Mining Minerals, Undermining the Lives of Tribal People in India

Rajkishor Meher
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Rajkishor Meher: Department of Sociology, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Journal of Developing Societies, 2026, vol. 42, issue 2, 252-278

Abstract: In post-reform India that is from 1990 onwards mineral-based growth of underdeveloped mineral-rich states has been illusory. Such a strategy of development marginalizes the indigenous people sustaining their living on natural resources of their region of inhabitation and pushes them to a new regime of poverty, inequality, and deprivation while enriching outsiders. Based on the frequent visits of the researcher to the mineral-rich Northern Plateau region of Odisha, India since 1990s, the present study makes its focuses on the socio-political dynamics of economic development and change occurring in the region and its implications for the sustainable living of the indigenous people of the state. The study uses both descriptive and analytical methods and for the purpose, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through direct observations of the mines area, village survey, and focus group discussions held with mixed target groups of population in the study area.

Keywords: Mineral resources; India’s Indigenous people; poverty; unsustainable living (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:42:y:2026:i:2:p:252-278

DOI: 10.1177/0169796X241305876

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