GUWAHATI, June 5: Indigenous communities of the north-eastern region have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the draft National Policy on Tribals formulated by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the provisions provided therein and the manner in which the indigenous peoples were projected in it. Characterizing the national policy as arbitrary, ill-informed, patronizing and fundamentally flawed, the three-day regional consultation on the draft , which concluded at Akajan in Dhemaji district today, called for a complete redrafting of the document with proper consultations with the people concerned of the country.
Organized by the North Eastern Regional Assembly of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Organizations with Allies, the consultation was attended by about 450 individuals and representatives from indigenous and tribal peoples’ organizations, besides other supporting organizations and institutions of the region.
After several deliberations and discussions among the delegates, a position statement and recommendation document was adopted at the assembly at its final session. The position document and recommendations will be sent to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Prime Minister of India. The document will also be widely shared among all the fraternal indigenous and tribal peoples’ organizations and supporters throughout the country. The participating organizations also decided to write individual letters to the Ministry and the Prime Minister to express their dissatisfaction with the policy and to call for a serious rethinking and reformulation of the policy and the process of any further policy making pertaining to the indigenous peoples of the country.
Furthermore, the assembly passed a resolution regarding the proposed Uranium mining at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL). The resolution calls for a complete moratorium of all plans and processes pertaining to the mining of uranium and said that no such project should be planned or implemented without free, prior and informed consent of the communities concerned and peoples of the region.