Jharkhand is a mineral rich state of India, which was created from the tribal dominated districts of Bihar in 2000. This was done to give the indigenous tribal people living here a control over the state’s resources. However, the last few years have seen Neo-liberal development model dominate the political and economic landscape in the state. Thus, even though a large number of industries have been established, the fruits of Neo-liberal development have not always trickled down to the indigenous groups. Moreover, many of these new industries have been set up in the common property resources like forests and lakes. The indigenous people have used these common property resources to collect minor forest produce (MFP) and non-timber forest products (NFTP), earning much needed cash by selling them. As MFPs and NFTPs are collected mostly by women, the common property resources have provided indigenous women with an agency, which is now under threat. Thus, the state of Jharkhand in effect still remains a peripheral area as its resources are governed by metropolitan elites. Other tribal dominated states like Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Mizoram are protected from many of these problems of Neo-liberal development by the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Sixth Schedule protects tribal groups through the creation of autonomous tribal councils in these states. These councils have extensive rights over common property resources and thus, they secure tribal interest over corporate interests. However, the Sixth Schedule is not extended to Jharkhand and therefore, no such constitutional safeguard is available here. Using secondary data on the impact of development on the indigenous people of Jharkhand, the paper creates a set of rules and guidelines for setting up new industries. Finally, to ensure that these rules and guidelines are universally implemented in the state, the paper argues for enacting constitutional provisions similar to Sixth Schedule for the state.
Mots clés : Indigenous People|Neo-liberal Development|Common Property Resources|Indian Constitution|Sixth Schedule
A103509GP