As India moves towards becoming the most populated country in the world, the process of urbanization is likely to become an evident issue in the country. Schedule 5th or the tribal areas, which are governed under the act of PESA, are no exception to it. The high growth rate of urban tribal population in the past decades highlights two things: a large number of tribal population is migrating to cities in search of better life opportunity. Second, a large number of tribal areas are transforming into urban spaces. Yet, the existing tribal discourse focuses on the issues of land acquisition, dispossession and displacement, and livelihood issues only in the context of rural areas. The present paper argues to reimagine the tribes and tribal issues in the context of urbanizing/urban India where more than 10 percent of the total tribal population now lives and works. This study is based on a yearlong research in one of the city and its peripheral villages in Southern Rajasthan which fall in the schedule 5th area. Through using mixed methods and ethnography of the land acquisition office and other bureaucratic spaces; and assessing tribal land rights, the paper examines the impact of urbanization and urban policies, on the lives and livelihoods of the Bhil and other tribal communities in the region
