Abstract
On 13 September 2007, India joined 142 other members of the United Nations General Assembly for voting in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Article 26 of that document guarantees to Indigenous people the ‘right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired’, and obligates states to ‘give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources’. In providing this recognition, states should provide ‘due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned’.
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Notes
- 1.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/295 of 13 September 2017.
- 2.
See http://www.jharkhand.gov.in/minerals, date accessed 10 June 2017.
- 3.
Rules for the administration of Civil Justice within the jurisdiction of the Agent to the Governor-General under Regulation XIII of 1833. The Original copy of the Rules, with the signature of Captain Wilkinson is missing. However, the High Court in Patna, Bihar, has been applying a copy in deciding cases.
- 4.
Bengal Act 6 of 1908, an Act to amend and consolidate certain enactments relating to the law of Landlord and Tenant and settlement of rents in Chotanagpur.
- 5.
See https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/04/04/local-tribes-protest-changes-in-jharkhand-land-laws, date accessed 10 June 2017.
References
S. Dasgupta (2016) ‘“Heathen aboriginals”, “Christian tribes” and “animistic races”: Missionary narratives on the Oraons of Chhotanagpur in colonial India’, Modern Asian Studies, 50(2), 437–78.
J. Prakash Gupta (2002) ‘The Customary Laws of the Munda and the Oran’, Jharkhand Tribal Welfare Research Institute, Ranchi, India.
J. Hendry, M. L. Tatum, M. Jorgensen, and D. Howard-Wagner (2018) Indigenous Justice: New Spaces, Tools, and Approaches, (Palgrave).
S. Engle Merry (2001) ‘Spatial Governmentality and the New Urban Social Order: Controlling Violence through Law’, American Anthropologist, 103(1), 16–29.
P. Chandra Oraon (Director) (2003) ‘A Report on ‘The Wilkinsons Rule in the Kolhan Area’, Jharkhand Tribal Welfare Research Institute, Ranchi, Jharkand.
M. Radhakrishna (2016) First Citizens: Studies on Adivasis, Tribals and Indigenous peoples in India, (India: OUP).
A. Shah (2010) In the Shadows of the State: Indigenous Politics, Environmentalism and Insurgency in Jharkhand, India, (Duke University Press).
R. Sharan (2009) ‘Alienation and Restoration of Tribal Land in Jharkhand’, in N. Sundar (ed.) Legal Grounds: Legal Resources, Identity and the Law in Jharkhand, (India: OUP).
C. Upadhya (2009) ‘Law, Custom and Adivasi Identity: Politics of Land Rights in Chotanagpur’, in N. Sundar (ed.) Legal Grounds: Legal Resources, Identity and the Law in Jharkhand, (India: OUP).
Legislation
Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908.
Constitution of India.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Wilkinson’s Rule (WR) 1837.
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Mukherjee, A. (2018). Customary Law and Land Rights: The Cautionary Tale of India, Jharkhand, and the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act. In: Hendry, J., Tatum, M., Jorgensen, M., Howard-Wagner, D. (eds) Indigenous Justice. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60645-7_7
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