Internecine between the Indian State and the Adivasis (indigenous people), under Neo-Liberalism
A case of Lanjigarh Resistance Movement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26512/abyayala.v2i1.10695Keywords:
Collective mobilization, Tribal protest movements, New social movements, Civil society, neoliberalismAbstract
The Anti-Vedanta movement at Lanjigarh had rocked the interior district of Kalahandi in the Indian state of Odisha. It was a fiercely fought movement (2002-2014) by the Adivsis (Dongria Kondh) against state of Odisha and VAL the mining based heavy metal MNC licensed under neo-liberal policy. The project had displaced 302 Adivasi families and was to mine in the Niyamgiri mountains to which the Adivasis were attached for livelihood and religious-cultural purposes. The displaced hence rallied around issues of cultural threats, environmental threats and inadequate R&R measures against loss of livelihood and natural habitat. The paper analyses empirically: (i) the threats posed to Adivasi identity by this so called modernization process by endangering their cultural patterns, social relations, economic organizations and pristine ecosystem. (ii) the inherent paradoxes of this development discourse based on neo-liberalism; as the state imposes a kind of development model with its right to develop its subjects (by over riding the subjects’ right to experience development differently). (iii) how the civil society guided the movement to ensure implementation of relevant legal provisions like, 5th schedule of the constitution, Article 244 (i), PESA 1996, FRA 2006 and Odisha scheduled areas act 1956 meant to protect Adivasis. It concludes that the state is being forced to share space with the civil society as a result of neo-liberalism.
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