This article provides an overview of the policies of the colonial and post-colonial state regarding the tribal people of Andhra Pradesh. The penetration of colonial capital, the policies of the Nizam state which supported this and the resultant process of land alienation is analysed, followed by the presentation of various attempts by the post-colonial state to return tribal land by means of the Land Regulation Act, to rectify the wrongs of the past and to halt any further alienation. The article concludes by arguing that the state has not been successful in ending the process of land alienation which destroys tribal life.