See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/330931432

Development-Induced Displacement in India: An Indigenous Perspective

Article · January 2018

DOI: 10.5958/0976-0148.2018.00008.2

CITATIONS READS

0 4,701

2 authors:

Sudesh Kumar Anindya J. Mishra

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
4 PUBLICATIONS   1 CITATION    14 PUBLICATIONS   21 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Dear Sharmistha, I am working on Health care Service System in India. View project

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Sudesh Kumar on 08 February 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Journal of Management & Public Policy
Vol. 10, No. 1, December 2018, Pp. 25-36
ISSN 0976-0148 (Online) 0976-013X (Print)
DOI: 10.5958/0976-0148.2018.00008.2

Development-Induced Displacement in India:

An Indigenous Perspective

Sudesh Kumar* & Anindya J. Mishra**

Abstract
India focused on various developmental projects as well as dam construction after
independence. These were regarded as symbol of modern India, though all these helped a lot in
developing India. But these mega projects also resulted in displacing millions of people from
their ancestral land. The inadequate planning and implementation of various resettlement and
rehabilitation policy made lives of displaced people even worse. Once they were rehabilitated
no one from the respective government inquired about their wellbeing. They were totally left
out the mercy of almighty. This paper is based on secondary sources, and tries to examine
various issues among displaced families and their problems they faced. In this paper, it has been
seen that the displaced people have faced number of problems, because the state government
has not taken seriously their problems. Women and children are the worst victims as they are
not considered in the resettlement and rehabilitation policies. Women have hardly any property
rights on the land so they are not entitled to compensation. In the name of development, most
of the people are affected who belonged to weaker section of the society.

Keywords: Development, Displacement, Resettlement and Rehabilitation issues, Indigenous

People, India

Introduction
Development means the development of a society as a whole and includes not only economic
and political system but also the nature of social institution, the structure of social relationship,
pattern of culture, nature of values and way of life based on certain coordinal principles and
ideals as the goals of human life as well as the society (Farooqui, 2009). Economic development
is regarded as indispensable for the progress and prosperity of any country. Since, without
development, there can be no progress and growth. It raises the living standards of people so
that they are better off from their previous state. It necessarily involves creation of basic
infrastructure like railways, dams, roads, shipping, power station, irrigation facilities, and
established industries. Such projects are invariably required as they improve lives of people,

*
Research Scholar, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of
Technology Roorkee, India E-mail: [email protected]
**
Associate Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of
Technology, Roorkee, India E-mail: [email protected]
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

provide employment to them and supply them better services (Kaushal, 2009). The fact is that
economic development not only generates positive consequences but also give rise to negative
consequences in the form of forced displacement and involuntary resettlement of affected
people (Ibid).

Post-Independence, Indian government mainly focused on economic development which was

in the shape of dams, mega dams, mining, factories and irrigations projects. All this resulting in
increasing the Gross National Product (GDP) of the country, but at the same time created in
involuntary displacement. The main focused of the government was development through
various Five Year Plans (Mohanty, 2005). With the passage of time India began to invest more
and more in heavy infrastructure development that lead towards national development and
began to be considered as symbols of technological advancement (Fernandes and Raj, 1992). In
Independent India, the hydropower project was considered a temple of modern India by the
first generation leader. Displaced people were given only monetary compensation (Judge 1997).
It is evident that the economic development strategy in India is largely nurtured at the costs of
the Dalits, a large section of the victims being tribals and lower castes (Advani, 2009). People
are forcibly displaced by the dam projects from their ancestral land, ancestral property, and
disrupted their social relation, family structure and kinship structure (Kaushal, 2009). They are
alienated from their traditional ancestral shrines, holy rivers, mountain, forests and traditional
place of worship (Mishra 2002). Displacement, resettlement and rehabilitation have been
serious concern for all developing countries including India. Since, last 60 years large numbers of
hydropower projects has been constructed and more than 50 million people have been
displaced and only 25% of displaced people were rehabilitated (Saxena, 2008). It has been seen
that large number of development projects have been poorly constructed and not properly
implemented resulting in an undesirable impact on environment affecting the quality of
people’s lives (Ibid). Development- induced displacement resulted in landlessness,
homelessness, joblessness, marginalization, poor food insecurity, increased morbidity, loss of
common property resources and social disarticulation (Cernea, 1990).

