Protecting the Environment through Protection of the Rights of the Indigenous

The Constitution of India provides for special protection of the areas where Scheduled Tribes exist. India being a signatory to the International Labour Organization Convention No. 107 on Indigenous and Tribal Populations and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007, has enacted domestic legislations like The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest-Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. These legislations provide that the Gram Sabha (village-council) would be a primary centre for tribal governance with ownership of minor forest produce and power to prevent the alienation of land. They recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers. In essence, the statutes establish a mechanism for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Unfortunately, in spite of enacting such legislations multinational companies have been permitted to carry out reckless mining in areas like the Niyamgiri hills which is home to thousands of indigenous people whose lifestyle and religious practices have helped nurture the area\u27s dense forests and unusually rich wildlife. In spite of the mass protests by tribal communities in the many mineral-rich states of India no heed has been paid and its business as usual for the mining companies plundering the natural wealth, destroying the ecology in such pristine areas and conveniently separating the tribal communities from the very forests which have been their home and on which they have been dependent for centuries. The Union Cabinet, as a solution to such problems and to provide the indigenous people their \u27due\u27, has proposed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011. The Bill provides for profit sharing with the people affected by mining activities. However, whether such profit-sharing at the cost of ecology and tribal habitat is an apt solution and whether the domestic legislations on FPIC actually serve the purpose is what the paper proposes to explore in light of the above-mentioned international regulatory framework on FPIC. The proposed paper would be an attempt to retell a story of flawed priorities and of lessons yet to be learnt and that too the hard way