"India’s Indigenous Peoples: A Journey of Self-Reflection on Culture, Society, and Sustainability" (English, 2021) Editors: Virginius Xaxa Vincent Ekka Anabel Benjamin Bara Juhi Priyanka Horo (Overview)

At all international fora, it has challenged the existence of such people in the case of India. Paradoxically though, it is a signatory to the ILO Convention No. 107 (not yet to 189) and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous People (2007). Yet it refuses to extend them this official recognition as Indigenous Peoples of India.

For long, in post-independent India, tribes have been mute spectators of their problems and sufferings. For too long, they have been taken for granted. This is beginning to change. The seeds of change could be traced through the 1980s in the form of resistance against so-called development projects. The Narmada Bachao Andolan, the catalyst of protest and resistance against dispossession, gave rise to many such resistances at the local levels. One such instance at this phase was the Koel Karo and Netarhat Field Firing Range and Artillery Practice projects in Jharkhand, which the people have been able to stop after prolonged resistance. With the momentum in the exploitation of natural resources following the economic reform, resistance also has gained momentum-- a sign of growing awareness and consciousness of their exploitation and oppression. Alongside, they have become conscious and educated of their rights and entitlements enshrined in the Constitution and laws enacted by the Parliament and state legislature from time to time. (2-3)