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Role Of Agents and Institutions in the Forced Displacement of Indigenous Tribes in India

Student: Kumar Priyanka

Supervisor: Anna Nikitichna Potsar

Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences

Educational Programme: Political Analysis and Public Policy (Master)

Year of Graduation: 2020

India is the world’s largest electoral democracy constituted by diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Certain ethnic and religious minorities have suffered years of systematized societal and state sanctioned oppression over centuries. One such group are the Scheduled Tribes or tribal communities of India that constitute approximately 8% of the Indian population. These are heterogeneous tribal communities spread all across India with distinctive culture and practices. These groups were either criminalized or shunned as uncivilized and backward during the colonial era and were regularly dispossessed of their lands. The Constitution makers of India in the post-independence era strived to design it to protect and safeguard the rights and interests of these oppressed minorities, in the form of granting relative autonomy to spatially demarcated regions with tribal majorities. The State sought to uplift these minorities and bring them up to the socio-economic standards of the majority mainstream society, for example, by making reservations in government jobs and educational institutions. Despite this, the social and economic indicators of the performance of tribal communities is abysmally low. Poverty and landlessness is rampant amongst these groups despite having constitutional provisions protecting their rights to land. The question then arises as to why, in spite of having specialised constitutional safeguards and laws to protect the rights of these communities, are the tribals the most vulnerable and marginalized communities in India. Another factor to consider it the spatial distribution of tribal communities, which is, that they inhabit some of the most mineral and resource rich regions of the country. For this, they are also the group that disproportionately suffer the brunt of industrial and infrastructural development of the nation. Land protected by the Constitution is still not exempt of being acquired by the State using the power of eminent domain. This paper strives to analyse the narrative that has dictated the formulation and implementation of policies associated with the protection of tribal rights. Also, through the comparative analysis of constitutional, legislative and administrative frameworks grounding the specialised protection of tribal communities and the analysis of data concerning construction of dams and mines in these area, this paper attempts to throw some light on how laws have been compromised and Scheduled tribes have been marginalized in this country, for economic development. Further, this paper runs a comparative analysis, temporally, of the land acquisition policies that have existed in India. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework, the paper analyses the development of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency Land Acquisition Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the most recently formulated land acquisition policy, which arose out of the need to protect those, most susceptible to forced dispossession. The role that coalitions have played in the formulation, implementation and dilution of the Act. A content analysis of the law follows, in order to evaluate the extent to which the design is effective in protecting the minorities it claims to protect. The paper then concludes with recommendations on effective implementation of existing policies and roles that actors can play in order to ensure this.

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