Indigenous Affairs 3-4/08: Asian Indigenousness: The case of India

India voted in favour of the United Nations’ Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007. So did the majority of the other Asian countries, with a few exceptions such as Bangladesh and Bhutan who abstained. How then should we understand this over-all support for the Declaration by Asian states? Is it to be regarded as a critical event that signals a new readiness for serious engagement with indigenous peoples’ issues in this part of the world? Several Asian states have previously been reluctant to do so. Alternatively, should we see this move as the easy option, thus avoiding sticking one’s neck out and inviting further debate and contention? A Declaration is, after all, a non-binding international instrument and states risk little by approving them. Significantly, only four states (Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand) voted against the Declaration, with eleven abstaining. In this article, I will look at the situation in India, discussing above all the position of the Indian government vis-à-vis indigenous peoples’ rights.