Continuity of Marginalization: Tribal Communities of North Bengal in the Postcolonial State

Abstract

Marginalization of tribal communities in North Bengal is not a post-independence phenomenon but a structural condition rooted in colonial land control, plantation labour regimes and administrative categorizations. Communities such as the Santhal, Oraon, Munda, Rabha, Mech and Rajbanshi were either displaced from ancestral lands or coercively recruited into tea plantations across Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and the Dooars, where they became economically dependent and socially isolated. After independence, welfare measures such as constitutional reservations, the Forest Rights Act of 2006 and various development schemes have been introduced, but their reach has been uneven. Census data from 2011 reveals that tribal communities in North Bengal continue to record below-average literacy, health and income indicators. This study examines the historical roots, postcolonial continuities and structural dimensions of this marginalization while also foregrounding tribal resistance movements including the Kamtapur demand and trade union mobilization. It argues that marginalization in North Bengal has been reproduced rather than eliminated in the postcolonial era calling for inclusive and participatory governance grounded in indigenous knowledge and rights.