Developmental approach vis-à-vis protection of tribal's land rights

Dr Konbrailatpam Ratnabali *

'Development' is a word that is used generally to connote economic development. And economic development in turn is differentiated from economic growth as it encapsulates many more beyond the rate of growth in economic indices such as GDP.

In this context Amartya Sen observed that "Issues of economic development in India have to be seen in the larger context of the demands of democracy and social justice... The achievement of high growth ... must ultimately be judged in terms of the impact of economic growth on the lives and freedoms of the people."

In other words, growth should lead to enhanced enjoyment of the freedoms by the people and improvement in the quality of lives of the people in general rather than select few. With this line of thought, we may examine whether development augments the rights of the tribal particularly with regard to their land.

Land and power are deeply intertwined with each other since time immemorial. During the medieval times, the sole source of power in the system of fiefdom and zamindari was land. Even today this limited resource of this planet is not only the source of power but also the space where identities of many communities are rooted.

Large tracts of land are required for the purpose of developmental projects such hydro-electric project, expansion of infra-structure, mining, establishment of industries, SEZ etc. The increase in the demand for land and hence its acquisition by the state is increasing day by day. But how is the government, whose raisons d'état, as per John Locke, is for the very protection of citizen's life, liberty and property, been able to acquisition even private lands of its people. This power of the state emanates from the concept of eminent domain i.e. the right of a state to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.

Acquisition of private land, both individual and community owned, by the state was justified on the ground that it is meant for 'public purpose'. After amendment made to Land Acquisition Act in 1984, state can now acquire private land even on behalf of private companies for some activity meant for 'public purpose'.

It may be noted that the focus of development post-independence in India was on economic growth with emphasis on industrialization. The demand of energy for industrialization was to be fuelled by large-scale hydroelectric projects and thermal plants set up in different parts of India. The industries needed exploitation of the rich natural resources that are found in areas mainly inhabited by the tribals.

Moreover, exploitation for minerals in the areas inhabited by STs is more lucrative as the population density is much less and market value of land is also much lower, and therefore, the cost of rehabilitation is found to be much lower so as to make these areas a natural choice for the investors.

But this "development" has nothing to do with making their lives better or more secure. On the contrary, they are assured of being up-rooted from their familiar surroundings and forced to learn how to survive in a societal set up which may be much different from their own.

It has been observed in several studies that tribals who have sacrificed their lot for the purpose of development find themselves at the receiving ends of these projects. In addition to deteriorating economic level of these people, such development projects initiated in the tribal areas have brought about large-scale socio-cultural disintegration of pre-existing cultures. In fact they have not benefitted economically from them and their culture has been adversely affected.

As per Vidyarthi, "The net result of the uprooted tribals in due course is loss of traditional occupation, land, house, traditional way of life, exhaustion of cash received by way of compensation, unemployment, keen and unfair competition with the migrants in the labour market, high aspirations and great frustration. All these find reflection in different types of unrest and agitation in tribal areas and are of great socio-political significance".

It may be observed that in spite of the various constitutional and other statutory provisions, tribals still find themselves struggling for their fundamental rights. Prakash has pointed out that the root cause for acquisition of tribal's lands, leading to destruction of vital sites on land, is development projects.

It is, therefore, important to know whether the developmental laws and policies appreciates the distinctive needs of the tribals or is it a problem of implementation rather than recognition. A study in this regard is the need of the hour.