Colonialism and Armed Conflict in the Indian Countryside

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between British colonial rule and contemporary conflict in India. We argue that colonialism generated deep-seated grievances among tribal and low-caste communities that have ultimately resulted in armed conflict in rural areas. We identify three mechanisms that have given rise to conflict. First, the British exacerbated land inequality in rural areas by granting land ownership rights to zamindars and commandeering forest lands upon which tribal populations rely for sustenance. Second, the British state reified social inequalities in tribal and low-caste areas through their systematic categorization and ranking of caste and tribal communities. Finally, the British instituted a new bureaucratic apparatus that cemented these social inequalities through administrative practice, thereby fostering distrust of India’s legal system among low-caste and tribal groups. The hierarchical social and exploitative economic relationships that originated in the colonial period have had long-term deleterious effects on political stability in the countryside. We test this argument by looking at data on the current Naxalite conflict, which has been fueled by the grievances of tribal and low-caste groups. We analyze conflict outcomes in 595 districts from 2004-2009, specifically comparing areas that were under British rule with those that remained under the rule of native kings.