Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at how Adivasi and Dalit lives have been differently impacted by industrialisation in a village located in the Bhadrachalam scheduled area of Telangana to understand the processes of dispossession and proletarianisation that led to the marginalisation of already vulnerable groups.

Paper long abstract:

The Bhadrachalam tribal belt in Telangana is a scheduled area where Adivasi land and forest rights are protected by the Constitution. Regulation 1 of 1970 Act, which prohibits transfer of immovable property situated in the Agency tracts to non-tribals, is one of the most stringent pieces of legislation in the country protecting Adivasi territory. However, innumerable violations of this Act have taken place, in the form of development projects displacing Adivasis, industries exploiting local resources, or non-Adivasi settlers occupying tribal land. The natural wealth and fertile soils of the Godavari valley around Bhadrachalam have attracted farmers, industrialists, contractors and businessmen whose activities led to tribal land alienation and proletarianisation of the indigenous populations. To study these processes of dispossession and marginalisation of already vulnerable groups, fieldwork has been conducted in a village located less than 10 km away from Bhadrachalam and from ITC paper factory, a private company that started exploiting the abundant coal, water and forests available in that area in the 1970s. The presence of the factory intensified in-migration of outside labour, be it non-Adivasi employees or Lambadas who were given ST status by the Andhra Pradesh government and who came to Bhadrachalam for work or to benefit from various advantages offered by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency. The village study that provides the empirical material for this paper looks at the way ITC factory affected Adivasi and Dalit lives and livelihoods, by focusing on three groups (Koyas, Lambadas and Madigas) who have been differently impacted by industrialisation.