The State Can’t See the People
for the Land and the Trees
The Unjust Adivasi
Predicament in
Independent India –
In Search of a New
Direction
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html
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Traditional Adivasi Characteristics
Subsistence non-accumulative
economy
Living in small communities
tightly knit by kinship and labour
pooling customs
Fierce defenders of their
resource bases which are
crucial to their livelihoods.
Non-literate song and dance
based culture
Patriarchal Social Structure
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British Policy in Adivasi Areas
 Creation of Forest Department -In search of timber needed for ships
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and railway lines
Extension of settled agriculture to enhance land revenue Zamindari/Malguzari and Ryotwari land settlement.
Introduction of non-adivasi settler communities to facilitate the above
policies
Adivasis pushed out from plains areas into the upper watersheds and
hilly regions
Adivasis fought back valiantly against this injustice
Promotion of adivasi difference as a counter to the movement for
national independence
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Post-independence Legal
Framework – A Dicey Proposition
 Constitution retains colonial centralised structure of the
Govt of India Act of 1935
 Indian Forest Act, Land Acquisition Act, Indian Penal
Code, Crim. Proc. Code retained
 Fundamental Rights and enabling legal entitlements
have to be secured through expensive litigation
 Provisions of Fifth Schedule not binding
 Provisions of Sixth Schedule clash with State Powers
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The Constitution Within the
Constitution
 Fifth Schedule – Governor may on the
advice of the Tribal Advisory Council
prevent the application of general laws
to Scheduled Areas. Applicable in
nine states in the Eastern, Central,
Western, Northern and Southern India.
 Sixth Schedule – Autonomous District
Councils with extensive fiscal and
administrative powers. Applicable in
the states of the Northeast.
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Denial of Entitlements after
Independence
 Zamindari/Ryotwari common lands taken over by
FD but without following proper procedure.
 Settlement in Princely States heavily dispossessed
Adivasi communities. Problem of Forest Villages.
 Encroachments into revenue common lands and
forest lands and regularisation.
 Displacement due to development projects
 Mal-functioning of social and development sector
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Developmental Mal-function
Introduction of Tribal Subplan in
1975 to target adivasis
Neglect of Dryland Agriculture in
the Upper Watersheds
Unsuitability of IRDP packages
Unsuitability of Education
Irrationality of Health Services
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Legal Wrangles
 Denial of Basic Liberal
Democratic Rights
 Non-implementation of
Atrocities Act, Usury Acts,
Restoration of alienated land
provision.
 Conflicting laws, policies, GRs,
Court Judgments.
 Legality of JFM GRs
 Denial of Right to Livelihood
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Other Socio-economic Dynamics
 Adivasis considered as
menials by the OBCs and
the Upper Castes and this
gives strength to the State’s
oppressive policies.
 Globalisation has resulted in
an increase in the value put
on natural resources and so
adivasi habitats are being
targeted even more.
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Repressive Whip, Cooptive Sop and
Adivasi Self-rule
 Bhuria Committee Report and
the recommendation of 50%
share for adivasis in
development projects
 PESA.
 Confrontation in adivasi areas
 Consequences of Maoist
Movement
 Influence of Money Power in
Elections
 Decay of Traditional Adivasi
Culture
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Action Taken By Adivasi Mass
Organisations
 Mass Action
 Court Cases fought at the
local level
 The Samatha Case
 Intervention in the
Godavarman Case
 Advocacy through
various national level
forums
 Recognition of Adivasi
Rights Act
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The Road Ahead
 Positive integration into Modern Society,
Economy and Polity
 Scope for Cultural Revival
 Anarchism as a lifeline from the perils of Modern
Development
 Opportunities for Research, Advocacy, Legal and
Mass Action
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Readings
 Achebe, C (1990): Things Fall Apart, Allied Publishers, New Delhi.
 Banerjee, R (2008): The Decline and Fall of the Adivasi Homeland : A
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Tale of Two Worlds, The India Economic Review, Vol. 5 No. 3
Banerjee, R (2005): Pillar to Post in Quest of Justice, Economic and
Political Weekly, Vol. 40 No. 31
Breman, J (1985): Of Peasants, Migrants and Paupers: Rural Labour
Circulation and Capitalist Production in West India, Oxford
University Press, Delhi.
CSCST (The Comissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
GOI) (1990): Twentyninth Report, 1987-89, Govt. of India
Publications, New Delhi.
Hardin, G (1968): The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, No. 62.
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Readings (cont.)
 Mies, M (1999): Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale:
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Women in the International Division of Labour, Zed Books, NY.
Rahul (1997b): Reasserting Ecological Ethics: Bhils' Struggles in
Alirajpur, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 32 No.3
Savyasachi (1999): Tribal Forest Dwellers and Self Rule: Constituent
Assembly Debates on Fifth and Sixth Schedules, Indian Social
Institute, Delhi.
Shah, M, Banerji, D, Vijayshankar, P S & Ambasta, P (1998): India's
Drylands: Tribal Societies and Development through Environmental
Regeneration, Oxford University Press, Delhi.
Sharma, B D (2001): Tribal Affairs in India: The Crucial Transition,
Sahayog Pustak Kutir Trust, Delhi.
Thoreau, H D (2000): Walden: Or Life in the Woods, Harper, NY.
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