This volume examines the processes and impacts of exclusion on the Adivasis (tribal or indigenous people) in India and what repercussions these have for their constitutional rights. The chapters explore a wide range of issues connected to the idea of exclusion — land and forest resources, habitats and livelihoods, health and disease management, gender relations, language and schooling, water resources, poverty, governance, markets and technology, and development challenges — through case studies from different parts of the country. The book argues that any laws intended to safeguard the fundamental rights of Adivasis must acknowledge the fact that their diverse and complex identities are not homogenous, and that uniform laws have failed to address their systemic marginalisation since the colonial era. This work appeals for a serious and meaningful political intervention towards tribal development. The volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of tribal and Third World studies, sociology and social anthropology, exclusion studies and development studies.

This volume examines the processes and impacts of exclusion on the Adivasis (tribal or indigenous people) in India and what repercussions these have for their constitutional rights. The chapters explore a wide range of issues connected to the idea of exclusion — land and forest resources, habitats and livelihoods, health and disease management, gender relations, language and schooling, water resources, poverty, governance, markets and technology, and development challenges — through case studies from different parts of the country. The book argues that any laws intended to safeguard the fundamental rights of Adivasis must acknowledge the fact that their diverse and complex identities are not homogenous, and that uniform laws have failed to address their systemic marginalisation since the colonial era. This work appeals for a serious and meaningful political intervention towards tribal development. The volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of tribal and Third World studies, sociology and social anthropology, exclusion studies and development studies.

The seventh volume in the ambitious Rethinking India series, Being Adivasi: Existence, Entitlements, Exclusion looks at the process of development and how it clashes with the rights of the Adivasis. The volume serves not as an academic exercise but, in addressing the larger readership, as a prelude to the change that will bring to the Adivasis some measure of their rights as citizens of a democratic country. The essays in the volume address the persistent problems faced by the Adivasis and Denotified Tribes, from questions of their distinct identity to land alienation, indebtedness and displacement from ancestral lands. Persistent problems faced by the Adivasis-land alienation, indebtedness, vanishing minor forest products from government forests and displacement from their ancestral lands-led to their impoverishment. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act and the Forest Land Rights Act (FRA) enacted by the previous governments were decisive steps towards the empowerment of the Adivasis. However, at present, the implementation of these provisions has taken a back seat. This volume of the Rethinking India series presents the views of the Adivasis and the Denotified Communities on the process of development and its clash with their rights.

This book looks at the contested relationship between Adivasis or the indigenous peoples, migrants and the state in India. It delves into the nature and dynamics of competition and resource conflicts between the Adivasis and the migrants. Drawing on the ground experiences of the Dandakaranya Project – when Bengali migrants from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were rehabilitated in eastern and central India – the author traces the connection between resource scarcity and the emergence of Naxalite politics in the region in tandem with the key role played by the state. He critically examines the way in which conflicts between these groups emerged and interacted, were shaped and realised through acts and agencies of various kinds, as well as their socio-economic, cultural and political implications. The book explores the contexts and reasons that have led to the dispossession, deprivation and marginalisation of Adivasis. Through rich empirical data, this book presents an in-depth analysis of a contemporary crisis. It will be useful to scholars and researchers of political studies, South Asian politics, conflict studies, political sociology, cultural studies, sociology and social anthropology.

This volume discusses the themes of exclusion and inclusion vis-à-vis the Adivasis in India. It locates Adivasis' development and impediments to their growth within a larger regional, national, and global, context, and provides a framework to overcome deprivation faced by them.

This book draws upon nearly seven decades of first-hand experiences from the ground to understand social exclusion, and movements and efforts for social justice in India. The author, a renowned champion of social justice for deprived social classes, delves into the roots of discrimination in Indian society as well as explains why caste discrimination still persists and how it can be effectively countered. The volume: examines the caste system and its socio-economic ramifications from the perspective of Dalits, and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes; explores the nuances of the Gandhi–Ambedkar debate on the status and liberation of Dalits and synthesis of the approaches of Gandhi, Ambedkar, Narayana Guru and Marx in resolving certain key issues; analyses legal, economic, social and cultural frameworks to understand caste system and related concepts such as ‘untouchability’, atrocities, reservation, etc. in contemporary India; and provides practical insights into the Constitution-based comprehensive measures required to remedy the consequences of caste system and establish social equality in a holistic manner. The book will interest scholars and researchers of social exclusion and social justice, Dalit, Adivasi and Backward Classes studies, sociology and social anthropology, politics, law and human rights, as well as policy-makers, think tanks and NGOs in the field.