Every indigenous Naga belonging to a Naga tribe can be traced to a land whose ancestors inhabited, and can only be as much indigenous inhabitant of that land
Indigenous derives from the
Latin noun indigena (meaning "native"), which was formed by combining
old Latin indu (meaning "in" or "within") with the verb
gignere (meaning "to beget"). Another term that comes from the
indigena root is indigene, a word for a plant or animal that lives, grows, or
originates in a certain area. Indigenous is used in scientific contexts to
describe organisms and the habitats to which they belong. Most often however,
it is used to describe the native inhabitants of a place.
According to Oxford
dictionary, indigenous means originating or occurring naturally in a particular
place especially plants and animals. It can also refer to people who are the
original inhabitants of a region, or who have lived in a place for a very long
time before others arrived. This is often used in the context of indigenous
peoples or cultures, who are the original inhabitants of a region.
According to the
Merriam-Webster dictionary, indigenous means native to a particular region or
environment. It refers to that which is produced, growing, living, or occurring
natively or naturally in a particular region or environment. Indigenous is of,
relating to, or descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a place and
especially of a place that was colonised.
In the UN, “Indigenous” is
used to refer broadly to peoples of long settlement and connection to specific
lands who have been adversely affected by incursions by industrial economies,
displacement, and settlement of their traditional territories by others.
Indigenous, therefore,
refers to those originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; (of
people) inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before
the arrival of colonists. It, therefore, refers to that which has originated or
occurring naturally in a particular place since time immemorial. Indigenous
applies to that which is not only native but which, as far as can be
determined, has never been introduced or brought from elsewhere. Indigenous are
aboriginals which imply having no known others preceding in occupancy of a
particular region. Synonyms of indigenous are native, endemic, local, domestic,
aboriginals. Its opposites are non-native, introduced, foreign and imported.
Naturally, all people can
and should be traced to a land or to a geographic region or land to which they
or their families, clan or race is indigenous. Migration of population has
caused people to live in multiracial multicultural pluralistic society. There
appears to be confusion and interchange amongst the terminologies of indigenous
people, indigenous inhabitant, domicile, permanent citizens and citizenship. A
residential township or habitation may consist of different categories of
citizens of which some will be indigenous; some would be domiciles with
permanent residency and some immigrants forming temporary floating population.
While the differences may be downplayed and therefore made to appear innocuous,
the implications are far and wide that threatens the fabric of indigenous
identity.
According to the Oxford
dictionary, indigenous people refer to the original inhabitants of a place,
meaning they lived there long before others settled there, or their
descendants.It also applies to those
who consider themselves distinct from other groups in the prevailing society
and who are committed to preserving their ancestral territories and ethnic
identity. It refers to those people and nations that have a historical
continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their
territories and consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the
societies now prevailing in those territories (or parts of them). They exhibit
a determination to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their
ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity as the basis of their
continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns,
social institutions, and legal systems.
Indigenous inhabitants refer
to the original people or groups of people who lived in a specific area before
others arrived and settled there. There are indigenous people spread across
various regions of the world and recognised as indigenous people. However, the
indigeneity of a person to one place does not entitle them to be indigenous to
another place where they do not naturally belong to, for the mere sake of their
status of being indigenous. The terminologies of ‘Indigenous peoples’ and
‘Indigenous inhabitants’ are often confused and the distinction must be
understood in its context. Any descendants whose ancestors were the original
inhabitants of a land are considered as indigenous people to that land and
those that inhabit that specific land to which their ancestry and history is
traced only can be called the indigenous inhabitant of that land alone. By
definition, it cannot include another citizen who migrated from another place
no matter how indigenous he may be to that place from which he comes from.
There are various Naga tribes
spread across various parts of the region and divided by arbitrary state
boundaries. The meaning of Indigenous Inhabitant of Nagaland is not synonymous
to the indigenous Naga tribe that may be scattered across the various states
created by arbitrary boundaries. While the Nagas irrespective of whichever
state they have been arbitrarily demarcated to belong, their attachment to
their land that forms their identity will naturally form the foundation of
their indigeneity. Every indigenous Naga belonging to a Naga tribe can be
traced to a land whose ancestors inhabited, and can only be as much indigenous
inhabitant of that land. Therefore, if a Naga whose land has been demarcated
into another state other than Nagaland, will still remain a Naga but will have
become a Naga indigenous inhabitant of the land of that state to which his land
falls. Such an understanding is common sense because Nagas identify themselves
not only through their bloodline, their clan, their ancestry, their culture,
their customs and traditions, but also through their land. The people are
indigenous to the land and not to the nomenclature of the State that came about
much later. Thus the phrase ‘our land, our identity’. Not only was this
identity so distinct, but also defining of the Nagas that much before India’s
aggression over the Nagas and their land, the British had introduced the Bengal
Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR), also known as the Inner Line Regulation, in
1873 to protect the distinctive culture, customs, traditions, land and the
society of the Nagas. The significance of this BEFR and its intent cannot be
undermined and which is why in the case of Nagas, the article 371A not only
found its place in the constitution of India to acknowledge the social,
cultural and religious practices of the Nagas but also to safeguard it. Thus,
even among the Naga tribes, each tribe can be attributed to a geographical
region which can be attributed to a land which in turn can be attributed to a
native village and further down to the minutest proof of ancestry through clan
and family and proof of its ancestors having lived for several years before the
advent of any foreigners or outsiders or colonist to influence their natural
existence.
