AKAJAN (Dhemaji), June 4 – The north-eastern regional assembly of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Organisation with Allies after three-day deliberations at Rural Volunteers’ Centre, Akajan in Dhemaji district, today came out with a ‘position statement’ on the Government of India’s Draft National Policy on Tribals (DNPT).
It said that in the interim period till the finalisation of the policy document, in all new development activities, industrial or commercial, interventions must be suspended in the indigenous and tribal people-inhabited areas. All policies and laws affecting indigenous and tribal peoples must also be made consistent with the policy before any such interventions are initiated.
Resenting the stress on assimilation of the indigenous and tribal groups with the “mainstream society” laid by the draft policy, it said that indigenous and tribal peoples had consistently rejected this approach. The statement also expressed grave concern over the substance of the DNPT. The draft itself is fundamentally flawed and as such cannot be accepted as the considered outcome of a serious attempt. Unless this policy is intended and constituted as an overarching policy document superceding and requiring compliance as a standard from all other legislations and interventions affecting indigenous and tribal peoples of the country, the policy will have no meaning, it said.
Commenting on the Fifth and the Sixth schedules of the Constitution, it called for measures to sufficiently strengthen these schedules in strict compliance with the legal interpretations of the Supreme Court of India and the standards set in the DNPT. It also opposed forced relocation and eviction of indigenous and tribal peoples from their ancestral lands. The DNPT must unequivocally and explicitly take a position that such relocation and eviction cannot be allowed under any circumstances without free, informed and prior consent of these peoples.
In the cases of resettlement and rehabilitation also, it added that these moves must be planned and executed with due provisions for planning and execution to enable the entire community to relocate and strengthen itself. On the issues of indigenous knowledge and culture, it stated that such knowledge must be recognised as the property of the community or communities concerned. The policy must also provide for explicit recognition of indigenous institutions and peoples that have been the traditional repositories and transmitters of knowledge.
The policy must recognise holistic indigenous approach to individual, collective and environmental health as a valid perspective and promote this view in itself, it said. The policy statement while making its observation on the development of finance, the indigenous and tribal peoples’ need, said that where development initiatives had been taken those had no explicit intentions to uplift the condition of these communities. Only to safeguard the interests of the industries and military strategic objectives these initiatives have so far been undertaken, it said and added that the DNPT should provide adequate safeguards towards these groups in such cases.
It also regretted the competing claims and conflicts among the indigenous and tribal peoples, and said that these claims and conflicts must be resolved through dialogues supported by both the State and the Central governments. Over 100 delegates from all over the North East excluding Sikkim, took part in the three-day deliberations on the DNPT. The sessions were chaired by Prof Rose Haokip of Imphal. This was the first regional conference of the indigenous and tribal organisations of the country on the DNPT. The DNPT is also the first attempt on the part of the Central Government since Independence to formulate a policy on the tribal peoples of the country.