INTRODUCTION:

Development Induced displacement

The large scale economic development such as roads and highways, railways, dams, urban and industrial development projects, a large section of local population are uprooted from their native place/ habitat. These large scale which symbolize national prosperity are undertaken to improve the living conditions of general population negatively affect the local communities by uprooting them and their day to day livelihood. Populations displaced by these developmental projects like dam construction stay in their country of origin and are settled internally. However, the future of these internally displaced communities tends to remain skeptical as their uprooting from their native place carries serious implications for their original identity and cultural heritage (Haque,2004).

The kind of displacement where populations or communities are forced to move out of their homelands for the sake of economic development is referred to as development induced displacement by Pablo Bose (2003) and Bose et.al (2003). However development induced displaces are different from other involuntary migrants such as political refugees, environmental refugees or disaster induced refugees. The developmental process, spontaneous or induced has both desirable as well as undesirable consequences. These processes do have benefits for a good chunk of population but these processes also entail negative implications for some population sections. “Policy makers and Planners do not recognize the disruptive effect of these changes and overlook them while planning. However, the anticipation and recognition of these adverse efforts beforehand is the way of dealing responsibly with the inevitable disruption” (Cernea.M, 1996).

As per Haque (2004), “the importance of economic transition of development induced developments can’t be underestimated”. With respect to the context of Three Gorges Dam in People’s Republic of China, as per estimation over 1.2million people will be uprooted. With the rising of the water level of the Yangtze up to 1 75 meters, 484,700 urban residents will be displaced (57 percent) and could be absorbed in comparable occupations. However, the challenge for planners is to facilitate reconstruction of the livelihood of rural DIDs (361 ,500 in 1 ,353 villages along the reservoir shores). The land-for-land policy has been used both in India (Narmada Valley project) and China earlier. Li Heming et al. (2000) reported that the majority (66 percent of respondents) of the relocates regarded their farmland (in the steep, relatively infertile slopes) after relocation as "worse" or "much worse" and 12 percent reported it as "the same as" and 21 percent said they were ‘better off’”.

DID Indian scenario:

As per studies in India Development induced displacement has been one of the significant causes of deprivation of livelihood of the people. Out of 17lakh people displaced by 119 central and state govt. schemes a preponderant section i.e., 8 lakh or more than half were tribal. During the past 40 years over 21 lakh people have been displaced due to mining which includes 14 lakh tribals. A 1987 Govt. of India report claims that 85 lakh tribals have been displaced at least once (Sarini, 1997). AS per other estimates that out of 213 lakh Dispkaced persons/ Project affected persons in India between 1951-91, 85 lakh are tribals. (Fernandes, 1998). Only 53.8 lakh persons or 25% of them have been resettled. Moreover, the total no. of resettled tribals among them was only 21 lakh persons, implying thus tat nearly 75% of the tribal’s were not resettled at all (Asif, 2000). The table below depicts the scenario of displacement of people due to some large scale developmental projects in India.

Table A: Displacement of people due to some large scale developmental projects

Name of Project	State	Area (Ha)	DP’s and PAP’s (No)	Tribal DP’s
Name of Project	State	Area (Ha)	DP’s and PAP’s (No)	No	%
Bhilai steel plant	MP	13500.46	31300	2400	7.67
Bokaro steel plant	Bihar	12442.18	68700	14900	21.69
Rourkela steel plant	Orissa	13185.31	23400	11300	48.29
Durgapur steel plant	WB	6633.44	11800	400	3.39
Mangalore Harbour and IE	Karnataka	890.00	17080	NA	NA
Mangalore Refinery	Karnataka	1174.00	16500	NA	NA
Sea-Bird naval base	Karnataka	12500.00	16100	NA	NA
Chakra Savehakklu	Karnataka	2372.00	1425	NA	NA
Singrauli STPP	MP	1932.00	55000	13000	23.64
NALCO (angul)	Orissa	948.00	2628	73	2.78
Karjan reservoir project	Gujarat	3677.00	2106	2106	100.00
Sukhi reservoir project	Gujarat	2904.00	1453	1453	100.00
Balimela HE project	Orissa	17516.00	1200	1174	97.83
Bodhaghat HE project	MP	12250.00	2300	1700	73.91
Kakrapar project	Gujarat	1480.00	200	200	100.00
Malajhkhand copper project	MP	2012.00	777	497	63.96
Mahi bajaj irrigation project	Maharashtra	14340.00	6975	5321	76.28
Tultuli irrigation project	Maharashtra	5420.00	2470	1275	51.61
Koel-Karo HEproject	Bihar	17764.00	37600	32954	87.92
Bargi project	MP	27971.00	27600	17940	65.00

Source: Ministry of Home affairs 1985, CWC 1996.

