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Abstract:
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"Territorial strategies of the colonial and postcolonial states have shaped natural resource governance and the resource rights regimes governing access to natural resources. In India, the critical components of territorialisation were cartographic mapping, survey and settlements, land titling, forest reservation etc., carried out mostly in 19th Century and first part of 20th Century under colonial state, with a second round being carried out through Land reforms after independence. In forested landscapes of Orissa, these processes took place mainly after independence, providing interesting material to examine intersections between territorialization, natural resource governance, local livelihoods and post colonial representative democracy. This paper will examine the contours of territorialization in forested landscapes of Orissa, its impacts on the landscapes and local livelihoods and the manner in which local actors dependent on natural resources responded to territorial strategies of the State. The paper explores the tension between the institutions of territoriality and the expanding institutions and habits of democracy in context of tribal areas of Orissa which have undergone dramatic transformation facilitated by Orissa's territorial strategies in the last half century. For instance, over 30,000 sq km of shifting cultivation land has been appropriated as state property, either as forest or revenue land. Individual property rights have been enforced on many tribes, which exercised communal ownership over at least part of their cultivated lands. The affected communities have responded in various ways, including open resistance, covert resistance and compliance. In recent years, there has been a thrust by local communities to try regain control over what they see as their legitimate territories through strategies like community protection of forests etc. At the same time, political pressure is being applied through democratic processes - one of examples which exemplifies democratic efforts to reverse undemocratic territorialisation is the effort to have a national law passed which formalizes rights of tribals over part of forest lands, bypassing the official custodian, the Forest Department. The paper shall draw upon the findings of the authors from a study on Tribal land alienation supported by World Bank and the predissertation work carried out by one of the authors who is working on territorialisation and democracy in Orissa. The findings of a number of field case studies are presented along with review of documents and state laws and policies. The nationwide and Orissa level mobilization for the passage of the tribal forest rights bill and its use of democratic spaces is also analyzed from the perspective of territorialisation and democratization. The paper ends with how this kind of analysis can provide directions for democratization natural resource management in countries like India."
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