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Monday, February 03, 2025 | 08:43 AM ISTEN Hindi

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Why the Adivasis of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are running out of patience

Angry Adivasis are asserting themselves with the age-old practice of pathalgadi - declaring their right to self-governance

A woman passes the stone erected at the village crossing. | Photo: Ankur Paliwal
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A woman passes the stone erected at the village crossing. | Photo: Ankur Paliwal

Ankur Paliwal
Early on April 26, the indigenous people, or Adivasis, of Hindehassa village in Jharkhand’s Khunti district gathered around a dark green 12-feet-tall and 4-feet-wide stone cemented at their village boundary. The village priest bathed the stone, garlanded it and lit incense sticks at its base. The stone had India’s official emblem, the Ashok Stambh, painted in white at the top. Below that, Constitutional articles that apply in what are known as Fifth Schedule areas — regions that are poor, under-developed and inhabited mostly by Adivasis — were listed, such as the village’s power to self-govern. Adivasis call this practice “pathalgadi”,

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