As the law stands today, Adivasi lands are protected from alienation to non-tribals by constitutional mandate and statutory diktat. This is true for Schedule V areas across the country, and also in most States which have legislations prohibiting such transfers. It is this protection that the Maharashtra State BJP government wants to altogether do away with. The consequences of this disastrous policy on the Adivasis is not difficult to foresee.
Extractive developmental policies witnessed the commodification and exploitation of forests and minerals only to take a rapacious form with the advent of neoliberal economic policies, accompanied by the concomitant displacement of Adivasis, the primary guardians of the forests, has resulted in widespread devastation of Adivasi communities and their social, political and cultural rights. Here lies the continuity of State policies with the British colonial powers which facilitated large-scale plunder of forests and displacement of Adivasis, increased taxation, the advent of settlers and money lenders leading to landlordism and indebtedness, and subjugation of Adivasis through legislations such as the Permanent Settlement of 1793 and the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. History bears witness to the widespread Adivasi revolts, from the Halba rebellion between 1774-7 to the Tebagha Movement of 1946-47.
Determined struggles of the Adivasis, and an acknowledgement of their plight, resulted in the post-independence recognition of Adivasis as a distinct social category given special Constitutional and statutory protections. Notwithstanding the same, the independent Indian state unleashed its might on Adivasi communities, expropriating their lands, and committing plunder of the natural resources central to the very identity of Adivasis, all in the name of the nation’s development and progress. Alongside these were the forest laws and conservation policies that effectively privatised the forests away from the Adivasis only to be handed over to entrenched private commercial interests. The adoption of neo-liberal economic policies has accelerated this aggressive loot of forest and minerals, and market-driven tourism-oriented conservation policies, resulting in their systematic alienation from their forests and other natural resources. The systematic dismantling of these protections has been one of the hallmarks of the Modi regime.
Removing Adivasis from the forests has become essential in the pursuit of the Modi government’s pro-corporate policies. This is resulting to massive land alienation of Adivasis, within and beyond the Fifth and Sixth Schedule Areas, and the protections of special legislations safeguarding the land of Adivasis, like PESA, Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, etc. that prohibited transfer of lands from Adivasis to non-Adivasis, is consciously diluted. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, enacted to undo “historic injustice” to Adivasis, has been weak and partial, at best, with wholesale rejection of land claims of Adivasis, and their continued eviction and removal from forest lands reaching alarming proportions. So-called conservationists and environmentalists have challenged the FRA in the Supreme Court, which is still pending. The ongoing pressure to use forest areas for mining, tourism and other alleged development projects, among other reasons, has left the Adivasi people's rights over the forest in a precarious position.
Even so, the existing constitutional and legal framework reflecting the historical basis for their protection, serves as a yardstick to measure the transgressions of the state. Moreover these have served as tools for organisation and struggle in the hands of the Adivasi communities. The history of the Adiasvi communities in the country is one of struggle to protect their culture, beliefs, language, social and political systems, and, central to all this, their stewardship of jal, jungle, jameen. Ensuring the implementation and strengthening of this legal framework is a part of the larger Adivasi struggle for protection of their forest lands, which serve as their ancestral home, means of subsistence, and cultural cradle.
When viewed in this context, the BJP government’s proposal in Maharashtra to “permit” lease of Adivasi lands to corporate entities, is a new front being opened to deprive Adivasis of their traditional forests and lands. Driving Adivasis out of their traditional lands does not only serve the BJP’s corporate cronies, but also aids in the persistent project of the Sangh Parivar to deny the distinct culture of Adivasi communities. The Sangh Parivar refuses the use of “Adivasi” and instead has adopted the term “vanvasi” mirroring its rejection of the belief that Adivasis are the original inhabitants of the country. In fact, a key feature of the Sangh Parivar’s fascist project is assimilation of Adivasis into the Hindu mainstream because of their belief that Adivasis are yet to conform to the framework of caste Hindu society and overcome their general ‘backwardness’. Moreover, even as anti-Muslim sentiment remains the central narrative underpinning Sangh Parivar’s attempts at consolidating Hindu majoritarianism, attention is also towards the Christian adivasi communities using the bogey of ‘forced conversions’. Thus, even as Adivasi lands and resources face the assault of an aggressive pro-corporate policies, their very identity as “Adivasis” faces its biggest challenge yet.
The Adivasi communities have repeatedly demonstrated their resilience and struggle against forces threatening their way of life and their very existence. The fight against this fascist assault may yet represent a defining moment in the battle to save India’s democracy and Constitution.
