Customary Tribal Law, Digital Identity (Aadhaar), and Constitutional Pluralism in India: Legal Challenges and Pathways for Harmonizing Collective Rights with Individual State Recognition.
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Date
2026
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NLUJAA
Abstract
This dissertation examines the constitutional and jurisprudential tensions arising at the intersection of customary tribal law, digital biometric identity (Aadhaar), and constitutional pluralism in India. India's constitutional framework is inherently pluralistic: it accommodates customary tribal governance through the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, recognises collective rights of Scheduled Tribes through reservations and protective legislation, and simultaneously advances a project of individual rights anchored in Part III. The advent of the Aadhaar system which is a biometric digital identity infrastructure that has introduced a new axis of tension, imposing a uniform, state-centric, individual-based identity paradigm upon communities whose identities are constitutively relational, community-embedded, and governed by customary norms.
Description
Dissertation submitted to National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam in partial fulfilment for award of the degree of MASTER OF LAWS/ ONE YEAR LL.M. DEGREE PROGRAMME Submitted by: Diksha Buragohain UID: SFO225015 LLM, 2nd Semester Supervised by: Dr. Kailash Jeenger Associate Professor of Law