Abstract:

 Extensive literature exists on the way tribal land has been acquired for industrial, irrigation, power and mining projects. However, there is limited research on the procurement of land in the context of urban development which has been spreading in tribal areas. This article explores the modalities and mechanisms through which land is being procured in the context of urban development, specifically with reference to the emerging capital townships of Greater Ranchi and the New Shillong Township which fall in the Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas of the Indian Constitution. Using a comparative perspective, this study examines the implications of such development on affected people especially in the context of their constitutional and legal rights, entitlements, their modes of governance and the way they have been articulating and addressing these issues.

 

Bio of the speaker:

Dr. Aashish Xaxa is currently an Assistant Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences Discipline, at IIT Gandhinagar. He obtained his Ph. D. in Development Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, in 2021, where he was an ICSSR Doctoral Fellow. His broader research is on the urbanisation and changing Cityscapes of India, focusing on unexplored aspects of equity, governance, and social justice. His Ph. D. examined the development of tribes/indigenous peoples of Central and North-East India, with special reference to urbanisation, constitutional and legal provisions, development issues, land tenure systems, local governance and democracy, alienation and deprivation, from a comparative perspective.