ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to critically examine the contemporary processes of governance of mineral and forest resources in Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research, it explores the regional political ecology of natural resource appropriation deeply entrenched in the neoliberal agenda of the state that has significantly deprived the Scheduled Tribes of their fundamental rights and made their livelihoods highly vulnerable in Bastar. Despite vast endowment of natural resources, Bastar continues to be infamous for extreme poverty, malnutrition, lack of basic facilities and unemployment today. It has also been at the core of the Left Wing Extremism movement over the past 50 years. The over-extraction of natural resources, particularly minerals and forests, and the exclusionary development processes – mining and hydro-power projects – have largely benefitted the Indian state and a few private corporations at the cost of marginalization of the Scheduled Tribe populations in the region. The article suggests that effective implementation of public policies such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006, strategic investment of the royalties from mining activities in the socio-economic development, strengthening the forest-based livelihoods and ensuring active participation of the tribal communities in the governance of natural resources will safeguard the rights, conserve the rapidly degrading resource base, provide sustainable livelihood opportunities and enhance the well-being of the Scheduled Tribes by putting an end to the ongoing resource conflict in Bastar, Chhattisgarh.
