The state of indigenous languages today mirrors the situation of indigenous peoples in the Northeast. According to the Unesco Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger 2009, India has around 196 endangered languages; of them about 80 belong to the Northeast. While many languages spoken by communities comprising small populations are increasingly becoming endangered because of several reasons like lack of script, non-inclusion as a medium of instruction, absence of government policy to protect them and so on, the Assamese language is also facing a serious threat. The Census of 2011 had revealed that the percentage of Assamese speakers in Assam had declined from 48.80 in 2001 to 48.38 in 2011, while the percentage of Bodo speakers declined from 4.86 in 2001 to 4.53 of Assam's total population in 2011. Same is the case with the Rabha-speaking population. In contrast, the percentage of Bengali speakers has increased from 27.54 in 2001 to 28.91 in 2011, while that of Hindi speakers increased from 5.89 in 2001 to 6.73 per cent in 2011. Nobody knows what the Census of 2021 will reveal. But it is for sure that it will confirm further the threat to indigenous communities not just of Assam, but of other North-eastern states too.

The theme for this year's International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is "Covid-19 and indigenous peoples' resilience." While the exact origins of Covid-19 have not yet been confirmed, the link between environmental damage and pandemics is well known to leading research organizations. But there is yet one group of experts, who have been worrying about the threat of a pandemic even before COVID-19; they are the indigenous peoples. Thanks to their traditional knowledge and relationship with the natural world, they have long known that degradation of the environment has the potential to unleash disease. As the world fights the spread of the pandemic, it is more important than ever to safeguard indigenous peoples and their knowledge. Their territories are home to 80% of the world's biodiversity and they can teach us much about how to rebalance our relationship with nature and reduce the risk of future pandemics. Indigenous communities have poor access to healthcare, essential services, sanitation, and other key preventive measures already face a host of challenges, and the present reality is that the effects of the Covid-19 are worsening these challenges further still. Even when indigenous peoples can access healthcare services, they can face stigma and discrimination. A key factor is to ensure services and facilities are provided in indigenous languages, as appropriate to the specific situation of indigenous peoples.