From Sacred Landscapes to Extractive Frontiers: Development-Induced Displacement, Ecological Stress and the Reworking of Tribal Lifeworlds in Jharkhand
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Simultaneously imagined a homeland of Adivasi ecological cultures and an area identified as one of India’s mineral-industrial regions is Jharkhand. This paper studies the transition of spaces into extractive frontiers – land, forests, hills, rivers and sacred community sites – through mining, dams, industrial corridors, power projects, urban expansion and forest diversion. To examine the relationship of development-induced displacement and ecological stress with the reworking of tribal lifeworlds, the paper will focus on communities like Munda, Santhal, Ho, Oraon, Kharia. The paper does not claim on ground field data. Methodologically, it makes use of qualitative secondary analysis; critical policy review; and synthesis of case-study based on government reports, lawful frameworks, census material, academic literature and civil-society documentation. The authors argue that displacement in jharkhand is not merely a transfer of households from one site to another but a rupture of land-based social relations, of ritual geographies, of customary authority, of gendered labour and of intergenerational memory. Tribal communities are not only portrayed as victims of ‘development displacement’; but also, of the movements with which they are engaged over land, forest, dam, mine and sacred sites. The conclusion of the paper indicates that mineral-led development cannot be socially sustainable unless it is reoriented towards consent-based governance, community forest rights, culturally-grounded rehabilitation, ecological restoration and empowerment of tribal self-governance.
Authors: Achinta Roy, Jyotsna Halder
Institution: University of Calcutta
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7165381542