 Summary of this article
- Ladakh protests highlight demands for Sixth Schedule protections and local governance.
- Outlook’s March 2024 issue documented tribal struggles over land, water, and identity across India.
- Young Adivasis lead the fight for dignity, survival, and constitutional safeguards.
When Outlook brought out its special issue on Adivasis in March 2024, it tried to break the silence around India’s indigenous communities.
The cover story, “Adivasis in India Continue Their Fight for Jal, Jungle, Jameen”, showed how access to water, forest and land remains central to their survival, and how those rights are chipped away despite constitutional promises. The issue carried reports from across the country: “Despite Mega Outreach, Tribals in Andhra-Telangana Region Have No Place to Call Home” documented sudden evictions in Meduvai village, exposing the gap between state promises and lived reality; “Manipur Deaths Pile On Amid Tribal and Indigenous Identity Politics, But Who Gains” asked who benefits when indigenous identities are turned into weapons in violent conflicts; and “Ladakh Battles for Identity More Than 4 Years After Abrogation of Article 370” described people gathering in freezing cold to demand Sixth Schedule protections, fearing cultural and political erasure.
Revisiting that issue today feels urgent. Ladakh is again on the boil, and the themes of land, identity, dispossession and dignity are at the heart of it.
The Adivasi Way Of Life At Stake
BY Jacinta Kerketta |