Magnitude of Displacement
Displacement has become a serious issue across the globe. Since independence millions of
people have been forcibly displaced from their native place by the various development
projects. It has been found that there is no reliable data exist on the displacement, resettlement
and rehabilitation. Some studies were reported that the official sources are underestimating the
displaced people by the dam project (Mohanty, 2005). Every year, more than one crore of
people are displaced across the globe by different type of projects such as coal mining, dam
projects, roads, defence, irrigations and majority of belong to marginalized section of the
society (Kumaran, 2013)

From the Table 1 (see next page), it is clearly seen that millions of people were displaced
through different kinds of projects in India and very less were rehabilitated. Resettlement and
rehabilitation has become a one of the biggest issues among the displaced people and for the
government authority. Till 1990, more than two crores people were forcibly displaced by dam’s
projects in India. Majority of them was tribal community and only 24.9% have been
rehabilitated and a staggering 75.1% still await rehabilitation (Mishra 2002). According to
Fernandes (2007) since independence as many as 60 million persons have been displaced, of
whom a large majority have not been properly rehabilitated as yet. It has been seen that people
have displaced multiple times throughout their life. According to Ray (2000) in Madhya Pradesh
people were displaced four times since last 30 years by development projects such as Rihand
Dams project. He further argued that in Karnataka, the Soliga tribals were also displaced two
times by Kabini dam projects and also by Rajiv Gandhi National Park.

26
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

Mohanty (2009) stated that in tribal region, Industrialization become a biggest cause of tribal
displacement. He further reported that in tribal region 3.13 lakh people have been forcibly
displaced due to mining projects and 13.3 lakhs tribal have been displaced directly from their
ancestral land. He also adds that beside the direct displacement, mining projects have also
affected their livelihood of displaced people and put additional pressure on tribal families for
their survival. Walter and Paranjpye (1997) stated that 25.5 lakh people have been displaced by
mines, 12.5 lakh by industries, and 164 lakh by large and medium dams, 6 lakh by park and
wildlife operations and 5 lakh by other projects.

Table 1: Estimate of Tribal’s and other People Displaced by Development project in India
during 1951-1990 (In Lakhs)
Type of All % Resettle % Backlo % Triba % Resettle % Backlo %
project DPs d g l of d g
all
DPs
Dams 164. 77.0 41.0 25. 123.0 75. 63.2 38. 15.81 2 47.40 75.
0 0 0 1 5 5 0
Mines 25.5 12.0 6.30 24. 19.20 75. 13,3 52. 3.30 2 10.0 75.
7 3 0 2 5 0
Industr 12.5 5.9 3.75 30. 8.75 70. 3.13 25. 0.80 2 2.33 75.
y 0 0 0 5 0
Wildlife 6.0 2.8 1.25 20. 4.75 79. 4.5 75. 1.00 2 3.50 78.
8 2 0 2 0
Others 5.6 2.3 1.50 30. 3.50 70. 1.25 25. 0.25 2 1.0 80.
0 0 0 0 0
Total 213. 100. 53.80 25. 159.2 75. 85.3 40. 21.16 2 64.23 75.
0 0 0 0 9 0 5 0
Source: Fernandes, 1997

Gender Issues in Development Projects

Gender issues are directly influential in development -induced displacement studies.
Displacement has inherent concern with the compensation issues, rehabilitation problems and
social issues. Policies are supposed to be meant for the benefit of displaced people, but in some
way they are working in the other way. The current study attempts to examine the policy out
come from displacement and resettlement. The study is focused on gender issues through
various projects in India. Gender issues has become a big problems for development projects,
because in India, there is no such policy in which the displaced women can get benefits from the
government. There is a large debate around displacement and resettlement in India, but the
existing literature has shown that minimal work has been done on the impact on displaced
women. In Indian patriarchal society, women have are not given their due rights in the form of
compensation on the resettlement package by the respective government. Nowhere, the land is
registered in the name of women and as such they are totally neglected. Even the women head
household and widow do not get any compensation after being displaced. Men are the
recognised heads of household; therefore, compensation is often paid only to them (Asthana
2012).

In the traditional Indian family system, even though the widow, adult girls, deserted and
divorced women living in the same household still then they are not entitled to receive any
compensation. The irony is that the sons and adult male member of the displaced family are
treated as one family but not for adult females (Pervez, 2008). From the ages due to patriarchal
nature of the Indian society women have been neglected on all the cases. Even displaced
women have to face discrimination with regard to compensation and rehabilitation package.

27
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

The Indian law and government policies also do not provide any relief to the displaced women.
The gender inequality exists in all section of the Indian society, whether it may be in jobs,
families or in the matter of land rights or in compensation issues (Hemadari, et al. 1999).

