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Indigenous Culture in India, Indigenous Culture and Religions, Indigenous India, Indigenous Human Rights, Indigenous Tribes in India |
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Indigenous Cultures
The indigenous and ethnic people of the world have learnt to live in most
hostile environmental condition in this universe. The most interesting feature
associated with these indigenous and ethnic has been found that, they live in
localities which are immensely rich in biodiversity. It is estimated that about
300 million indigenous people are living in world, out of which nearly half i.e.
150 million are living in Asia, about 30 million of which are living in Central
and South America and a significant number of them are living in Australia,
Europe, New Zealand, Africa, and Soviet Union. A list of some of these prominent
ethnic and indigenous people is presented in table -1. These ethnic and
indigenous people have played a vital role in conservation of environmental
management and development process as they posse’s traditional knowledge which
has been useful in Eco-restoration. It has been noticed that these people know
how to live with harmony in nature.
Indigenous Tribes in India
In India, 68 million people belonging to 227 ethnic group and comprising of 573 tribal communities derived from
six racial stocks namely - Negroid, Proto- Australoid, Mongoloid, Mediterranean, West Breachy and Nordic exists
in different part of the country (Pushpgandhan 1). These ethnic people mostly the indigenous tribals live close
in the vicinity of forests and have managed and conserved the biodiversity of their localities since long time.
These tribals take shelter from forest and utilize wild edible plants both raw and cooked. The flower and fruits
are generally eaten raw where as tubers, leaves and seeds are cooked. Tribals utilize forest produce, forest
timber and fuelwood. These tribals are living in forest since ages and have developed a kind of affinity with
forests.
India is a country with large ethnic society and has immense wealth due to which it is rich in biodiversity. There
are 45,000 species of wild plant out of which 9,500 species are ethnobotanically important species. Of these
7,500 species are in medicinal use for indigenous health practices. About 3,900 plant species are used by tribals
as food (out of which 145 species comprise of root and tubers, 521 species of leafy vegetables, 101 species of
bulbs and flowers, 647 species of fruits), 525 species are used for fiber, 400 species are used as fodder, 300
species are used in preparation and extraction of chemicals which are used as naturally occurring insecticides
and pesticides, 300 species are used for extraction of gum, resins, dyes and perfume.
Indigenous Culture and Religions
In addition to
these a number of plants are used as timber, building material and about 700 species are culturally important
from moral, cultural, religious, aesthetic and social point of view of. Indian sub-contient is one of the
twelve mega-centres of biodiversity representing two of the eighteen hotspots of biological diversity one
occurring in Western Ghat and another in North- Eastern Himalaya (Zeven and Zhikovsky 3). Floristically 141
endemic genera belonging to over 47 families of higher plant occur in India In India 11.95% of the world’s
biodiversity has been conserved by ethnic people in many ways(Arora,4). Botanical survey of India has reported
46,214 plant species are found in India of global flora of these 17,500 represents flowering plants.
Thirty seven of these are endemic and found in North -East of India.
Indigenous Human Rights
One Indigenous Perspective of Human Rights, Irene Watson, an Indigenous lawyer and academic, provides a uniquely Indigenous view of
"rights" with particular reference to the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the stonewalling that surrounds acceptance by some
member states of the meaning and intent of the term "self-determination" as proposed by Indigenous Peoples. An especially significant element of Watson's
chapter is the movement backwards and forwards between her strong Indigenous voice and her articulation of the law in the international human rights arena.
Perhaps most appealing to this writer is her frank discussion in a footnote (p. 40) of the misconstruction and misperception surrounding the term "Aboriginal
leadership". This discussion should rightfully be developed as a chapter in its own right.
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