Paper short abstract:

The paper tries to expound the concept of metamorphosed dispossession by empirically grounding it with the data collected from the fieldwork in Odisha. It also looks at the ways through which dispossessed are incorporated into the production process.

Paper long abstract:

The literature on dispossession in the past few decades suggests that the present phase of dispossession is quite distinct from the “classical case”. Two processes of dispossession take place simultaneously in the current context, that can be termed as metamorphosed dispossession. One, the expansion of agrarian accumulation creating a large mass of landless people in the rural areas. Second, the corporate capital through the help of global finance capital, acquiring land for expanded reproduction especially in the rural areas. While the former takes place largely through market mechanisms the latter takes place through deception, coercion, material compensation and normative persuasion. Our study tries to focus on the second kind of dispossession that is taking place in India.

In order to understand the ways through which people have been dispossessed and incorporated into the production relations in the neoliberal period, the case of a private bauxite mining plant in Rayagada, Odisha, India is seen. Using the concept of conjugated oppression, we show how the dispossessed people belonging mainly to the marginalised social groups such as Schedule Caste(historically underprivileged caste) and Schedule Tribes (indigenous communities) have been adversely incorporated into the production relations. The paper also shows how informalisation in general and mining in particular, has further increased the vulnerability of labour, with 84 percent of the employment being provided through the sub-contractors. A hierarchy of labour is created in the employment of the dispossessed with women at the bottom of the hierarchy getting least wages.