When The Guardian Fails: Institutional Breakdown And The Crisis Of Tribal Land Protection In Jharkhand

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Niranjan Baghwar, Jharkhand Rai University Ankita Toppo, Jharkhand Rai University

ABSTRACT

Jharkhand is home to one of India's largest tribal populations, yet tribal communities continue to lose their land at an alarming rate, not because the law fails to protect them, but because the institutions meant to enforce that law have collapsed under the weight of systemic dysfunction. This article examines three key institutions that form the front line of tribal land protection in Jharkhand: The Scheduled Area Regulation (SAR) Courts, the Gram Sabhas established under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA), and the Jharbhoomi digital land records platform. Drawing on judicial decisions, legislative frameworks and government report, this article argues that the failure of these institutions is not accidental or incidental, it is structural. Each institution suffers from a common disease: a deep and persistent gap between what the law promises on paper and what actually happens on the ground. The article further examines the dormant powers of the Fifth Schedule and Tribal Advisory Council, which remain constitutionally available but politically unused. The article concludes that tribal land protection in Jharkhand requires not merely procedural fixes, but a fundamental reimagining of institutional design, accountability, and political will.

Keywords: Tribal land rights, SAR Courts, PESA, Gram Sabha, Jharbhoomi, Fifth Schedule, institutional failure, Jharkhand, Scheduled Areas, Land alienation.

442. WHEN THE GUARDIAN FAILS- INSTITUTIONAL BREAKDOWN AND THE CRISIS OF TRIBAL LAND PROTEC

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