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Tata Institute of Social Sciences-Guwahati Campus

NATIONAL SEMINAR 22-24 November2012

Governance, Socio-Economic Disparity and Social Unrest in the Scheduled Areas of India
India is a country of rich diversity in terms of culture, religion and people. This is reflected in the complex heterogeneous Indian society where there are wide ranging differences in context to ones individual social affiliations. Though the tribes are not part of the discriminatory social order based on the caste system, yet they can be termed as groups of people who have undergone deprivation, exploitation and oppression from the non-tribals. Tribes in India constitutes 8.19 percent of the Indian population and in contrast to its number, it has above 500 tribal communities with their distinctive ethnic identity. To safeguard the rights and interests of the tribal people in India, the scheduled areas were formulated under the Indian Constitution. There are also government reservations in educational and employment opportunities. The Indian Constitution envisaged bringing about development and progress among the tribal communities and further assimilation of these groups with mainstream Indian society. However in reality such accomplishments are yet to achieve.

The Scheduled Areas are termed as Fifth and Sixth Scheduled Areas under Article 244 (1) and (2) of Part X of the Indian Constitution. This provision brought a process of decentralisation which enables the tribal population to have separate laws for the governance and administration of these areas. This provision also allows them to preserve their distinct identity, history, customary practices and traditional beliefs. The Fifth Schedule of the Indian constitution includes the tribal dominant areas located in nine states of India. The Sixth Schedule provides for the creation of Autonomous Councils for their self administration. In addition to the Autonomous Councils in the Sixth Schedule areas, some tribe specific special autonomous councils have also been created through the state enactments in Assam and Manipur. Since the Scheduled Areas, have the provision for Autonomous districts/territorial/ regional councils, huge amount of funds are directly allocated from the Centre to

these areas. These councils though are provided with funds for their self governance, they do not seem to function as anticipated.

The process of decentralisation at the grass root level have been done in the Scheduled Areas by implementing the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, enacted under the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA). This Act covers most of the Fifth schedule areas. This right to self governance recognises the gram sabha as the representative of the people, providing them with a range of powers. These further ensure to safeguard the interest of the scheduled tribes. However the experiences of PESA in last fifteen years have not been very positive. The PESA envisages self governance in the tribal communities, but in reality such participatory democracy has not been very successful.

The Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution were specifically outlined for the protection of the scheduled tribes of the country. However the constitutional safeguards have not necessarily guaranteed them their share of special rights. It is a fact that about 80% of the natural resources of the country are found in scheduled areas. Soon after the countrys independence the government followed a policy that was known as Nehruvian model of development, for rapid industrial development. The government built massive dams and exploited the natural resources of these areas to the fullest. The process of globalisation that was introduced under the New Economic Policy in the early nineties accelerated this development in a whole new dimension. As we know for most tribal people, land and forest use rights traditionally were derived from tribal membership. However, in last couple of decades the forest cover in these areas have degraded, poverty among the tribals is increasing. Earlier it was only the state sponsored industries that exploited the resources of these areas but with the coming of the transnational corporations and other activities like illegal mining etc, such exploitation seem to only increase. Not only are the tribals uprooted from their lands and denied of their livelihoods, their entire social and cultural fabric is weakened. Many have lost their livelihood and are living in extreme poverty. Added to their misery is their age old subordination and discrimination from the non-tribals. The exposure to the outside world brought forth influx of non-tribals into their territories. This resulted in causing a threat to their tradition and identity leading to widespread unrest. Also there have been incidents of ethnic clashes among different groups residing in the autonomous councils. The minority ethnic groups feel constantly threatened by the majority ethnic group. Hence problems of insurgency and naxalism in these areas are quite common. The north eastern states, though an integral part of India, have received step motherly treatment from the Central government. Draconian laws like the AFSPA

allows the central forces deployed in some of these disturbed areas power to arrest or shoot any suspect. This has led to severe human rights violations and the civil liberties are jeopardized.

The Scheduled Areas have multiple challenges and problems. The primary aim to establish such areas by the Indian constitution was to protect these groups of people. But for long there have been utter negligence on the part of the government to empower them and integrate them to the whole process of development. Thus it becomes necessary to discuss and debate on issues which have threatened their social, cultural, political and economic identity as a group and also how far they themselves have been successful in cases where they have the power to self-administer. Also, it becomes important to look at the newer challenges it faces with regard to globalisation, media, forest rights and ecological justice, state and militancy, ethnic conflicts, exclusion and inclusion in terms of ethnicity or religion etc which is hampering their overall growth and development. The workshop will also be open to innovative ideas and possible solutions to the problems faced so that better opportunities can come up for the scheduled areas.

Keeping in view the above issues, the following are the sub-themes: Sub-Themes I. Making of Scheduled Areas

i) Historical process ii) Constitutional, Legal and Administrative framework iii) Social change and transformation II. Governance Issues i) ii) iii) iv) Working of constitution and the Scheduled Acts Autonomous Councils, PESA etc. Tribal rights in land and forest Forest Rights Acts

III. Economic Dimension i) ii) iii) iv) Agrarian Structure and Change Economic Diversification Social Differentiation Working of Livelihood schemes

IV. Social Development i) Health Public Health Working of Health schemes

Women, Children and Health

ii) Education Status of School Education: enrolment, stagnation and dropouts Higher education: Problems and challenges Language, Culture and Education V. Tension and conflict i) ii) iii) iv) Problems of insurgency and militancy Human Rights issues Displacement and Migration Ethnic Conflicts

VI. Ecology and Environment i) Status of Forest ii) Working of Forest Acts iii) Mines, dams and other infrastructure development issues VII. Media and public sphere i) Public space and Journalism in Scheduled Areas ii) Role of Media in conflict iii) National media coverage in Scheduled Areas

Details of Submission:
Venue: TISS-Guwahati Campus Conference Hall Abstract limit: 150-200 words Last date for receiving abstracts: 31 July 2012 Intimation regarding acceptance of abstract: 20 August' 2012 Last date of submission of full paper: 10 October' 2012 Contact us: tissghyseminar@gmail.com

***Selected paper presenters will be allowed second class three tier AC train round trip fare upon production of actual travel documents. Accommodation will be arranged for the paper presenters.

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