Archaeology of ‘development’: state development policies and projects, limited self-governance, and an attempt towards self-governance as practice of self-determination in resource-rich and tribal areas of India
Student name: Ms Sanjana Kumari Sanjay Kumar
Guide: Dr Nandan Nawn and Dr Julien-Francois Gerber
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: TERI University
Abstract: The central argument of the thesis is the need to balance ‘modernity’ with ‘traditional’. In this line of thought, a tribe fighting for accessibility of its resource against a mining company can ask for non-subsistence or ‘aspirational’. Assertion of non-subsistence (aspirational) tribal ‘development’ or forest based rights in no way makes IPs lesser entitled to protection of rights over their own land, as changing tribal landscapes require a balance between ‘modernity’ and ‘traditional’ way of life. This understanding is the essence of the right to self-governance. With this idea at the centre, the thesis analyses the potential of (limited) self-governance in balancing aspirations with needs, and ‘mainstream’ with ‘traditional’. Moving from limited self-governance to self-governance as a practice of the right to self-determination, it tries to contextualize contracts for tribal development, in case of India.
Key words : Post-development, mainstream ‘development’, self-governance, disciplinary power, forest governance, tribal development
