This book provides a first-hand account of land conflict and power relations in one of the most resource-rich states in India ― Jharkhand. Through the eyes of the state, corporate, and indigenous actors, it reveals how conflict over land in Jharkhand is firmly embedded in the ideological foundations of the key actors in the region. Based on thorough research on the ground and interviews with state, corporate, and indigenous actors, the book explores a host of themes such as: the need and efficacy of state-led modernisation programmes, the market as the best regulator, and ‘ideas’ of development. The volume highlights how land conflicts in Jharkhand will persist until the ideological differences are recognised and welcomed in hopes of making way for collaborative governance.
This work will be a key intervention in the fields of area studies, especially South Asian studies, public policy, politics, and development studies.
Author(s): Gautam Pingali
Series: South Asia in Context
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 161
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CONTENTS
List of figures
Foreword by Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Preface
1. Introducing the conflict
The story of Jharkhand
The stance of the Indian state
The pursuit of industrial development
Framework for analysis
Land
Law
Progress
Outline of the chapters
2. Adivasis in colonial and post-colonial India
The isolation policies of the British
Defining ‘Scheduled Tribes’
Governing the ‘Scheduled Tribes’
3. Development in post-colonial India
India after independence (1947–1990): State-led modernisation
A new chapter in Indian history (1991 onwards): Era of neoliberalism
Adivasis and the fight for alternative models of development
Summary
4. Removing Adivasis from the Adivasi state
The failed vision of Greater Jharkhand
Education, a means to an end
The education paradox
Adivasis getting politically displaced
Masking the true numbers of Adivasis on paper
Summary
5. Agriculture, a ‘backward’ economy in the eyes of the state
Bypassing the agrarian question
Amending the laws to make way for industrialisation
The commodification of land
The creation of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act
Diluting the 2013 Land Acquisition Act
Summary
6. Corporate pressures, threats, and ultimatums
Frustrations with the land acquisition process
The ‘Modi wave’
Ordinances
The shift to the privatisation of governance
Growing leverage and increasing demands for land grabs
The concept of land banks
Make Jharkhand investor friendly
Summary
7. Adivasis’ resistance and persistence
Is this development?
An alternative model for development
The Pathalgadi movement
Strength in numbers
Summary
8. Violent and bloodied realities of ideologies in Jharkhand
Land, a resource to die for
Laws, are they a façade?
Progress, a reason for conflict
The collision of orthodoxies
The final word on the orthodoxies
9. The way forward for Jharkhand
Laws should be fairly implemented
Genuinely consult Adivasis
Land bank alternatives and improvements to the land acquisition process
Clearer definitions and accurate representation in Census
Adivasis in position of power
Collaborative governance
10. Closing remarks
Endnotes
References
Index