These gender inequalities are clearly seen in mountain regions where women are the backbone
of the hill economy and most men migrate to the plains in search of jobs (Nathan 2009).
Women are not given their due share in the compensation package as all the compensation
whether in the form of land, and money is issued in their name of male member of the family
and not jointly (Thukral, 1996). The ownership of landed property is an essential condition
before one could claim compensation. Those who do not have property or those who are
indirectly dependent on it could not claim compensation (Advani, 2009). It has been observed
that gender bias and discrimination can be seen in the Land Acquisition Act 1984 with regard to
land ownership and other issues (Thukral, 1995). Mirdula Singh and et al. (1992) observed that
in the case of giving compensation the adult women, widow, daughter, divorced women are not
treated as separate entity. But these are regarded as dependent up on male members of the
displaced family. The policy for displaced people from Maharashtra clearly mentioned that adult
women would not be entitled to any land. It has been seen that after the Independent India,
there are large numbers of dam projects constructed for the economic growth, but none of the
policy makers paid adequate attention towards gender issues, their policies and problems. The
gender issues remain silent since India‘s independence.

Rehabilitation and Resettlement Issues in India

In India, post-independence economic development is based on large dam projects and big
industries such as coal mines roads power plants which has been accompanied by widespread
displacement (Pervez 2008). Majority of development projects have resulted changes in the
land use pattern, water and natural resources and displacement of a large number of people
from their original places of habitation (Pandey 1998). It is evident, that large numbers of
developmental projects were constructed without any resettlement and rehabilitation policy. In
the absence of a national Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) policy, state government or
even specific project authorities introduced their own principles and handled the R&R of the
displaced by way of ad hoc plans ( Pandey and Rout 2004). Rehabilitation measures and policies
adopted by most state governments based on the LAA of 1984 embraced a very narrow
approach to compensation (Dreze et al. 1997). It has been found that from 1950s to 1980s there
was no such policy for displaced people. The resistance of the displaced people and civil society
against the unjust rehabilitation started in 1946 with Hirakud dam in Odisha, But resistance
gained momentum in the late 1970s in Narmada dam which later came to be known as the Anti-
Dam movement, played a major role in forcing the state to amend their resettlement and
rehabilitation policy. It also put huge pressure on the India government to formulate a national
policy for resettlement and rehabilitation policy (Pervez, 2008).

The Rehabilitation and Resettlement policy was first introduced in 1985 by a committee of
Ministry of Welfare. It took lot of time, and there were discussions for nearly two decades over
various draft policies. The National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) for
displaced families in 2003 came into force in 2004. But, there was a need to make this policy
more participatory and transparent and to reduce the adverse impact of displacement. Hence,
the national policy of R&R was revised and the R&R bill came out in 2007. But, this policy again
failed because gender factor was ignored. The resettlement and rehabilitation policy is still open
for discussion since 1985 (Pervez 2008).In India, another issue in resettlement and rehabilitation
policy is lack of transparency, if we look at the existing literature we find that government
authorities, NGOs, and researchers provide different data about the displaced people. Though
involuntary resettlement is a very sensitive issue still the government authorities do not pay

28
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

adequate attention towards resettlement and rehabilitation policy. There are data which shows
how figures are under represented by government authorities Viegas (1992) revealed that the
numbers of person displaced by the Hirakud dam was 1.6 lakh and while government official
figures was only 1.1 lakh. Patnaik Das and Mishra (1987) stated in the case of Bargi dam on
Narmada River in western MP, the project authorities said that 101 villages will be submerged.
However when the reservoir was filled the number of villages submerged were 162 villages.

It has also been observed that in the absence of land for land as compensation was a great blow
to the displaced people and it was very difficult to buy a piece of land elsewhere with the
meagre compensations they received. Therefore, the displaced people who were cultivating the
forest land suffer more as the government refused to give them compensation either in the
form of land or money. Since, the land they were cultivating was declared as state land by the
government. It was huge burden on the resettled, who were already undergoing severe
hardships (Nayak, 2013).

Policy on Paper and on Ground

Lack of proper national policy and lacunas in the existing policy documents is a major problem.
Apart from that, there are serious problems at the level of implementation as well. In most
cases, there is a wide gap between the framed policy on paper and what gets translated in
reality. Most state level policies or the national policies in the making, have provisions for land
for land compensation. But due to several loopholes, affected people, in many cases, are just
given arbitrary cash compensation (Banerjee 1997). In Sardar Sarovar dam, Gujarat has one of
the most progressive rehabilitation packages, but resettling 25% of the families displaced by the
reservoir has taken 15 years and there is a wide gap between the tall promises and the ground
reality (Bhatia, 1997).