Understanding resettlement and rehabilitation:

Asif (2000) in his work entitled, ‘Why displaced persons reject project resettlement colonies’ highlights that although most project authorities and funding agencies resettlement and rehabilitation synonymously, nevertheless they are the distinct realities. Resettlement physical implantation in a new habitat/colony; Rehabilitation is a more comprehensive concept which aims at total re-establishment of lost livelihood- i.e., recreation of physical, social and cultural environment which are so significant for a new life with dignity. Hence defined, “resettlement is primarily an economic initiative. Rehabilitation on the other hand, involves replacing the lost economic assets, re-building the community systems that have been weakened by displacement, attending to the psychological trauma of forced alienation from livelihood, transition to a new economy which is alien to those from a predominantly informal society and preparing them to encounter the new society as equals and not just suppliers of cheap raw materials and labor that they are in today's system of displacement without any transition” (Fernandes and Naik 1999).

The ultimate goal of R and R process is rebuilding and development of Socio-economic life of the displaced. But the way in which it is carried out implies that it is more used as a mechanism of power rather than a process of development by representations of state. In the name of development, they first import the people of remote inaccessible villages leading a near anonymous life and then force them to subtle in place will within the official radar. To quote an example, in the first conservation system, Initially a few individuals (first officials) are placed inside the forest and given not so much the job of conservation but of surveillance. The reports of these officials are then used to frame conservation laws that justify displacement of forest dwellers to more advanced areas. Hence “conservation becomes an instrument of power. It makes a possible mode of political and economic management, which exploits the difference between legality (eco-protection) and illegality (destruction)” (Fernandes and Naik 1999).

Urban resettlement and rehabilitation:

Most urban resettlement is associated with infrastructure projects (roads, transmission lines, pipelines, railways, and so forth) or projects to improve the urban environment (sewerage or sanitation management, etc). Successful urban resettlement requires attention to density and diversity, usually in a context of rapid change (World Bank,2004).

Also, urban growth synonymously implies rapid and uncontrolled growth which leads to increased physical density. Hence, resettlement plans need to consider a dynamic process of urbanization in which diversity increases rapidly, mostly in an uneven and unsanctioned ways. “Land to be acquired is frequently inhabited by squatters, low-income families, or new migrants. As a consequence, borrowers can find themselves straddling competing social objectives. Land acquisition and displacement may be necessary to meet the rising demands for urban services” (World Bank,2004).

Participation and minimization of risks:

In a report world bank, entitled ‘Involuntary resettlement resource book’, it is reported that “by nature, linear projects usually involve many stakeholders over considerable distances. There is no denying in the fact that roads, pipelines, transmission lines, and other types of linear projects typically run hundreds of kilometers means that they involve many areas and in some cases, they may even cross from one country into another. Because project authorities cannot be familiar with the particularities of each local area, public consultation and participation in project design are especially important for minimizing resettlement”.

Project example:

In India, the National Highways Authority of India (Ln 4559) instituted local consultations on the proposed routing of the major roads to be rehabilitated. In one town, residents preferred to route the highway around their community, rather than widen the existing road through town. To support their argument, they walked the Authority officials along the proposed new alignment of the road around the town and pointed out that 80 percent of the new alignment was on unoccupied land already owned by the government. The Authority’s engineers recognized the cogency of the residents’ argument and rerouted the highway.

RR Global perspective:

In all countries, developed or less developed, involuntary displacements continue to occur due to factors related to improvement of living conditions, introduction of needed or expansion of public services. “Since infrastructure is critical for expanding productivities and enhancing services and standards of living, developing tries invest a huge amount - around $200 billion per year - in new structure. Installing hydropower dams, irrigation and drinking water terms, urban construction and expansion, or extending highway networks involve changes in land and water use patterns. Often these changes require people to be relocated “(Cernea M.M. 1996).

“Regarding the world wide magnitude development-caused displacements, it has been found that involuntary relocation by major projects is particularly dramatic in densely- populated Asian countries that are engaged in powerful industrialization and electrification drives. Based on International Commission of Large Dams (ICOLD) and World Bank data, we have estimated that each year a new cohort of about four million people are to be displaced by the some 300 large dams (above 15 meters high) that on average enter construction phase annually in the developing world, and primarily in Asia [World Bank 1994]. In addition, the same estimate concluded that a cohort of six million people is to be displaced by the urban development and transportation programmes that are started each year. Thus, a total of about 10 million people every year, or at least 80-90 million people over the past decade, have been displaced in developing countries only as a result of infrastructure programmes for dam construction, urban, and transportation development taken together. If investments in other sectors are included, this number is to be further in- creased. These huge proportions define development-related displacements as a social problem of worldwide significance and concern” (Cernea.M.M. 1996).

