Owning the Land: Significance of Tenancy Laws in Jharkhand

Land and forests have been the mainstay of the Adivasi lives. More than valuing nature for their economic use value, the adivasis have lived in harmony with nature and practiced subsistence living. Land for them has never been a piece of property to be owned privately, but the communities have owned it collectively and therefore land become such an important part of the Adivasi lifeworld. Some of the well-known Adivasi movements in India emerged in today’s Jharkhand fighting for their rights over jal (water), jangal (forest) and jameen (land). The present paper examines the significance of the tenancy laws namely the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, for the tribal population of Jharkhand. After independence, the Bihar Land Reforms Act 1950 abolished all intermediary tenure holdings, but the tenancy laws in the tribal areas of present Jharkhand were exempted. In the name of development, the state governments have tried to amend the Acts a few times but have met with strong resistance from the people. These colonial acts which were used by the British colonisers to appease the tribals functions as a weapon to protect the tribals against the imperialistic tendencies of the present state. The paper briefly reviews the tenancy laws in Jharkhand and argues that these laws have been crucial for the tribal population. The arguments are based on the study conducted by the author during her doctoral study.