Revision summary
Unrest follows land loss, migration, and recognition gaps. North-East cases add treaty memory and hill autonomy claims. Sixth Schedule and ILP are institutional bargains over settlement and rule. AFSPA has been a legal fact in notified areas and a source of alienation there. Accords treat the conflict as a federal place, not a single crime wave.
Model answer
Introduction
Tribal unrest is organised protest or armed conflict when land, identity, and rule are felt as stolen. In North-East India the causes are historical sovereignty claims plus the same development shocks seen elsewhere, inside a sensitive border region.
Body
Shared tribal causes
- Land alienation, forest reservation, and mines break Vidyarthi’s nature-man-spirit base and Roy’s customary title.
- In-migration and job competition produce sons-of-the-soil politics.
- Recognition gaps—who is ST, whose language counts—feed the politics of deprivation.
North-East specifics
- Many hill societies entered the Union with treaties, inner lines, and a memory of not being a caste village of the plains.
- Sixth Schedule councils house some autonomy. Groups left out demand the same or a state.
- Inner Line Permit regimes try to control settlement. Leakage and exception keep the grievance alive.
- National security law, including AFSPA where it has been in force, is a documented fact of militarised everyday life. It is a cause of alienation in affected districts, not a slogan about the whole region.
- Naga political talks, and other accords, show unrest as a bargain over federal place, not only as crime.
Caution
- The North-East is many states and many tribes. One unrest story is a teaching error.
- Christianity, student unions, and ethnic media shape mobilisation without being the root land cause.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD L[Land identity] --> U[Unrest] S[Sixth Schedule ILP] --> A[Autonomy bargain] M[Migration mines] --> U F[AFSPA in notified areas] --> Al[Alienation fact]
Conclusion
Tribal unrest joins land loss to a demand for recognised rule. In the North-East that demand is territorial and federal, through Sixth Schedule, ILP, and political talks, under a border-security state that has used extraordinary law in named areas.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Is all North-East unrest the same?
No. Causes and groups differ by state. Common threads are land, migration, and autonomy.
-
Is AFSPA the only cause?
No. It is one security-legal fact in notified areas. Land and recognition sit underneath.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2025 · Q2(a) · Anthropology GS 2 · 20 marks
Discuss the palaeoanthropological significance of Siwaliks of India giving its subdivisions, fossil primate fauna and major primate fossil localities -
2025 · Q5(b) · Anthropology GS 2 · 10 marks
Taxonomic status of Ramapithecus in the light of Ramapithecus-Sivapithecus controversy. -
2023 · Q5(b) · Anthropology GS 2 · 10 marks
Ramapithecus-Sivapithecus debate -
2022 · Q2(b) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
What are the arguments for excluding Narmada Man from Homo erectus category? -
2022 · Q3(a) · Anthropology GS 2 · 20 marks
Make a critical appraisal of Megalithic tradition in India with special reference to North-East India -
2021 · Q2(c) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
Discuss the morphological features and phylogenetic Position of Ramapithecus -
2016 · Q2(b) · Anthropology GS 2 · 15 marks
Delineate the salient characteristics of 'Narmada Man' and examine its phylogenetic significance
More from this paper
Q1(a) · UPSC Mains 2021 · Anthropology GS 2 · 10 marks
Purushartha and righteous living today
Evolution of the Indian Culture and Civilization
Purushartha names dharma, artha, kama, and moksha as life aims. Dharma is meant to frame wealth and desire. Today righteous living is constitutional equality plus personal duty. Market artha without ethics shows as corruption and resource grab. Moksha is no longer the only public test of a good life.
Q1(b) · UPSC Mains 2021 · Anthropology GS 2 · 10 marks
Relevance of tribe-caste continuum
Caste system in India
Tribe-caste continuum places tribe and caste on one gradient. Bailey and Sinha described highland groups moving toward caste society. Bose’s absorption thesis is the civilisational version of that slope. The idea explains ritual and economic change. It must not erase ST law, PESA, or forest rights.
Q1(c) · UPSC Mains 2021 · Anthropology GS 2 · 10 marks
Harappan seals
Evolution of the Indian Culture and Civilization
Harappan seals are mostly square steatite with script and an animal. Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and Dholavira are key findspots. They likely marked goods and office in a trade system. The Indus script on them is still unread. Seals are not a full social census of the civilisation.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.