With the British exerting
control and authority over the land of the Nagas against their wishes, and the
various wars fought against them that testify to this fact, the colonial rulers
had the administrative advantage of formulating rules and its regulation that
the Nagas barely understood or did not understand at all, and which was
thrusted upon them. Many non-Naga population from different areas migrated as
helpers or soldiers or workhorses and paid labourers of the British soldiers
and officers to serve wherever they were taken. And as rewards of their service,
they were granted recognition and settlement. Irrespective of however those
floating migrants and workers and helpers were rewarded, it is clear that they
were not indigenous to the new place they were imported into. And because they
were never indigenous, such persons and their descendants can never be
indigenous to the new place they have been made to settle. Unlike citizenship,
indigeneity cannot be granted nor awarded. It is not measured by duration of
time nor by the numbers of population. It is not a subject of democratic
majority nor determined by Govt. orders. Indigeneity is a cultural practice and
not a judicial practice. In spite of the Europeans who colonised and settled in
the United States of America 246 years ago and has even outgrown the Indigenous
Inhabitants known as the Red Indians, not a single migrant population and their
descendants who have becomes citizens of America, neither by their length of
stay nor by the strength of majority, has till date become an indigenous
inhabitant of America or became a Red Indian.
The non-indigenous settlers:
Among the inhabitants of
Nagaland, there are non-Nagas that has migrated from other parts of India as
well as Nagas that have migrated from other Naga-dominated areas in other
states but not indigenous to the present state of Nagaland. Some have resided
for considerably long period of time and can be granted domicile status or
permanent resident as per the provision of law. However, no length of stay will
change the fact that they were never the original or earliest or first settlers,
and therefore, do not merit to be granted the status of ‘Indigenous Inhabitant
of Nagaland’.
The way forward:
While citizenship or
domicile status may be granted by the lawful authority, it is a bad law to
classify or to grant the Indigenous inhabitant status by the Government of
Nagaland based on a cut off year which dilutes the meaning of indigenous
inhabitant.
Therefore, the indigeneity
of an indigenous inhabitant of Nagaland should consider these factors: The
ancestry can be traced to the earliest settlers since time immemorial. This can
be ascertained by the family and clan in the native village. The native village
they originally belong to will have existed since time immemorial and have
defined borders and jurisdictions within Nagaland. His relatives and clansmen
will be relatable and associated with the native village and its jurisdictions.
Acceptance by the family and clan of an indigenous community of the land.
Indigeneity cannot and
should not be determined by a person’s name in the electoral list or having a
land patta or house tax been paid prior to 1963 or the size of a village, the
population size of a village, or the wealth of a person or length of stay by a
cut-off year. A non-indigenous inhabitant of Nagaland remains to be a non-indigenous
inhabitant of Nagaland forever and ever as it is in America.
For too long, the people
have been misled by a misconception or a perversion of the truth and the true
meaning of indigenous inhabitant. The state government has recently nullified
all existing notifications, guidelines and orders in respect of indigeneity of
a person. It is only appropriate that it employs and ratify the true and the rightful
meaning of Indigenous Inhabitant by discarding earlier Bad Laws. According to
the UN, the most fruitful approach is to identify rather than define indigenous
people. The Indigenous Inhabitant of Nagaland must be granted only to those who
are truly Indigenous to and truly a tribe of Nagaland.Any deviation from this is a corruption of
the law.
By
Kethozhapu Sahu, Kevisiezolie Suohu, Dr. Viketoulie Pienyü, Kekuosetuo
Nakhro, Mehozol Hibo, Tepungosa Sale, Melie Nakhro, Robert N. Solo, Peteroko
Meyase, Dr. Thepfüdi Shüya, Lhouphrevilie Rino, Kevichatha, Chol Ltu, Savilie
Kruneilie, Vineipra K. Pienyü GB, Lhousavi Kipu GB, Kuolachalie Seyie, Dr.
Villo Naleo, Thepfülhouvi Solo.
