Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve - Equitable Tourism Options

last couple of years.
The Perspective ofthe Peoples' Movements
Indigenous/tribal peoples without land as their natural habitat is like
birds without wings. Land is, of course, a natural right of the
indigenous/tribal people. The Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of
India discusses the issue of land in Article 244(1) for the Scheduled
Areas. In 2001 , a peoples' movement, representing the entire
country, united against any effort to amend the Fifth Schedule to the
Constitution. Traditional leaders and delegates from all over the
country gathered and organised a National Convention in Delhi
against the amendment of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution.
Traditional indigenous/tribal leaders, lay men and activists resisted
the killings at Maikanch (December 2000, Orissa), Tapkara
(February 2001 , Jharkhand), Devas (April 2001 , Madhya Pradesh)
and of other places during the two day Convention held on 8-9 May
2001, including the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. The
Declaration of the National Convention to Protest Against attempts
to amend the Fifth Sched ule of the Constitution was submitted to
the President of India which says:
We collectively declare that we the eight million Adivasis of this
country will not refrain from any form of democratic assertion of our
rights and will resist any tampering of our country's Constitution.
We also call upon all the democratic forces of our country to
understand the spirit and ethos of the struggle of Adivasis fo r their
natural rights over natural resources. In our struggle for democracy
we shall unite and fight. Another people's movement in India, the
Kerala Adivasi-Dalit Samara Samiti, has been largely successful.
The struggle was initiated to restore the land of the Adivasis in
Kerala. It took them more than one decade to reach an agreement
with the Government of Kerala. One of the agreements between
Samara Samiti and the Government of Kerala includes "a cabinet
decision to include Adivasi areas in the Fifth Schedule and a
99 lVililgiris : Fading Glory