Adivasis: The World's Largest Group Of Indigenous People

It is time to undo injustice committed to real stakeholders of country’s natural wealth, including forests.

- Dr S Faizi

The word Adivasi in all Indian languages means the first inhabitants, the indigenous people, and the Constitution of India denotes them as the Scheduled Tribes. According to the 2011 population census, Adivasis constitutes a total population size of 104 million (10.4 crore), constituting 8.6 per cent of the Indian population, making them the world’s largest population of Indigenous People. They are found in multiple tribes and are wildly regarded as the historical custodians of India’s forests that cover about 20 percent of the country’s terrestrial area.

The Supreme Court of India has affirmed that the Adivasis are ‘the original inhabitants’ of India vide its order of 5 January 2011. Scholars of ancient Indian history, such as Prof RS Sharma, argue that the Adivasis are the descendants of the Indus Valley Civilisation who have been forced to move into forest as the incoming Aryan groups spread across the plains.

In observing the International Indigenous Peoples Day on 9 August 2012, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar told the Lok Sabha, “The indigenous people, whom we refer to as Tribals in the country, are an invaluable and integral part of our country’s rich cultural heritage”. Various indigenous people organisations have been observing the day in the country since its inception in 1994.

Fear of the politicians

A section of the ruling elite and the Hindutva militia dread the political power that the term Indigenous People evokes. Recognising the Adivasis as the Indigenous People, they fear, would erode the base of their militant politics of exclusive claims on the nation. The Hindutva therefore has composed a new term, Vanavasi, meaning forest inhabitants, to represent the Adivasis, in a desperate effort to erase the term itself.