They call themselves “Adivasi” (adi: original, vasi: inhabitants – “original inhabitants“), in the Indian constitution they are summarized as “Scheduled Tribes” (“registered tribes”) of which there are several hundreds of very different sizes (a few hundred to several million tribesmen). The Adivasi are the descendants of those people who lived in the dense forests of the Indian subcontinent as hunters, gatherers, fishermen, nomadic shepherds or shifting cultivators, when, from about 2500 BC onwards, warlike pastoral peoples conquered the land from the west, enslaved or expelled the inhabitants, and cleared the forests for their own purposes. This wave of conquest lasted about 1000 years during which the indigenous people were forced to retreat to partly impassable mountainous areas and forests where they could find a livelihood for themselves and lived largely isolated according to their traditions.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, British conquerors began to ruthlessly clear Indian forests on a large scale and to lay railroad lines in mainly undeveloped areas in order to extract mineral resources. Many Adivasi were driven out of their villages and settlement areas. And this displacement continues to this day. Through the construction of large dams, industrial parks, military installations, etc., and the creation of national and recreational parks, the Adivasi are deprived of their livelihood. Many are forced to live in cities as cheap labourers or beggars.

90% of the Adivasi live below the poverty line, most of them are illiterate, and many are in poor health. Although the Indian government has provided quotas for the Adivasi in the civil service and parliament, as well as in education, and has created support programs for better economic development, they are marginalised and their living conditions continue to deteriorate.