Land Rights in Jharkhand: an Analysis of Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act

The graph of the incessant conflict between the state and the people in Jharkhand on the issue of ownership and the usage of livelihood resources has once again shoot up in recent years. Consequently the governance of the state has entered into a critical phase. Resource alienation by both state and private parties has created social unrest, at a scale unprecedented in the post independence period. People’s struggle for survival exhibits two dimensions. The struggle without has as usually an impact on the struggle within. However, the gender struggle within the society has now taken a different turn as compared to the previous phases. Suppressing females in the name of ‘cleansing’ the society by the dominant males has now been replaced by the loud demand of the females for their resource rights. An effort has been made in this paper to understand the nature of these conflicts, in term of time and space, and also to come out with a set of recommendations for civil society interventions with a view to resolve the conflicts by democratic means.

Keywords: CNT, Tribe, Munda, Manki, Bhuinhar, Khuntkattidar.