Indian Jesuit calls on Government to give tribals their rights

(Aug.10,2010) On the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on Monday, an Indian Jesuit called on the Government to give tribals the place they deserve in society. Jesuit priest, Fr. Jebamalai Stany, the managing trustee of SHAKTI, the Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights and People’s Empowerment, called for a stop to the social discrimination they endure and for an end to the confiscation of their lands. Fr.Stany said the government should recognize that the dignity of the indigenous people is crucial for India’s development. Affirming that indigenous people have a very close connection with the land and have protected and preserved it for years, yet today, said the priest, their land, forests and minerals are harvested for commercial purposes. The 2006 Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, was supposed to remove the historical injustice done to the indigenous people of India, but this is not being properly implemented, he said.
In India, around 8 per cent of the population is indigenous but about 95 per cent of the total forest area belongs to the government. Up to 1990, nearly 8.5 million tribals had been displaced because of mega projects, or the setting aside of forests as national parks, etc. Tribals constitute at least 15.16 per cent of all displaced people in the country.