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Unraveling the Narratives of Adivasi Dispossession: A Case Study of Land Acquisition in Nagri Village, Jharkhand

  • Local/Global Encounters
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Abstract

This article reflects the field narratives about an episode of dispossession of the Adivasi (an indigenous community in India) conducted during a pilot study (2015) in a village called Nagri (Jharkhand, India). The case of Nagri offers a peculiar demonstration of arbitrary power inserted in a colonial law that continues to inform the Land Acquisition Act in postcolonial India, despite major amendments. The article discusses two broader questions. The first question is an inquiry into the ‘development model,’ which permeates certain forms of discursive power to emerge within legislation such as the Land Acquisition Act. This is demonstrated through understanding the violation of the ‘protective’ measures including Fifth Schedule Areas, which fundamentally ensures the rights of tribal communities in certain states including Jharkhand. The second part of the article investigates a specific case study of the Land Acquisition Act in the same area (Nagri). This case highlights a unique case of violation of the rights of the Adivasi. The core argument of the article emerges from the testimonies of the people, mostly women, who have been rendered landless and did not receive any compensation. The article presents a fundamental conflict that continues to persist with regard to innovative provisions such as ‘public purpose’ that had generated serious concerns about the Land Acquisition Act across India. The article also seeks to present in a limited manner the voice of people but it nonetheless underlines the apathy of the state toward the subaltern subjects in a democracy.

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Notes

  1. Sylvia Toppo: a fictitious name given to a respondent who was willing to give the interview. Ranjan, R. (2015) Conversation with Sylvia Toppo, 13 September.

  2. The areas in Jharkhand (India), where I conducted my fieldwork of people who were evicted from their agricultural land and were not given any compensation.

  3. The Right to Fair Compensation Act is a reformed version of the earlier Land Acquisition Act of 1894, which was made by the colonial government. However, this act was revised by the UPA government by including some of the relatively fair means through which the compensation could be paid to those whose property is taken for the ‘national interest’ and also rehabilitation for the same family could be given too.

  4. http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-right-to-fair-compensation-and-transparency-in-land-acquisitionrehabilitation-and-resettlement-amendment-ordinance-2014-3593/. Last accessed 21 July 2018.

  5. Raiyats are owners with legal property paper of the land.

  6. Section 17 (4) of Land Acquisition Act is a public purpose clause under which consent sometimes is considered immaterial.

  7. Ibid. Sylvia (2015).

  8. Ranjan, R. (2015) Conversation with Sumona and Birsa Toppo, 18th September.

  9. Ranjan, R. (2015) Conversation with Gladson Dungdung, 7th October.

  10. The decision came in the background of loss that was incurred by the Adivasi of Nagri. The report can be accessed; Prakash Tatia and Jaya Roy. (2012) In the High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi. Ranchi, p. 1–2. Available at: http://jhr.nic.in/hcjudge/data/50-2347-2012-11092012.pdf (Accessed: 15th November).

  11. Ranjan, R. (2015) Conversation with Sylvia Toppo, 15 September.

  12. Dayamani Barla is an indigenous rights activist based in Ranchi, Jharkhand. She has been fighting for the right of Adivasi for decades and had won several international awards for her contribution.

  13. Production Bail is a bail in which an accused can be withheld in the jail by frequently reissuing a charge against the accused.

  14. FIR also known as First Information Report.

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Ranjan, R. Unraveling the Narratives of Adivasi Dispossession: A Case Study of Land Acquisition in Nagri Village, Jharkhand. Development 60, 227–234 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41301-018-0171-8

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