The politics of dispossession and compensation in the eastern Indian coal belt

Abstract

Ethnographic studies in sites of land dispossession for large capital projects have revealed the diversity of local political responses to this process, from fierce resistance to compliance. The theoretical challenge, in this context, is to trace the particular factors that affect this politics, and the conditions under which different reactions to dispossession unfold. Drawing on fieldwork in an Adivasi (tribal) village adjacent to an opencast coal mine in Jharkhand, India, this article seeks to contribute to this inquiry. It illustrates how, in a predominantly precarious labour environment, the possibility of formal employment as compensation for expropriated land, and the ways in which such employment enables class mobility, can play a salient role in shaping local political dynamics around dispossession. The analysis shows how, in the community studied, compensatory jobs for dispossession gave rise to new class differentiation and shifts in political relations that have acted to curb potentialities of resistance – precisely in a context in which opposition to dispossession could have otherwise been considered likelier to emerge.

Dispossession by Mining and Differentiation Among Young Men by Chalaki in Eastern India

“…By facilitating access to Utkal bosses while navigating a risky environment, chalak men spurred young men's aspirations of 'doing well' or finding jobs or improving their employability. At a broader level-and as has been documented in the context of mining (see Dhagamwar, De, and Verma 2003;Gardner 2012;Kirsch 2014;Noy 2022;Rajak 2011;Welker 2014; see also Parry 2020)-chalak men were part of the relationships of patronage, elite pacting, dependency and control established to manage truculent local men, prevent disruptive action and minimise opposition, such as the scuffles they had with officials.…”

“…Curiously, the PSSP leaders considered Utkal’s engagement with the chalak for personal gains selfish and ‘immoral’ ( aniti ) (Noy 2022). But the villagers asked, ‘What else is the way out?’; ‘we cannot just sit back?’; ‘the company has tricked us and taken away everything, how would we survive?’ In the context of jugaad, and by analysing morality and power, Beatrice Jauregui’s important ethnographic work on the police in Uttar Pradesh (2014) disrupts the distinction between virtue and corruption and suggests that in contexts marked by instability, iniquity and temporariness, jugaad entails not merely the transgression of moral boundaries but also a reconfiguration of boundaries.…”

“…Conceptually, the chalak appear to be closer to Krishna's (2002) concept of naya neta (new leaders), young and educated men from the lower and middle castes in rural Rajasthan who provided services to villagers. 18 The chalak were still seen as people who instead of pursuing their own selfish goals brought development to their village and helped the relatively educated young men in the community obtain sponsorships (Noy 2022). Yet, in pressing claims of sponsorships, contracts and development on the company, these individuals navigated a high-risk, high-stakes environment every day that was both unpredictable 17 As such, these casual jobs brought salaries that were lower than the Odisha Labour and ESI Department's prescribed minimum daily wages of `220 that year for unskilled workers (Notification from Office of the Labour Commissioner: Odisha.…”

Unpicking Precarity: Informal Work in Eastern India's Coal Mining Tracts

“…According to a household survey conducted as part of fieldwork, 85 per cent of households in Karampot engage in this economic activity. As discussed elsewhere (Noy, 2020(Noy, , 2022, a minority of Adivasis in the village, originally from another hamlet, have been able to obtain formal employment in the colliery as compensation for having lost land for mining and for being displaced, as part of CIL's Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy. This group constitutes a local Adivasi labour aristocracy, and is distinguished from the majority of villagers, who depend on precarious work.…”

“…A distinct subset within the category of 'project-affected people' are villagers who have been directly dispossessed of land for mining, for whom the company, according to its Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, should in principle offer a compensatory colliery job (CIL, 2012). Elsewhere, I examine the actual process by which such jobs are distributed (Noy, 2022). 16.…”