Nathan (2009) stated that the insufficient compensation received by displaced people resulted
in impoverishment. The government or project authority did not provide sufficient amount to
displaced people so that they could rebuild their social life resulting in hardship and misery for
them. Compensation is based on the value of the land at the time of notification, which may be
much less than its value at the time of dispossession. He further adds that bureaucratic
corruption means that the amount of money that reaches the people is substantially less than
the price of replacement land. Sarkar (2007) study was based on land acquisition in West
Bengal. He found that how the government misguided the displaced people. He says that earlier
registered farmers were promised by the government that they would get a share of 75% of
produce and they would be never evicted from their land. But later on the Left Government did
not fulfil its promise. The farmers were paid only 25% of the share and were also evicted from
their land. He further adds that the unregistered farmers and landless labor were given nothing
from the compensation.

Mander (2005) focused on delayed payment of compensation. He studied Indira Sagar

Pariyojana where he found that out of 91 villages only 20 villages were compensated and rest of
the villages were waiting for compensation. The study further stated that the project authority
misled the displaced people. In fact, in Narmada, authorities reported that they have given land
for land package. But in reality there was no such package. People were given only
compensation which was inadequate.

Problem of Inter-state Dam Projects

In India, there are number of interstate dam projects which create conflict between two states.
For example: Narmada dam, Tehri dam, Aliyar dam, Almati. Even the Polavaram conflict that
Odisha is fighting with Andhra Pradesh is due to construction of a large dam (The wire.in/

29
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

environment). But it has been seen that when dam projects were constructed between the two
states then the issue emerged regarding resettlement and rehabilitations none of the state
were ready to take any kind of responsibility of resettlement and rehabilitation.

Thukral and Singh (1988) observed that there is a lack of coordination between two States. If
the projects involves more than one state, an entirely new set of problems arises with regard to
the distribution of benefits and costs of rehabilitation of the displaced people. For example, in
Pong dam, Rajasthan being the prime beneficiary was entrusted with the responsibility of
settling the displaced people. But out of 30,330 families displaced by it only 16000 families were
found eligible for compensation under the colonization rules of the Rajasthan government. The
displaced people belonged to Himachal Pradesh. The Rajasthan Government provided land for
resettlement in Pakistan border without basic facility. But the Rajasthan government did not
provide any legal title to displaced people where they were resettled. After 10 years the
displaced people came back to native State and started living in hilly areas.

From the above discussion, it apparent that development- induced displacement creates lots of
problems among displaced people. The land acquisition act, gender issues and rehabilitation
issues and lack of transparency become challenges for the Indian government. In interstate dam
projects since, two states are involved the displaced people suffer more as both the state refuse
to accept their responsibility and keep on blaming each other for compensation and
resettlement issues. It has been observed that in India, there are no uniform resettlement and
rehabilitation policies for displaced people.

Compensation Issues
Compensation is one of the issues for development projects in India. People who are displaced
from their native home land are given compensation in terms of money. In India, compensation
has been given under Land Acquisition Act 1894 (amended in 1994). Under this act, most of the
displaced people are not eligible to get compensation, particularly tribal and weaker sections of
the society. Every state has its own resettlement and rehabilitation policy. In India, there is no
uniform resettlement and rehabilitation policy for displaced people. That is why the
compensation issues are bigger challenges for the policy makers as well as the state
government. The displaced people have been given meagre compensation. It is very difficult for
displaced people to buy a piece of land for resettlement. It has been seen that in the absence of
land for land compensation, displaced people always faced hurdles in their lives. There is hardly
any policy in development projects in which the affected people have been given land for land
compensation. From the 1950s, onwards large numbers of dam projects are constructed but
none of the policy makers paid adequate attention to compensation issues except monetary
compensation in term of money.

It is evident, that in the process of resettlement the displaced people are given only monetary
compensation in the form of money in exchanges loss of land, house, and other assets (Nayak,
2013). In India, it is a fact that people living in hilly areas are forest dwellers and totally
depended on natural resources for their survival. Most of these do not have any legal rights on
the land they use. As such these people suffer the most due to forced displacement. They do
not get any compensation for their land and are forced to work as daily wagers at the new site
(Agnihorti, 1996).

