National Seminar on 'Tribals and Constitutional Safeguards'
Date : 31st May, 2016.

A National Seminar on “Tribals and Constitutional Safeguards: The Question of Land-Rights in India”, will be organized by the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi with Dr. L.Lam Khan Piang as the Convener and Dr. Kamei Aphun from the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi as the Co-Convener of the event.

The event is scheduled for 31st March 2016 (from 10 am to 6 pm) at the Convention Centre, Auditorium II, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.

According to the Press Release, Dr. Piang and Dr. Kamei Aphun (on behalf of MTFD) emphasized that the question of tribal rights have become critical to understand today and need further academic debates. Though the framers of Indian Constitution did recognize to safeguard the tribals, yet they are at large exposed to social vulnerability, exploitation and several kinds of discriminations. Of late the question of land and land alienation has become the main bone of contention for many socio-political movements started by the tribals in the country.

This Seminar is a call to deliberate on the plight of the tribal groups who were left out from such Constitutional Safeguards (5th and 6th Schedule) provided to the tribals in India. “Special attention will be given to study the North East Tribal State on the prevailing situation and proper recommendations will be sent to the Government of India”, it stated.

Imminent scholars who are currently working on the tribal issue from all over the country will participate on the event.

Concept Note

Tribals and Constitutional Safeguards: The Question of Land-Rights in India

The framers of the Indian Constitution recognized the need to accord protection for the minorities and tribal groups. Consequently, the Constituent Assembly constituted The Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Area under which, various sub-committees have been formed to deal with tribal issues by categorizing the tribal inhabited areas as scheduled and tribal areas. Accordingly, certain provisions were enshrined in the 5th Schedule and 6th Schedule of the Constitution to govern and administer Scheduled Areas and tribal areas in mainland India and the Northeast region respectively.

In spite of such protections enshrined in the Constitution the tribals were exposed to the risk of being disposed from their ancestral land. This is mainly due to the encroachments into their lands by non-tribals, the state and in more recent years, the corporations. It is imperative to address the vulnerability of the tribals and also keep alive the debates on the implication of the various laws related to land and forest rights of the tribals enacted by the Parliament of India.

This seminar is a call to deliberate on the plight of the tribal groups who were left out from such Constitutional safeguards like the 5th or 6th Schedule provided to the tribals in India. This will bring to the hotbed of insurgencies—Manipur – where tribals have been victims of the state’s neglect, biased policies and lackadaisical treatment ever since its merger with the Union of India. In fact, in the Northeastern region, the tribal people in Tripura and Manipur were left out, originally, of the purview of the 6th Schedule. This anomaly was redressed in the case of Tripura in 1984 when the 6th Schedule provision was extended to the tribal areas of that State. The Government of the day also recommended on the floor of the Lok Sabha that the same provision be extended to the tribal people of Manipur and despite several recommendations by the State Government of Manipur and various expert committees set up by the Central Government, the provision is yet to be extended.

For the tribals in Manipur, as in the case of all indigenous tribal people, land is the most important natural asset which is sacred and inseparable from their identity. The demand for autonomy within the larger Indian context can be understood as an attempt to safeguard these distinct attachments with their ancestral land, and thereby to seek to protect and promote their traditions.

The issue of the 6th Schedule provisions for Manipur (Hill Areas) came to the fore again in the aftermath of three contentious Bills passed in the Manipur Assembly on 31st August, 2015 which accentuated the urgency of safeguarding and protecting the constitutional rights of the tribals of Manipur.

The unresolved question of land, rights and autonomy demands, in Manipur and elsewhere, is suggestive of the continuing need to reevaluate the functionality of the constitutional safeguards in protecting the interests of tribals.

Therefore, the purpose of this seminar is to discuss and deliberate on the common challenges of tribals in India, particularly in relation to these existing safeguards, and to re-conceptualize empowered models that may serve to protect and preserve the inalienable rights of tribals to their land and identity.

One-Day National Seminar
On
Tribals and Constitutional Safeguards: The Question of Land-Rights in India

Date: 31st March 2016, Time: 10:00-18:00 hrs
Venue: Auditorium–II, Convention Centre
Jawaharlal Nehru University

PROGRAMME
TIME SESSION
Inaugural Session

10:00-11:00 hrs. Chair&Welcome Address: Prof. V. Sujatha, Chairperson, CSSS, JNU
Introduction:Dr. L. Lam Khan Piang, Convener
Inaugural Address: Shri Jitendra Choudhury, MP, LokSabha
Keynote Address: Shri Jairam Ramesh, MP Rajya Sabha& Author
(Former Union Minister of Environment and Forest)
Vote of Thanks: Dr. Kamei Aphun, Co-Convener
Tea Break (11:00—11:30)
Session–I

11:30-13:30 hrs. Topic: Federalism and the Question of Autonomy in Northeast India
Chair: Prof. Balveer Arora
Panelist:
o Prof. Jangkhongam Doungel, Head, Dept. of Political Science, MZU
o Dr. Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Dept. of Political Science, HCU
o Dr. L. Lam Khan Piang, CSSS, SSS, JNU

Lunch Break (13:30—14:30 hrs)
Session–II

14:30-15:00 hrs. Tribal Movement for Constitutional Safeguards: The case of Manipur
Presentation by: Mr. H. Mangchinkhup, Chief Convener, JAC Against the Anti-Tribal Bills & other delegates from the team

Session–III

15:00–17:00 hrs. Topic: Laws and Tribals’ Land-Rights in India
Chair: Prof. Edward Rodrigues
Panelist:
o Prof. Nandini Sundar, Dept. of Sociology, DSE, DU
o Prof. Savyasaachi, Dept. of Sociology, JMI
o Dr. SudhaVasan, Dept. of Sociology, DSE, DU
Tea Break (17:00—18:00 hrs)
Session–IV

17:00–18:00 hrs. PLENARY DISCUSSION

Topic: In the center of peripheries: the Case of the Manipur Tribals
Moderators: Dr. Kamei Aphun & Dr. L. Lam Khan Piang
Photo Exhibition by Mr. Vivek Singh
For further detail contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

All are Welcome