Confronting Exploitation, Colonisation, and the Fight to Survive

On 9 August, the UN observes World Indigenous Peoples’ Day, honouring the resilience, wisdom, and cultures of Indigenous and tribal communities. It also highlights their ongoing struggles—displacement, conversion, exploitation, and erasure. More than recognition, it is a call to respect and uphold the rights of the First Peoples of the Earth.

The UN defines Indigenous peoples as communities with deep ties to ancestral lands, unique cultures, and a shared history of marginalisation. Speaking over 4,000 of the world’s 7,000 languages, they preserve knowledge crucial to biodiversity. Despite their diversity across seven regions, they face common challenges: colonisation, displacement, and cultural loss.

India is home to over 700 Scheduled Tribes (STs), or Adivasis, who make up 8.6% of the population—over 100 million people. They preserve unique languages, rituals, and nature-based spiritual systems rooted in deep ecological knowledge. While India backed the 2007 UNDRIP, it did so asserting all Indians are Indigenous in diverse ways—an inclusive view that respects cultural diversity while recognising Adivasi distinctiveness.

Colonisation deeply harmed Indigenous peoples, as empires like Britain, Spain, and France seized land and erased native cultures. In India, British rule branded tribal groups “criminal” or “backward”, justifying displacement and missionary control. Missionary schools forced children to abandon their languages, traditions, and beliefs for Western norms and Christian doctrine.

Conversion was not just religious—it was a means of control. Missionaries and colonial powers dismantled Indigenous social structures, fostering dependence on foreign institutions. Globally, the pattern repeated: Native American children in the U.S. were placed in culture-erasing boarding schools; Australia’s Stolen Generations faced similar fates; in Africa, forced conversions disrupted ancestral beliefs and communities.

The missionary presence in tribal areas, especially during colonial rule, remains one of the most contentious aspects of Indigenous history. While some offered education and healthcare, conversion often came with cultural suppression. It created a dependency on missionary institutions and distanced communities from their roots.

In India, missionary activity was widespread—especially in the Northeast and Central regions—where mass conversions to Christianity took place. Sacred sites were destroyed, traditional beliefs undermined, and tribal children sent to boarding schools where their languages and customs were mocked and replaced with foreign practices. This cultural erasure, disguised as civilisation, had lasting consequences. Missionaries used their dual roles as educators and spiritual leaders to exert political control and suppress native identities. What seemed like “charity” often concealed an agenda of cultural domination—a colonial tool used worldwide to reshape Indigenous identities through religion and education.

Indigenous communities continue to face modern forms of colonial exploitation—land dispossession, environmental damage, and economic marginalisation. Development projects such as mining, dams, and afforestation often displace them without proper consultation or compensation.

In India, tribal groups are frequently uprooted by large-scale projects like Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and hydropower schemes. The Dongria Kondh of Odisha won a rare legal victory by halting a bauxite mine on their sacred Niyamgiri Hills—but this is just one of many ongoing battles. Across the country, tribal communities still fight forced evictions from ancestral lands.

Globally, similar struggles persist. In Africa, Indigenous land is seized for oil and logging. In North America, pipelines and mining threaten sacred sites and water. In Australia, Aboriginal people continue seeking redress for stolen land. Despite these challenges, Indigenous peoples remain resilient, defending their culture and identity. Their territories—home to around 80% of the world’s biodiversity—are vital to global ecological survival. The fight for the environment is inseparable from the struggle for Indigenous land rights.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted in 2007, affirms Indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination, cultural expression, and land ownership. While some countries have made progress, implementation remains slow. In India, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Forest Rights Act (2006) aim to empower tribal communities, though enforcement is uneven. Tribal resistance continues to fuel the fight for land and cultural rights, as Indigenous voices demand respect for their heritage and sovereignty. Globally, the movement is growing—communities in Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand lead protests against resource exploitation. From Standing Rock to the Amazon, Indigenous groups are pushing back against land commodification.

(The author is Assistant Professor Institute of Management Studies Banaras Hindu University Varanasi.)