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New Delhi: On Monday, September 7, in the heart of the capital, a thousand Adivasis from 16 states marched from Bhagat Singh Shaheed park through Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, their enthusiasm and slogans drawing curious crowds. Sonamuni Tudu, a young participant from West Bengal, chanted, ‘Jal, jangal kiska hai – humara hai, humara hai”.

Another participant chanted, “Humare purwaj British ke khilaf lade the – RSS! Tumhare purwaj jhuke the” (Our ancestors fought the British – RSS, your ancestors, bowed before them). And the demonstrators cheered!

The march, led by chairperson of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch Jitender Choudhury and National Convenor Pulin Baskey was the culmination of a two day event which brought the voices of Adivasi resistance on a united platform.

The Adivasi Adhikar Sangharsh Sammelan held in New Delhi on September 6 at Mavlankar Hall, Constitution Club, was overflowing with the spirit of Birsa Munda, who was on its walls and in the songs that rang through the day. Over 1,000 delegates from 16 states had come to the sammelan, the national convention organised the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch.

The convention was also attended by leaders and representatives of struggles that have made the news for resisting dispossession: Hasdeo Arand in Chhattisgarh, Ken-Betwa in Madhya Pradesh, the fight against eviction from Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and the movements against Polavaram Project in Telangana.

Leaders and representatives of other organisations that have been at the forefront of struggles among Adivasis such as the All India Kisan Sabha, Bharat Jan Andolan, All India Agricultural Workers Union, All India Democratic Women’s Association, the Sahariya Vikas Manch, the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan and the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan also participated in the convention.

With office bearers of the Manch on the stage, Jitender Choudhury, Pulin Baskey, Dulichand, Debolina Hembram, Brinda Karat, Vinod Nakole and others, the convention worked through four sessions on forest rights, employment, education and identity and belief.

The convention was inaugurated by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Madan Lokur who highlighted the poor implementation of laws and constitutional provisions such as the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, FRA and PESA to protect Adivasi rights on land, forests and natural resources. He pointed to the persistence of bypassing the Gram Sabha and filing of petty cases against Adivasis even after twenty years of the Forest Rights Act.

Also read: The Forest Rights Act Can Improve Pastoralists’ Lives, But it Needs to Be Implemented Properly

He said that “employment opportunities that the poor and tribal people had are slowly diminishing along with their rights.” In this context, he also pointed to the cases of teenage Adivasi girls who work under abysmal conditions as domestic workers in Delhi and other cities.

Four resolutions were placed in the convention and about 50-60 speakers responded with their endorsement, suggestions and experiences.

Nearly 60% Adivasis live outside Fifth and Sixth Schedule protection

The resolution placed by Smita Gupta, representing the Centre for Adivasi Research and Development (CARD) in the session on FRA mentioned that the Fifth Schedule and PESA apply only in the notified Scheduled Areas of ten states, which means, by the estimate placed before the convention, that around 59% of India’s Scheduled Tribes live outside Article 244’s protections altogether.

The norms guiding which areas qualify still date to a commission of 1961 and no government has extended the boundaries since.

Where PESA does apply, several states took so long to frame rules that the law lay inert for years. Odisha has still not notified them and Jharkhand did so only in January. Most states that did frame rules defined the village as the revenue village rather than the habitation the Act envisages, and treated the gram sabha’s mandatory consultation as a formality.

Delegates from 16 states marched in New Delhi on September 7, 2026, as part of the Adivasi Adhikar Sangharsh Sammelan from Bhagat Singh Shaheed park through Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.

“The zilla panchayat and state governments keep overriding the decisions of gram sabhas against the provisions of the PESA Act,” Amol Waghmare, an activist from Maharashtra told the convention. “This is condemned in unequivocal terms.”

PESA also stops at the municipal........

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