26 March 2021 (IWGIA)* — Liberalisation of the Indian economy began in 1991. One of the priority objectives was to exploit the natural resources located on Indigenous territories. Anyone calling for respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, implementation of environmental safeguards or exercise of their right to freedom of association and assembly was therefore viewed as suspicious.

The world knows little of the political situation in India. With a conservative regime that considers social protest to be seditious, the Indian state is persecuting Indigenous Peoples and human rights defenders. Tribal communities are the silent victims of growth in the Indian economy. The cases of defender Soni Sori and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy.






