Rethinking Democratic Governance from the Margins: Insights from India’s Tribal Belt

Abstract

The experience of the contemporary nation-state, formal institutions of vertical accountability, and majoritarian representation serve as the main foundations for mainstream viewpoints on democratic administration. However, a significant section of India's population especially the tribal communities living in the Fifth and Sixth Schedule regions experiences government from a position of structural marginality, and constitutional guaranties rarely result in meaningful involvement. This study examines what democratic administration looks like from the periphery rather than the centre, using the Pathalgadi movement in Odisha and Jharkhand and the uneven implementation of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. In contrast to the majoritarian, procedural logic of the Indian state, the study contends that tribal self-governance organizations like as the Gram Sabha constitute an alternative language of democracy based on consensus, custom, and territorial belonging. It accomplishes this by employing a qualitative-interpretive method based on government documents, secondary literature, and comparative case studies from the districts of Sundargarh (Odisha) and Khunti (Jharkhand). The study suggests that governance structures for Scheduled Areas be refocused on real devolution rather than symbolic decentralization, placing this conflict within the framework of decolonial and deliberative democratic thought. The results have consequences for tribal governance, public administration, and the broader concept of subaltern democracy in the Global South.