It has also been found that even though the displaced people are given land for land
compensation by the government, but still they are not given legal ownership of that land. All
this results in increasing the miseries of displaced people rather than reducing them (Nayak,
2013). He further added that the government provides loan to displaced people for their

30
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

agriculture and other activities at nominal rates but some corrupt officials in the loan providing
agencies discourages these people from taking government loan. Hence, all the government
initiatives to reduce the problems of the displaced people have failed and have in turn resulted
in increasing their problems rather than reducing them. Forced displacement has in no way
been a joy full experience for the displaced people. It has increased their miseries many fold. It
has been argued that unavailability of proper land, lack of proper land strategy, lack of political
will have resulted in unsuccessful resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced people (Ibid).
It has also been observed that the displaced people have to spend 4 -5 years of their life to get
their compensation and even after they get it, they have to get huge amount of their
compensation money as a bribes to the government officials in exchanges of compensation they
receives. Rest of the compensation amount is paid to the money lenders to clear off their debts
(Mallavarapu, 2008).

From the above discussion it has clearly observed that in the compensation process displaced
people always face plenty of problems such as land entitlement, court case for land entitlement,
lack of proper documents, hostile attitude of authorities, and gender issues. Most of the
displaced people misuse the compensation and depend upon daily wages. It has been seen that
due to the lack of proper documents of land title, the compensation issues become a difficult
among family members. These incidents have been seen among the tribal, because they have
common land and they do not get any compensation.

Consequences of Displacement
India is one of the largest dam building nations in the world. There are 4291 dams in India. 3596
dams have been built and 695 dams are under construction (Patwardhan, 2000). Displacement
is often regarded as a onetime phenomenon by which a person is forced to leave his/ her
original place and go elsewhere (Ibid). It has been seen that a person whose land or other
means of livelihood are destroyed in the process of displacement, is entitled to get just cash
compensation under the land acquisition act (Kothari 1996). According to World Bank report,
dam cause the largest dislocation. Approximately 66% population are displaced by dams and it
submerges vast areas of agricultural lands. It tigers un-employment and hence, leads to social
pressure among the oustees in villages (Das and Tewari, 2014). It has also been observed that
displacement of human population has always been traumatic, dismantling the agricultural
production system, loss of employment, disorganisation of social systems and breakdown of
associations (Ibid). The current study attempt to highlight some displacement related issues.

The New Social Environment

Forced displacement has become a major challenged for displaced people. It affects the social
economic, cultural, and political lives of people. When people are displaced they face lot of
problems at new resettlement site and they are forced to adopt new social environment. It has
been seen that it is very difficult for displaced people to adjust to new environment with socio-
economic disturbance. People are forcibly resettled without psychological and cultural
preparation. As a result they always lived under depressed conditions. In the new social
environment, the displaced people face problems such as cultural crises, and adjustment
problems, particularly women, children’s, and elder people. The kinship relation gets totally
disturbed and all the relatives, kith and kin started living in scattered places. The younger
generation find it’s difficult to cope up with the old and new cultural identity.

Verma (2004) stated that displacement in Singrauli region tore apart the social network of the
displaced tribal. Before displacement the tribal were living a simple and honest life without any
greed. But implementation of various developmental projects in the region resulted and
creating a greed and hunger for money among the otherwise simple and honest tribal and

31
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

backward people. In the new environment, people lost their traditional family values and
cultural ethos, respect of elders and started quarrelling about trivial money matter, resulting in
breakdown of family norms. He further observed that the elderly people were the most
seriously affected one. Most of them lost their life as they could not adjust the new
environment and culture. On the whole, the region became victim of social evils.

In the new social environment, many of the displaced people changed their living arrangement,
attitude, culture, and way of life. Sawhney and Malhotra (2013) highlighted the positive change
among displaced women. The study found that the position of women with in family and kinship
networks is subject to change as with the new living arrangement in the within host
community, the relationship of women with the wider society is bound to change. The study
further, mentioned that earlier women could not venture out freely because of family
obligations, but after displacement women got greater opportunities to participate in the work
sphere and outer society. Forced displacement caused both positive and negative
consequences. But most of the studies have focused on negative aspects. Sawhney and
Malhotra (2013) observed that most of the displaced women faced lot of social problems at
new location. Thermal (1992) stated that displacement in village along Narmada created a new
problems among the displaced women as they were unable to find suitable alliance for their
daughters with in the locality. They did not want their daughter to get married outside their
locality as they were afraid that they may not be able to see them again. Displacement created
a new social stigma among the displaced family especially women.