“Under Brazilian regulations, compensation for expropriated land can be paid in cash. However, field investigations have proved that the actual payments offered in the Sobradinho resettlement, as well as in other cases in Brazil like Itaipu dam resettlement [Kohlhepp 1987] and Tucurui dam resettlement [Goodland 1978; Mougeot 19881, or like in Nepal in the Kulekhani's dam resettlement [Pokharel 1994] were woefully insufficient for the purchase of comparable land by those displaced. This made many farmers slide toward complete landlessness, or left them with smaller, marginal holdings. Moreover, many farmers were not compensated because they had only customary but not formal legal title to land. In the Tucurui reservoir, for example, only 20.8 per cent of the 4,334 properties surveyed had property titles, while in the Sobradinho area as much as two-thirds of the farmers lacked titled ownership. The underestimation or denial of compensation entitlements instantly decapitalised many independent smallholders and made it harder or impossible for them to re-establish” (Partridge et al 1982 and Oliver-Smith 1982).

A social survey was carried out in Indonesia by the institute of ecology, of Padjadjaran university. This survey was carried out among reservoir facilities that were given cash compensation and resettled in the saguling dam shoreline area. As per the survey after relocation the income of these resettled facilities was 49% lower and their land ownership 47% smaller than before development (OED, 1989).

India, in its post independence period, has aimed at rapid economic growth then planned development. The achievement of which entails large scale investment in projects like dams roads, power plants, new cities and other projects involving land acquisition. However, in the wake of these development projects large number of population have been displaced from their native place. Moreover, the standard of RandR of these development induced displaces has been mostly poor (Goyal, S).

Resettlement and Rehabilitation policy:

As per Asif (2000), the major disadvantage of the existing R and R paradigm is the dependence on the state and project officials. These officials which are outsiders categorize the entire displaced in one category and often impose their views in understanding them (or are prejudiced in understanding them). These officials think that the problems faced by the entire displacees are same. The question that emerge in the context of development induced displacement, like where to resettle them, what measures need to be initiated to enhance the quality of life of the settlers. “In this way the displaced become the objects and not the vehicles of development”. The displaced especially those living outside the official range develop certain distrust as they perceive in their settlement a latent design by state machinery to impose itself over them and their life systems. Such distrust may become acute for the members of tribal communities, specifically where displacement has resulted in the loss of material as well as significant socio-cultural identity of the displacees. Rew (1996) profoundly argues “that the problems of development-induced IR (involuntary resettlement) are inherent in the institutional process of resettlement and rehabilitation itself. Policy is fundamentally transformed, and its original goals often subverted, in the process of implementation. Policy options are usually result of contestations and compromises between diverse interest groups, and are hence fairly general, and may even embody contradictory elements. This kind of ambiguity is compounded by weaknesses in the chains of communication and decision-making, caused by work pressure and by shortages of resources and capacity on the part of those officials who have to administer resettlement, as well as by the problems in coordination between the various agencies involved” (Rew,1996).

A large number of countries have failed to adopt explicit guidelines for displacement. The reason for this being, either they find no need for such a policy or they want to carry out resettlement the same way as in the past. “Whatsoever the reason, the bank’s concern for encouraging the adoption of country policy guidelines results from having learned the hardway that the absence of domestic public policy by default” (Cernea.M.M. 1996).

An independent legal survey of country policies and legislation across Africa has found that in sub-Saharan Africa no country has a resettlement policy or legal framework (Odidi-Okidi 1992). The issue is complicated by the fact that in Africa most countries operate within a dual system of modern and customary law for lands. Under the Cote d'Ivoire Forestry project, for example, the government committed to issuing a formal policy during the project's first year, 1989, but five successive deadlines and commitments were not met over a five year period, until the government adopted some explicit regulations.

In the context of South Asia, the non existence of resettlement policies in countries like Pakistan and Nepal has been an important factor in preventing a systematic approach to planning resettlement. In Indian context, many resettlement operations in both non-bank and bank that have failed to restore the living standard of many displaced people (Fernandes, 1993). There is absence of a special federal legislation neither any clear policy statement that will dictate the general resettlement norms of the country. In the Indian case, resettlement is a state, not a federal matter. However, in most of the states of India, there is no state level resettlement policy. They use expropriation laws which offer compensation to the displacement induced displaces not their socio-economic rehabilitations (Cernea, 1996).

CONCLUSION:

“In relation to development-induced/forced resettlement, it is now widely agreed that anything less than consciously planned and implemented development for the to-be-resettled people will leave them worse off than before” (Cernea 2008; Scudder 2005). Developmental resettlement can only be achieved by actively going for development from the very beginning. Achievement of such developmental outcomes necessitates investment. Only after a careful investigation of the advantages and disadvantages (Costs and benefits) of a developmental project for the society at large we can have a clear perception of the desirability of justifiability of such project. In any case the negative implications upon the affected population be it economical, social, environmental or cultural needs to be assessed before hand in a participatory and transparent way. Most importantly a national policy is the need of the hour which must apply to all the projects where involuntary displacement takes place.

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Received on 23.04.2021 Modified on 11.05.2021

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2021; 12(2):115-119.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2021.00017