EXPROPRIATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LAND RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF DEVELOPMENT: A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract: The Indigenous peoples rely on land as the foundation of identity, culture, livelihood, and self-determination across the world, yet they still experience land alienation, displacement, and marginalisation despite the constitutional and international protection. This paper discusses Indigenous land rights as a human right problem with a comparative and international consideration of India. It reviews the protection in the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, and judiciary interventions. It also evaluates UNDRIP and ILO Conventions Nos. 107 and 169 pointing at the discrepancies between the legal recognition and practice, and proposes the change to participatory, rights-based governance with its basis on consent and autonomy.