Category Archives: Constitution and Supreme Court

“While delivering the Foundation Day lecture, the Vice President asked that we shall first have to give up this hubris of considering tribes backward. Every tribe has a rich and living cultural tradition and we must respect them. He said it not only social courtesy to respect their cultural traditions but it is also our Constitutional obligation. He said as we are looking for ways of sustainable development, these groups can teach us lessons in sustainable development. [T]heir belief in the Nature remains one and firm. There can’t be a better example of Unity in Diversity.” – M. Venkaiah Naidu (Vice President of India) in the First Foundation Day Lecture of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) titled “Constitution and Tribes” (Press Information Bureau, 19 February 2019)
https://ncst.nic.in/sites/default/files/2019/Media/2.pdf
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=36256

“India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government.” – 
Constitution of India (Visited: 21 April 2020)
https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?page_id=18809

“The framers of the Constitution took note of the fact that certain communities in the country were suffering from extreme social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of age-old practice of untouchability and certain others on account of this primitive agricultural practices, lack of infrastructure facilities and geographical isolation, and who need special consideration for safeguarding their interests and for their accelerated socio-economic development. These communities were notified as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as per provisions contained in Clause 1 of Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution respectively. – National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (accessed 31 May 2020)
https://www.ncst.gov.in/index.php
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=33998

“[T]he Constitution gives equal respect to all communities, sects, lingual and ethnic groups, etc. The Constitution guarantees to all citizens freedom of speech (Article 19), freedom of religion (Article 25), equality (Articles 14 to 17), liberty (Article 21), etc. […] The injustice done to the tribal people of India is a shameful chapter in our country’s history. The tribals were called ‘rakshas’ (demons), ‘asuras’, and what not. They were slaughtered in large numbers, and the survivors and their descendants were degraded, humiliated, and all kinds of atrocities inflicted on them for centuries. They were deprived of their lands [and] now efforts are being made by some people to deprive them even of their forest and hill land where they are living, and the forest produce on which they survive […] Despite this horrible oppression on them, the tribals of India have generally (though not invariably) retained a higher level of ethics than the non-tribals. They normally do not cheat or tell lies, or commit other misdeeds, which many non-tribals do.” – Supreme Court judgment quoted in “India, largely a country of immigrants” (The Hindu, January 12, 2011)
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article1081343.ece 
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=4315