The paper focuses on the nature of land relation among indigenous population / 'adivasis' in Kerala. Muthanga land struggles of the Scheduled Tribes(STs) in North Kerala is one such event which attained public attention as an adivasi social movement. The enumerated thirty-six indigenous communities in the state hold numerous identical and otherwise varied social concerns related to land and their livelihood. Here, the Muthuvans of Idukki, who were traditional shifting cultivators and now settled agriculturists have a dynamic relationship with the land. The continuum of informal-formal property rights is in existence with the implementation of forest dwellers' act. The paper attends the intricacies of formalizing the land rights and loosing the spirit of 'commons' among the community. During the field study it was observed that very few community members were aware about the provisions of the act. Hence, additionaly the paper attempts to understand the process of legal advocacy in the state and the gap in its implementation. The interaction with the community and state machineries will be largely focused on to understand the community participation in the law making or policy making that affects them. The Forest Rights act and its implementation in the particular spatio-temporal unit is analysed to understand the persisting land struggles among the adivasis in Kerala.
