Industrialisation, internal colonialism and ethnoregionalism: the Jharkhand, India, 1880–1980

Abstract

Since Independence the politics of Chota Nagpur and Santal Parganas in Eastern India has been much influenced by the Jharkhand Party and by other organizations committed to the formation of a tribal Jharkhand State in South Bihar. Several theories have been advanced to account for the rise (and fall) of this “ethnoregionalism”. This paper examines the work of the Dhanbad Research Project, led by Dietmar Rothermund. The work of this Project is rooted in an internal colonialism framework. The paper first describes the nature of industrial growth in the Jharkhand since 1880. It then details the main propositions of the Dhanbad Research Project. Attention is drawn to the dual economy model adopted by Rothermund, and to the Project's insistence that the rural/ tribal areas of Jharkhand have been exploited by an intrusive industrial capital which generates few positive economic multipliers. The final section of the paper challenges this account and the model of “reactive ethnic politics” which it supports. Evidence is presented (1) of significant tribal representation in the mining and industrial labour forces of the Jharkhand; (2) of “permanent” tribal workers receiving wages sufficient for savings and capital accumulation; and (3) of the emergence of economic and political divisions within the tribal communities. This evidence is used to fashion an alternative account of the dynamics of Jharkhandi politics, and to explain the recent fracturing of the tribal block vote.