Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 and the Changing Contours of Tribal Identity in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand

Tribal identity is often seen within the binaries of tradition and modernity, thereby detracting us from recognizing the distinctiveness of indigenous tribal identity. Based on the empirical evidence collected from the Eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, this article explains how changes in the social substratum have influenced the adaptations to India’s Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, popularly known as the Forest Rights Act. It consciously deploys both traditional customs and modern law, without succumbing to either for advancing material claims over land and forest resources. However, in so doing, the article argues that tribal identity is a diffracted phenomenon that is mediated through region-specific historical conjunctures.