ABSTRACT
Newspaper headlines have been blaring in February and March 2018 in the Tribal state of Jharkhand that ‘Pathalgadi’ (erection of stone slabs) is a movement that has evolved as a popular form of Adivasi protest in those villages where Adivasis have lost hope of development. The assertion of traditional rights of Adivasi villages as ‘Gram Ganarajyas’ (village republics) in this last year has taken sharp political overtones. The modern model of industrial growth that suits the government to deal with problem of population explosion gives undue advantage to the capitalists and the powerful. In these situations, marginalised communities resort to derive strength from laws - both traditional and modern. An empirical approach is adopted to address it as a conflict of ideologies that have originated since the passing of the PESA Act, 1996. Enriched by historical and empirical understanding of the evolving system of tribal village administration, the chapter will seek to unfold the nature and spectrum of the conflict, the causes of discontent against the present system of governance, the polarisation of the state and the people, and the recent modality of tribal protest drawing legitimacy from an official act, yet using it as a tool against the state itself.