Singh (1999) stated that in the new location, women face additional burden of workload as they
loss their livelihood, breakdown of community network create problems of marriage of
daughters, rise in alcoholism and increased in domestic violence. Rawat (2012) also discussed
on the effects on displaced people due to change from old to new setting. She stated that in
native place the women were very happy in performing their daily task such as collecting water,
fodder for livestock, household chores and agriculture activities. But in the new social setting
they are quite unhappy as they have to live under constant fear of thieves, looters, and
molesters. This problem is quite evident among the displaced families where the men are
working outside. In such situations, the displaced women feel alienated from their close kin,
friends and close neighbours. It has also been found that displacement has caused several social
problems in resettlement site. It increases instances of social disturbance like alcoholism,
gambling, theft, prostitution, domestic violence and wife beating. These directly affect the lives
of women. In Sardar Sarovar dam resettlement sites, increased tendency of alcoholism
augmented rate of domestic violence. As men become powerless, their scape goats are women
and children (Kaushal 2009).

Fernandes and Raj (1992) pointed out similar kind of problems at rehabilitation colony in
Odisha. They found that among displaced family, drinking and domestic violence increased after
displacement. Displaced people were living in a state of trauma and most of them took to
drinking to deal with trauma. Singh (1992) studied two dam projects Sardar Sarovar and Tehri
dam. He stated that transitional phase is one of the crucial phase in the lives of displaced
people. He further added that displaced people can lives happily if they are able to overcome
the hurdles in the alien area. But due to inadequate planning the displaced people are left to
struggle for years together. Verma (2004) highlighted another issues in new location. He found
that in the new place caste conflicts have taken a new shape. Judge (2000) also found similar
kind of problems at rehabilitation site. He found that if the same caste were found at a new
location then the displaced persons do not face many problems. But if the host community
belonged to caste groups different that of the displaced persons, than the conflict would
invariably, start for sharing their natural resources.

32
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

Nayak (2013) pointed out that the involuntary displacement created conflicts between the host
community and displaced people. Displacement resulted in competition over the use of natural
resources and employment opportunities. The inclusion of new community in the host
community resulted in creating various problems over the issues of caste, religion, ethnicity,
cultural clashes, social problems, political problems and demographic imbalances. In most
extreme cases it also resulted in caste conflicts and communal rights.

It has been seen that in the new social environment, these kind of problems always emerged
and it is very difficult for the displaced people to settle in that situation. Another study also
highlighted the similar kind of problems in resettlement site. Ayyar (2013) stated that in the
resettlement site, people from different castes and religions live at one place and in most cases
they fought with each other, accusing one another of invading their privacy and resources. They
are always conflicts between the host community and displaced people. In most of the
resettlement site, displaced people from different castes do not interact with each other except
on rare occasion of community gatherings. Their social and religious lives mainly around their
own families and neighbouring belong to their own background. It has been seen that displaced
people lose their social status and are treated as development refugees by the state where as
they are treated as destitute by the host community which they consider as a lifelong stigma
imprinted on them. In the unfamiliar environment in rehabilitated colonies they are ill-treated
and seen as encroachers and unnecessary nuisance is created by the host community (Mohanty,
2005). From the above studies it has been observed that in the new social environment,
displaced people faced multiple problems such as domestic violence, family conflicts, health
issues, marriage issues, adjustment problems with host community etc. It has also been seen
that at the resettlement site majority of displaced people are living without basic amenities and
they always face multiple problems though out their life.

Conclusion
India is a developing country and every year, a large number of developmental projects are
being undertaken. Displacement especially involuntary result in forcibly displacing millions of
people from their ancestral land. Inadequate planning and implementation of various
developmental project often leads to various environmental problems which is turn result in
deteriorating the lives of millions of people. Displacement is a disruption in social life which
results in landlessness, homelessness, joblessness marginalization, poverty and food scarcity,
increased morbidity, and loss of access to common property resources and social
disarticulation. Most displaced and project affected persons belong to the marginalized and
powerless classes, or to landless labourers and small marginal farmers with no assets. As per
many independent assessments displacement has made the lives of displaced people very
worst, by deteriorating their standard of living to the lowest.

