Tribes and Urban Development

Abstract

newline My doctoral research explores the modalities and the mechanisms by which land alienation newline and land acquisition takes place in the context of urban development in tribal areas. It also newline looks into the implications of such development on the affected tribal people in regard to their newline livelihood and constitutional and legal rights and entitlements and the way they have been newline articulating and addressing their issues. The setting of my study is at Greater Ranchi newline (Jharkhand) and New Shillong Township (Meghalaya). newline An interesting aspect of the urban development in the two settings, is that both happen to newline lie in tribal land/areas except that one falls in the Fifth and another in the Sixth Scheduled Area newline of the Indian Constitution respectively. These areas have been, through constitutional newline provisions, earmarked as lands that non-tribal groups cannot purchase. On the other hand, newline tribals can sell their land only to the tribals. If land is being sold to non-tribals, this could be newline done only with the approval of the concerned authority i.e., the district magistrate in the case newline of the Fifth Schedule and the autonomous council in the case of the Sixth Schedule. newline Notwithstanding such provisions, there has been alienation of tribal land from tribes to non- newline tribes as well as acquisition of tribal lands by the state as well as by non-state actors. newline There exists a lacuna in academic documentation of the phenomena mentioned above in newline the context of urbanisation and urban development in the Scheduled areas. Although a large of newline number of towns and cities have grown in Scheduled areas, tribals form a negligible section of newline the urban population. It is only recent years that one can see their visibility. Hence it becomes newline worth exploring as to how the protective provisions provided in the constitution, legal newline enactments and administrative rules have been accommodated and negotiated in Scheduled newline areas. It is in this context that my thesis analyses the urban development taking place in Greater newline Ranchi and New Shillong Township.