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Abstract
Tribal land in Jharkhand, India, has been cultivated for generations by Adivasis, one of the largest aboriginal tribes of India. After India’s independence in 1947, the government-owned Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) was established as a tomb to the industrial development of a new India. Land for the massive project came from acquiring large tracts of Adivasi land. Even in cases where compensation was paid, the social and cultural costs borne by Adivasis far exceeded the land's market value. Our research (a) traces this history of how the discourse of modernization and development was used to justify dispossession of land; (b) how this led to the spatial displacement of tribes, separating extended families, affecting livelihood, and impacting tribal identity; and (c) how this loss has been transmitted intergenerationally over the past 70 years and become part of Adivasi folklore, deeply entrenched into the Adivasi psyche.
A qualitative research design examines the discourse on development, dispossession, and tribal identity. This will be integrated with the results of 20 semi-structured interviews with tribal leaders, community members, social activists, urban planners, lawyers, and subject-matter experts, including anthropologists and historians. A content analysis will identify key patterns from this integrated data. We expect our results to provide substantial evidence of how the rhetoric of modernization and development influenced HEC's acquisition of tribal land and how this loss of land impacted tribes by distancing and eventually eliminating them from their communities, traditions, and even their identity as agrarian tribes. Overall, our research findings will contribute to the discourse on development and help policymakers to understand Adivasi sentiments regarding land.
Publication Date
2026
Subject Major(s)
Urban planning and policy
Keywords
Heavy Engineering Corporation, HEC, Jharkhand, India, Adivasis, tribals, tribal land acquisition, tribal identity, land acquisition, development, displacement, qualitative research
Disciplines
Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social Justice | Social Policy | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning
Current Academic Year
Senior
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Niraj Verma
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Anila Surin
Rights
© The Author(s)
Included in
Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Social Justice Commons, Social Policy Commons, Urban Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons