Dimapur, Aug. 10 (EMN): Kohima Law College conducted a programme to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on August 9, in Kohima.
The college issued a press release to the media on Saturday informing about the programme. Addressing law students during the event, a professor in the college, Kezhokhoto Savi, said indigenous peoples were groups historically associated with a specific territory. Most of them have preserved traditional ways of living, he said.
“A variety of names are used in various countries to identify such groups of people, but they generally are regarded as the ‘original inhabitants’ of a territory or region. This right to self-determination may be materially affected by the later-arriving ethnic groups,” the updates quoted him as having said.
Today in many countries, indigenous populations have been subject to marginalisation, exploitation and oppression by dominant ethnic groups or colonial authorities, he said.
‘This year the United Nations devoted to ‘indigenous languages’ as the year’s theme and focus on the current situation of indigenous language around the world. The right of indigenous people to education is protected by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which in Article 14 states that “indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning,”’ the updates stated.
The Day aims to raise public awareness about the achievements and contributions of indigenous people to the improvement of world issues and also to focus on the promotion and protection of indigenous rights. These rights include the right to preserve their land and cultural heritage.
In regard to the rights of Naga Indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland as indigenous people, the Article 371A of the Constitution of India is to be considered a special right where it provides a provision to protect the Naga people of Nagaland from their own way of life, its land and resources.
“The original inhabitants of the Nagas in Nagaland (sic) must seriously consider the proposed RIIN (‘register of indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland’) which should not affects the rights of the Naga indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland and it is very important to take it as a very serious measures not to register the same to others,” Savi said.
The dateline of the year of settlement should not qualify a non-Naga/non-indigenous for the proposed registration, the professor warned.
“Every citizen has its own origin and he/she is the indigenous of that origin or ancestral land and therefore, any citizen come to settled in another land temporarily/permanently may not claim the title of ‘indigenous’ as she/he continually holds ‘indigenous’ of her/his original land.”
Further, the gathering was told that the village councils, town wards/colony leaders and issuing authorities must take all precaution so as not to issue said certificates to others especially residential certificates etc.
‘The practice of adoption is to be discouraged amongst the indigenous people of Nagas in Nagaland especially adopting a non-indigenous person or child. And in this regard the adopted non-indigenous Naga will not have the right to own the land as Article 371 A of Indian Constitution provides that only the Naga indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland can only owned (sic) the land,’ the press release stated Savi as having stated.
The cry and voices of the indigenous people must be heard on this day, the speaker stated. Urging that the Naga people should never allow any mechanism to exploit the rights of the indigenous inhabitants of the land, the speaker said that the United Nations ‘seriously discussed indigenous issues related to culture, economic and social development, education, the environment, health and human rights.’
Principal Visevonuo Pienyu also gave remarks, the updates stated. ‘She stated that many of our Naga children especially residing in towns/cities can’t speak own dialect properly which is a threat to our identity as indigenous people,’ the press release stated.
