Extracting a Living: Labour, Inequality, and Politics in a Tribal
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The London School of Economics and Political Science Extracting a Living: Labour, Inequality, and Politics in a Tribal Coal Mining Village in India Itay Noy A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, September 2019 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 73,612 words. 2 Abstract In the mineral-bearing tracts of Jharkhand, eastern India, coal mining operations have for decades been concentrated in areas inhabited by adivasi, or tribal, populations, and brought about dispossession, displacement, and the erosion of land- and forest-based ways of life. Based on 18 months of fieldwork in a mining- affected adivasi village, this thesis examines the variegated ways in which mining industrialisation has affected different groups of villagers – from informal coal peddlers to colliery employees – and its impact on the community as a whole. By providing an insight into their lives, livelihoods, and perspectives, the thesis challenges common understandings of the effects of mining and dispossession, and contributes to related debates on labour and politics. First, by contrast with prominent critical theories of dispossession, the thesis shows how rather than simply the destruction of rural communities, dispossession can lead primarily to socioeconomic differentiation within them, creating new and enhanced internal inequalities. By exploring these inequalities in relation to the different types of work, formal and informal, that have emerged locally as a result of mining, the thesis contributes to the literature on labour and precarity. It illustrates how different forms of informal labour can carry different degrees of precarity and meanings for labourers – in terms of stability, autonomy, work rhythms, and gender dynamics – that inflect their present and longer-term livelihood strategies. Second, contrary to the prevalent narrative of resistance to mining and dispossession by rural – and especially indigenous – communities, the thesis shows how such processes can produce not protest but acquiescence. By examining local forms of co- option and clientelism in relation to mining operations, the thesis contributes to debates on the politics of dispossession and (non-)resistance. It illuminates how political leaders and potential activists can become brokers between dispossessing projects and villagers, and how this can lead to shifts in everyday sociopolitical relations that act to curb rather than facilitate possibilities of collective action. 3 Table of contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 6 List of figures .............................................................................................................. 8 List of characters ........................................................................................................ 9 Glossary ...................................................................................................................... 10 Prologue ................................................................................................................... 13 I. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 16 The village ................................................................................................................ 16 Mining and dispossession ....................................................................................... 20 Theoretical framing ................................................................................................. 24 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 42 Thesis outline ........................................................................................................... 47 II. Karampot........................................................................................................... 52 Karampot before mining ......................................................................................... 53 The advent of mining ............................................................................................... 56 Politics and resistance ............................................................................................. 62 Displacement ........................................................................................................... 65 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 67 III. Coal peddling ................................................................................................... 68 From private mines to Pandu Project ..................................................................... 72 The work process ..................................................................................................... 75 The different sides of precarious work .................................................................... 81 In praise of precarious work? .................................................................................. 90 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 93 IV. Truck loading ................................................................................................... 96 Wage labour for the mining-affected ...................................................................... 97 The hitches of truck loading .................................................................................. 101 Truck loading and women labourers ..................................................................... 105 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 109 4 V. Migration .......................................................................................................... 111 Coal migration ....................................................................................................... 113 The significance of land ......................................................................................... 117 Work migration from Karampot ........................................................................... 123 Planning for the future .......................................................................................... 127 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 130 VI. Coal company employment ........................................................................ 130 The origins of naukri ............................................................................................. 133 Upward mobility and class differentiation ............................................................ 136 Class reproduction? ............................................................................................... 149 Solidarity breakdown ............................................................................................. 154 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 160 VII. Dispossession and compensation .......................................................... 162 From protest to negotiation .................................................................................. 162 Emergence of a broker ........................................................................................... 170 Brokering company employment .......................................................................... 174 New patronage dynamics ...................................................................................... 177 Adivasi activist or unprincipled politician ............................................................ 181 Netas and CCL: story of a partnership? ................................................................ 190 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 191 VIII. Politics .......................................................................................................... 193 Differentiation and political solidarity .................................................................. 196 Netas and the monopolisation of politics ............................................................. 200 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 203 IX. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 205 Labour and the production of