It has been seen that in India there is gender discrimination among displaced men and women.
After the 1950’s large number of projects were constructed for the economic growth in India
but none of the policy makers paid adequate attention towards gender issues and their policies.
In Land Acquisition Act 1984, millions of lands in hectares have been acquired for development
purpose, and people have been given only monetary compensation. Under this act, displaced
women do not find any place for compensation. Compensation is generally transferred to male
members and women are totally ignored in term of compensation and other activities. It has
also been observed that most of the development victims belong to the poor sections of the
society like Dalits, tribals, women and other backward classes. Women are the worst victims of
development and displacement. Research show that that number of social problems arise
among displaced women such as increased domestic violence (because the availability of cash
received in compensation has led to increase in alcohol intake by men resulting in violence

33
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

against women such as wife beating). Feeling of insecurity at new sites, weakness in kinship
bond, breakdown of familial relationship, and conflict among family members, loss of income
resources, and additional burden on women, increased in dowry demand are some of the
offshoots of forced displacement.

The displaced women face multiple problems such as economic, social, and financial and health
issues. It has been found that the women are the most affected one due to displacement. They
do not receive any compensation since, they do not hold the legal rights of the land. Due to
patriarchal nature of the society women are not treated apart with men in various jobs under
resettlement and rehabilitation policies. In India, there is an absence of uniform national
resettlement and rehabilitation policy. Whatever policies are there for the displaced people in
the country they are not properly implemented. Large numbers of dam projects are constructed
without any proper policy. The policy makers do not pay adequate attention towards the
displaced people. Displaced people have given monetary compensation and left them alone.
Hence, there is a need for a policy and law, which could integrate social and occupational issues
related to land. The land Acquisition Act (1894), even after the amendment of 1984, does not
recognize the right of land losers about their rehabilitation. It disperses them by paying
monetary compensation only. Major changes are required in the Act and in the policies dealing
with land acquisition so as to make them welfare oriented.

References
Agnihorti, Anita. (1996). “The Odisha Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Project- Affected
Persons policy, 1994- An Analysis of its Robustness with reference to Impoverishment Risk
Model”. In A.B. Ota and A. Agnihotri, (eds.), Involuntary Displacement in Dam Projects. New
Delhi: Prachi Prakashan.
Advani, Mohan. (2009). Urbanization, Displacement and Rehabilitation: A Study of People
Affected by Land Acquisition. New Delhi: Rawat Publication.
Asthana, Vandana. (2012). Forced Displacement: A Gender Analysis of the Tehri Dam Project in
India. Economic and Political Weekly, 47 (47-48), 96-102.
Ayyar, Varsha. (2013). Caste and Gender in Mumbai Resettlement Site. Economic and Political
weekly, 4 (18), 44-55.
Banerjee, B. (1997). A critique of the Madhya Pradesh resettlement act. In W. Fernandez and V.
Paranjpye (Eds.). Rehabilitation Policy and law in India: A right to livelihood. New Delhi:
Indian Social Institute.
Bhatia, B. (1997). Forced eviction in the Narmada valley. I.J. Dreze, M, Samson, S. Singh (Eds.).
The dam and the Nation. Displacement and resettlement in the Narmada valley. New Delhi.
Oxford University Press.
Cernea, M.M. (1990). “Poverty Risks from Population Displacement in Water Resources
Development”, HIID Development Discussion Paper No. 355, Harvard University, Cambridge.
Dreze, I J. and et al., (1997). The Dam and the Nation: Displacement and Resettlement in the
Narmada Valley. New Delhi: Oxford University press.
Fernandes, W. (1991). Power and Powerlessness: Development Projects and Displacement in
Tribals’, Social Action, 41 (3), 243-270.
Fernandes, W and Raj, S. Anthony. (1992). Development Displacement and Resettlement in the
tribal area of Odisha, New Delhi: Indian Social Institute.
Fernandes, Walter and Paranjpye, V. (1997). Rehabilitation Policy and Law in India: A Right to
Livelihood, New Delhi: Indian Social Institute.
Fernandes, W. (2007). “Singur and the Displacement Scenario”. Economic and Political Weekly,
42 (3), 203-206.

