wl-4230-Tribal Sufferings: Revisiting the Human Rights Approach from a Global South Perspective with a Special Reference to India

There are approximately 476 million indigenous people in the world and in those; almost 5000 distinct groups can be seen globally. Diversity to this extent can possibly create conflicts and clashes between majority (non-tribals or “civilised”) and minority (tribals or “uncivilised”) based on land rights, language, culture, etc. Tribal communities have been a victim of development-induced displacement, sometimes under the pretext of colonisation and now neoliberalism. The article primarily revolves around the competing thoughts of tribal rights and sufferings from human rights approach as against liberal rights approach. The individualistic liberal rights approach will place economic growth and neoliberal capitalistic agendas on a higher pedestal than collective tribal rights and social justice. Over the years, the western discourses on human rights and the notions of liberal rights have converged under hegemonic structures promoting neoliberalism, which is west dominated and Euro-centric idea of human rights. The article buttresses a need for human rights that are more human-oriented than market-oriented and a paradigm that revolves around collective protection of group identities rather than promoting the economic and geopolitical interests of capitalist western ideologies.