| Popis: |
Recent history has seen an intense resistance to large-scale mining by the Adivasi (indigenous people) whose subsistence resources of land are encroached on by mining companies for economic growth and profit. At the core of the conflict between the poor and the mining companies lies the issue of ownership, rights and control over land. This chapter situates Adivasi protests in the context of the promises of a social contract between the state and citizens, mutually constructed when India became independent from colonial rule. The contract became a basis for expectation from the state; it set rules and regulations, norms and standards for the state to follow. The chapter argues that the social contract provides strength and legitimacy to Adivasi protests to secure their land rights when the state violates the contract by siding with mining companies. The protests are sites where the fractures in the social contact between the state and people are palpable; they are also the sites where the negotiation of social contract animates Adivasi imagination and action. |