34
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

Hemadri, Ravi and et al., (1999). Dams, Displacement, Policy and Law in India, contributing
paper for World commission on Dams, Thematic Review 1.3 Displacement, Resettlement,
Rehabilitation, Reparation and Development.
Judge, P.S. (1997). Response to Dam and Displacement in two Indian states. Asian survey, 37
(9). 840-851.
Judge, Paramjit. S. (2000). ‘What Goes Wrong with Rehabilitation’: A Sociological view point.
The Eastern Anthropologist, Vol.53, No. 1-2, Jan-June. PP 161-76.
Kothari, S. (1996). ‘Whose Nation: The Displaced as a Victim of Development’, Economic and
Political Weekly, 31 (24), 1476-85.
Kaushal, Nandita. (2009). Displacement: An undesirable and unwanted consequences of
development. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 19 (1), 77-89.
Kumaran, K.P. (2013). “Socio-Economic Impoverishment Risks in Displacement of Tribals Under
polavaram Irrigation project”. Rural Development, 32 (1), 33-46.
Mishra, S.K. (2002). Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation of Tribal people: A case
study of Orrisa. Journal of Social Sciences, 6 (3), 197-208.
Mander, Harish. (2005). Displacement with State Subterfuge; Case Study of Indira Sagar
Pariyojana. Economic and Political Weekly, 60 (48), 5056-5067.
Mohanty, Biswaranjan. (2005). Displacement and Rehabilitation of Tribal’s. Economic and
Political Weekly, 40 (13), 13-20.
Mallavarapu, R.B. (2008). Development and Rehabilitation: An Action Anthropological study on
Kavvada Reservoir in West Godavari Agency of Andhra Pradesh, India. International Scholarly
and Scientific Research and Innovation, 2 (5), 579-585.
Mohanty, Muktikanta (2009) Development in Tribal Displacement: Reflection on Core Issues.
Indian Journal of Political Science, 80 (2), 345-350.
Nathan, Dev. (2009). Compensation and reconstruction of Livelihoods. Economic and Political
weekly, .44 (30), 22-26.
Nayak, A.K. (2013). Development, Displacement and Justice in India: Study of Hirakud dam.
Social change, 43 (3), 397-419.
Patnaik, et al. (1987). Hirakud Dam: Expectations and Realities in PRIA (ed) People and Dams.
New Delhi: Society for Participatory Research in Asia.
Pandey, Balaji. (1998). Depriving the under privileged for Development. Bhubaneshwar: Institute
of Socio- Economic Development.
Perera, Jayantha. (2000). Compensation versus Rehabilitation in the Singurali Resettlement
project, India. Eastern Anthropologists, 53 (1-2), 53-57.
Patwardhan, Amrita. (2000). Dam and Tribal in India. Thematic review 1.2: World commission
on Dams.
Pandey. B and Rout, B.K. (2004). Development Induced Displacement in India: Impact on
Women. New Delhi: National Commission for Women.
Parvez, Ayesha. (2008). Gendering the National Rehabilitation Policy in India; Social Change, 38
(4), 52 -63.
Rawat, Rukma. (2012). Development, Displacement and its impact on Rural Women; A case
study of oustees of Their Dam. Eastern Anthropologists, 65 (2), 141-156.
Ray, Parshuram. (2000). Development- Induced Displacement in India. South Asian Refugee
Watch, 2 (1). 33-40.
Singh, Mirdula. Et al.(1992). Displacement by Sardar Sarovar and Tehri: A Comparative Study of
Two Dams. New Delhi: Multiple Action Research Group.
Sarkar, Abhirup. (2007). Development and displacement: Land Acquisition in West Bengal’,
Economic and Political Weekly, 42 (16), 1435-1442.
Saxena, K.B. (2008). Development, Displacement and Resistance: The Law the policy on Land
Acquisition. Social Change, 38 (3), 351-410.

35
 Journal of Management & Public Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, December 2018

Sawhney, Charu and Malhotra, Nilika. (2013). Displacement from Kashmir: Gendered
Responses. Sociological Bulletin, 62 (1), 93-99.
Thukral, E.G (ed). (1992). “Big Dams, Displaced people”: River of Sorrow, River of Change. New
Delhi: Sage Publication.
Thukral, E.G. Singh, Mirdula. (1995). ‘Dams and the Displacement in India’, in H .M. Mathur and
M.M. Cernea (eds.): Development, Displacement and Resettlement: Focus on Asian
Experience. New Delhi: Vikas Publications.
Thukral, E.G. (1996) Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation: Locating Gender, Economic
and Political Weekly, 31 (24), 1500-1503.
Viegas, Phillip. (1992). ‘The Hirakud Dam Oustees: The Thirty years after’ in Thukral E.G (ed),
Big Dams displaced people: Rivers of Sorrow, River of Change. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Verma, Manish Kumar. (2004). Development, Displacement Resettlement. New Delhi: Rawat
Publications.

36

View publication stats