Jharkhand: Economy, Land Laws and Policies

The economy

Note: Use the latest Jharkhand Economic Survey for numbers. The patterns below are stable.

• Structure:
  • Industry and mining have a high share of GSDP compared with most states.
  • Services are the largest sector.
  • Agriculture employs the most people but adds little value: it is rain-fed, single-crop and has low irrigation.
• Per-capita income is below the national average, a little over half of it in recent years.
• Poverty: NITI Aayog's MPI fell from about 42% (2015–16) to about 29% (2019–21), still the second-highest after Bihar.
• The resource curse: rich minerals but poor people.
  • Displacement, low local employment and weak human development.
  • Malnutrition and anaemia are high.
  • Out-migration is large, as is trafficking of girls for domestic work.
• Left-wing extremism: once among the worst-hit states. Violence has fallen sharply in recent years; Saranda and the Budha Pahar area were the last strongholds.

Land laws

Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 (CNT)

• Passed after Birsa Munda's Ulgulan, drafted largely by John Hoffman (a missionary scholar).
• Section 46: an ST person's raiyati land can be transferred only to another ST resident of the same police-station area, with the Deputy Commissioner's permission. There are similar limits for SC and BC land within the district.
• Section 49: allows transfer for industry or farming with the DC's sanction.
• Section 71A: restores land taken by fraud. The SAR (Special Area Regulation) courts handle such cases.
• Khuntkatti rights (the founding clan's joint ownership) and Bhuinhari land are protected.
• Mundari Khuntkatti tenures are recognised.

Santhal Pargana Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949 (SPT)

• Bars sale or transfer of raiyati land in the Santhal Pargana division, even between tribals, except by inheritance and a few exceptions.
• Builds on the Santhal Pargana Settlement Regulation (1872) and the role of the Gram Pradhan (village headman).

The amendment controversy (2016–17)

• The state passed amendments allowing the government to change land use for "non-agricultural" purposes and to acquire land for infrastructure.
• Large tribal protests followed (the Pathalgadi movement grew partly from this).
• Governor Droupadi Murmu returned the bills (2017), and the government withdrew them.

Constitution and tribal self-rule

• The Fifth Schedule:
  • The Governor may modify central or state laws for Scheduled Areas and make regulations on land transfer and moneylending.
  • A Tribes Advisory Council (TAC) must be formed: up to 20 members, three-fourths of them ST MLAs.
• PESA, 1996:
  • Extends panchayats to Scheduled Areas.
  • The gram sabha has a say on land acquisition, minor forest produce, minor minerals, moneylending and liquor.
  • Jharkhand held its first panchayat polls only in 2010.
• The Forest Rights Act, 2006 covers individual and community forest rights. Implementation in Jharkhand has been slow.
• Pathalgadi (2017–18): villages put up stone slabs with constitutional text claiming gram-sabha self-rule. Cases against participants were later withdrawn (2019–20).

Domicile, reservation and identity

• Domicile: the 1932 khatiyan (land record) cut-off.
  • The first CM's domicile policy (2002) led to violence and was struck down by the High Court.
  • The 2022 bill was returned by the Governor.
• Reservation: a 2022 bill raised reservation to 77% (ST 28%, SC 12%, EBC 15%, OBC 12%, EWS 10%) and asked for it to go in the Ninth Schedule. It awaits central action.
• Sarna code: in 2020 the assembly passed a resolution for a separate Sarna religion column in the Census.

Displacement and rehabilitation

• Major displacements:
  • HEC Ranchi;
  • Bokaro steel;
  • DVC dams;
  • Koel–Karo (a hydro project stopped after the Tapkara firing, 2001);
  • Netarhat field firing range (opposed for decades; notification lapsed in 2022).
• Policies:
  • the Jharkhand Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy (2008);
  • the central RFCTLARR Act, 2013, which requires consent and a Social Impact Assessment.
  • Jharkhand amended it in 2017 to exempt some projects from SIA, which drew criticism.

Policies and schemes

• Industry and mining:
  • Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (2021);
  • the export policy;
  • DMF funds spent through the PMKKKY guidelines.
• Welfare:
  • Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana (2024): monthly cash to women aged 18–50, raised to ₹2,500;
  • Sarvjan Pension Yojana: universal old-age, widow and disability pensions;
  • Abua Awas Yojana: three-room houses for the poor not covered by PMAY;
  • Guruji Student Credit Card for higher education;
  • Sona Sobran Dhoti-Saree Yojana;
  • Birsa Harit Gram Yojana;
  • Didi Bari Yojana and JSLPS (Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, with Sakhi Mandals);
  • the Aapki Yojana–Aapki Sarkar–Aapke Dwar camps.
• Employment:
  • 75% reservation for locals in private jobs paying up to ₹40,000 a month (Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates in Private Sector Act, 2021). It was challenged in the High Court.

Exam tip: Learn CNT Sections 46, 49 and 71A, and the year of every major Act (1837, 1872, 1908, 1949, 1996, 2006, 2013). JPSC Mains often asks why tribal land laws exist and how well they work.