DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE: ANALYSIS FROM AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

The indigenous peoples are simple people with exotic customs, traditions and practices.Industrialization, privatization and globalization have emerged in large scale in the name of ‘development’, and have posed biggest threat to the survival of indigenous peoples. Large portion of the forest land is being sacrificed for massive developmental projects by the state and multinational companies and have exposed the indigenous peoples land and other resources to the exploitative market forces. The process of commercial logging and industrial mining are being carried out on forest land which is expansively destroying the integrity of the forest ecosystem upon which the indigenous people depends. The so called ‘developmental activities’, which confers no direct benefit to the indigenous peoples, merely leave them homeless and landless. This paper explores the concept of rights available to the indigenous peoples or scheduled tribes against the different developmental projects in India. It also carries out the analysis of these rights along with the contribution of Supreme Court in improving the condition of indigenous peoples and safeguarding their rights. This paper also explores how Judiciary played an important role in striking out the balance between developmental activities and rights of the indigenous peoples with the help of decided cases.