Expelled and Impoverished – India’s Native Inhabitants

India’s native inhabitants („Adivasi“) are fighting to survive. Often pushed off of their land because of industrial projects, they are losing access to their traditional resources. India’s industrialists are getting richer and richer as the Adivasi grow poorer. And Adivasi often live in city slums and refugee camps without any contact to their tribal communities. As a result the culture of the Adivasi-people is severely threatened.

The Adivasi are „the people who were here first“ – the native inhabitants of India. With over 70 million people and more than 460 peoples and communities, the Adivasi make up the largest indigenous group in the world to occupy a single state. The Adivasi speak languages of Austro-Asian and Dravidian origins and their economies are based on self-sufficiency (subsistence oriented). Some hunt and gather, others raise cattle, and some practice slash and burn farming. The Adivasi live from natural resources and protect and respect these collective resources accordingly. But their cultural identity and their land are being destroyed. The Adivasi have been pushed from their lands, denied their rights, and exploited, at first by Indo-European immigrants, then by the British colonial powers, and today by the Indian government. There are now 10 million Adivasi who live in city slums, and millions have fallen into indentured servitude. After more than 50 years of independence and classical developmental politics, the native inhabitants are faring worse than ever before.

The Colonisation of the Adivasi

India’s colonial history began about 3,500 years ago when tribes of herdsmen from central Asia spread into and conquered the Indian subcontinent. They called themselves „Aryans“ (the nobles) and spoke an Indo-European language. These immigrants moved into south-eastern India, where they conquered the native inhabitants and stole their land. The Aryans introduced Hinduism and enforced a caste system that continues to exist in modern India. The caste system is a strictly organized hierarchical system that places people into castes according to the circumstances of birth and occupation. The highest caste is reserved for the Brahmans (the „Aryan“ priests). Then come the kings and warriors, artisans and farmers, and lastly the Dalits (untouchables). When the Adivasi peoples were integrated into the caste system they were usually placed into the lowest caste and became Dalits, who occupy the lowest tier of the social hierarchy. Many Adivasi-communities were able to escape this oppressive system by fleeing to forests and into the mountains, but even then they continued to be treated as social outsiders.

A few of the Adivasi-peoples were able to preserve parts of their matriarchal (lineage based on maternity) social structures. For example, in the Gond, Bhil and Oraon communities of central India women have the same basic rights as men. Women choose their marriage mates for themselves, can change partners and can remarry even as widows, without threatening their social standing. But the other aspects of the Adivasi communities‘ matriarchal social structures were destroyed by the Aryan conquerors who could not accept the high social status of women in Adivasi communities. The Aryan conquerors did integrate the old mother god Kali into the Hindu religion, but they turned her from a living god into a god of death. Even today there are still widow burnings amongst some Hindus – these burnings are usually portrayed as „kitchen accidents“.

Special Rights Only in Writing

The Indian Constitution, with its 395 articles and nine appendixes, is one of the world’s longest and most detailed. It came into law in 1951 and places minorities under formal protection. Amongst these minorities are the „scheduled tribes“ (the tribes of the Adivasi that are registered in the constitution), the „scheduled castes“ (the Dalits who are registered) and the „backward castes“. The constitution established quotas for the Dalits and Adivasi, in order to begin making up for the fact that they were often denied equal access to education, employment, and political positions. For example, since the Adivasi and Dalits make up 7.5 and 15 percent of the total population respectively, an equal percentage of positions in the Indian Civil Service and in state run schools are to be reserved for them.

But in India there is a large gap between the goals stated in the constitution and reality: Adivasi occupy only 2.2 percent of the positions in the Indian civil service. In the schools things are also made hard for the indigenous peoples, whose children are often forced to learn regional languages that they are not at all familiar with. The political will to change this situation is missing. „India has one of the world’s best constitutions“, says Professor Ram Dayal Munda, an experienced Adivasi politician. „Unfortunately the ideals of the constitution are enforced so miserably that you could hardly imagine a worse political situation.“ Thus far the quotas have mostly led to the establishment of a group of elite Adivasi who have broken with their social and cultural pasts and have been assimilated into the mainstream Indian culture.

Translated by Morgan Hanggartner