On the Future of Indigenous Traditions - Munin

hindrances for the Adivasis in this regard in Jharkhand today? Would there be
answers to these questions?
To find answers to these questions we have to look at the complex issue of Jharkhand
from within its historical as well as socio-political background. Can the Adivasis
claim of their customary system/laws and its revival as one of its answers? In the
following chapter I have touched up its historical development from a socio-political
point of view to find out how they have created a problem in the recent years in which
the Adivasis have become victims of the developmental processes. While in the past
their customary system was their social and political strength, they now face a big
challenge, to have their self-governance restored even in spite of having national law
(PESA) in their favour.
2.7 Jharkhand: prolonged non-formation of states
becomes a reason for further exploitation and neglect
Why was the formation of Jharkhand state delayed for all these years? 72 years, if
looking at it before independence and 53 years after it. How the development of the
modern state was used against the basic interest and identity of the Adivasis is a
serious question. It is especially, to see those policies made in the ‘national interest’
and ‘national development’ and the impact it had on the Adivasis and their social
organizations.
The administration of the Jharkhand region, metaphorically speaking, was given in
‘forced marriage’ to Bihar state, during the British time, which continued even after
the country’s independence by not given the status of independent statehood during
demarcation of state boundaries. Then it was the dewani or lagan – tax to the British,
and now it was the revenue it generated for the state. Initially the argument for not
making it a separate state was that there was no single language spoken in that region,
which was one of the preconditions in demarcating the state administrative
boundaries.
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