CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the Study

Economic and industrial development of a country involves large-scale deployment of

resources. In the post-World War II period, the pace of development has been multi-folded
to meet the increasing demands of the people, especially in the third world countries. These
countries are increasingly concerned about the need of development activities and in the
process of resource mobilization and utilization for the development of backward regions
entails heavy sacrifices, especially by the poor and disadvantaged groups of the society. In a
developing country like India where an overwhelming majority of the population lives in
rural areas and is suffered by chronic poverty, widespread unemployment, subsistence
production, and poor basic facilities, the planning and execution of large development
projects play a vital role. Since independence in 1947, India has been undertaking a series of
development projects to improve the quality of life of its people through ‘planned
development’ under the successive Five-Year Plans. These projects include dams, power,
mining, industrial and allied with infrastructures, transport network, and commercial
forestry.

The development projects are perceived as symbols of national progress. If it properly

executed, do have the potential of solving various socio-economic problems such as
generation of employment opportunities, formation of new skills, increases in income and
consumption levels and improvement of infrastructure facilities. They can also contribute to
modifications in cultural patterns, and changes in old social values and traditional
organizations (Stanley, 1996). However, there has been a lack of effective planning and
execution of the infrastructure projects. Most of the development projects in India have
brought adverse effects in the form of displacement of people from their original place of
habitation due to large-scale land acquisition. The third world countries are paying the heavy

1
price for this, but what is usually glossed over in this process is the involuntary displacement
of the large number of people for the national interest (Mahapatra, 1991).

Development-induced displacement1 in the country has brought severe economic, social and
environmental problems to the displaced people. Magnitude of people displaced and severity
of the problems due to infrastructure projects in general and multipurpose dam projects in
particular are too high as compared to other projects in the country. Involuntary
resettlement2, ecological changes and environmental degradation have been a companion of
development throughout history in both the industrial as well as developing countries like
India (Sharma, 2003).

In the current discourse on development and the search for a model of sustainable
development3, displacement has become a crucial concern. Dams, mines, power plants,
industries, parks and sanctuaries induce varying magnitude of displacement of people from
their traditional habitats. Often, displacement is followed by some form of voluntary or
involuntary resettlement at the original or other locations. Typically, displacement causes
serious economic, social and cultural disruption of the lives of those affected by it, and the
social fabric of the communities of the area. Each year about 10 million people globally is
displaced by dams, highways, ports, urban improvement, mines, pipelines and petrochemical
plants industrial and other such as development projects (Cernea, 2000). In India,
involuntary resettlement is estimated to have affected about 50 million people in the last five
decades. The sheer magnitude of the numbers involved is a matter of serious concern (Roy,
1999).

1
Induced development refers to development stimulated by a deliberate programme, typically initiated by the
government, which uses public financial resources to create a new infrastructure or other economic assets, and
thus triggers to create a new infrastructure or other economic assets, and thus triggers or accelerates growth
and change (Cernea, 1991)
2
As Robert Goodland has noted, ‘involuntary resettlement’ is the most widespread and systematic use of force
by proponents of economic development projects. The number of people who have been displaced is
enormous. Dam projects alone have displaced many tens of millions of people since economic development
began in developing countries in the late 1940s and early 1950s. If involuntary resettlement worked
successfully, that is, if it guaranteed that outsees became modestly better of promptly following their move,
there might be fewer objections. Goodland’s report is available at http://www.business-
humanrights.org/Links/Repository/609459/jump.
3
The World Commission on Environment and Development (WECD), popularly known as the Brundtland
Commission was created in 1984. The Brundtland report set the direction of debate on all future discussions of
sustainable development which was defined as ‘Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’.

2
In view of the above-mentioned problem, there has been an increasing aggravation at the
negative upstream impacts caused essentially by the development project. Thus, though
many of the development projects have been instrumental in the faster economic growth of
the nation, they often proved to be painful (Fernandes, 2005, Thukral, 1992, Cernea, 1990).
There is now a growing concern over the fate of the people who are forced to relocate for
the sake of development projects of one kind or another. Involuntary resettlement is not
new. This process of marginalization is not a novel phenomenon, as societies restructure in
the face of pressures to modernize, urbanize and industrialize. What is new is the gathering
strength of people’s reaction and resistance to involuntary relocation and resettlement. Such
involuntary displacement has been unable to offer anything but token resistance. Though the
governmental as well as non-governmental organizations and the international agencies like
the World Bank have come up with various Rehabilitation & Resettlement programmes4, the
fate of the displaced continues to be grim. Moreover, the experience with development
projects across the country suggests that the long drawn out process of displacement has
caused widespread adverse psychological and socio-cultural consequences. It is also well
established that except in the rarest of the rare cases, forced displacement has resulted in,
what Michael Cernea calls, “a spiral of impoverishment”5 (Cernea, 1991). There has been a
variation in the resettlement and reconstruction process of development projects in India in
general and in Orissa in particular. The present study is directed to understand the politics of
development and displacement and identify the process of resettlement and reconstruction
measures in two development projects in Orissa.

1.2. Development, Displacement and Reconstruction: An Overview

Conventionally, development has been projected as synonymous with economic growth and
better opportunities. It is generally accepted to be a process that attempts to improve the

4
This includes the World Bank’s policy, which in 1980 was the first ever adopted international rehabilitation
and resettlement policy, followed by the formal resettlement policies adopted by other public sector
multilateral agencies such as ADB, IDB, AFDP, ERBD, IFC, OECD, and emulated by private sector Banks in
the Equator Principles adopted in 2004.
5
The loss of livelihood without alternatives results in impoverishment. Impoverishment is the economic status
the DPs/PAPs are reduced to by displacement, not from any prior state of poverty. India is certainly a country
with a most extensive, analytical, and engaged scholarly literature on DFDR. The dominant finding of this, as
Mahapatra (1999) demonstrated in his all-India synthesis, is that forced displacement in India ends up in
impoverishing those affected.

3
living condition of people. The principal goal of development is to create sustainable growth
to improve the quality of human life, bring peace and prosperity. While raising per capita
incomes and consumption is part of that goal, other objectives-reducing poverty, expanding
access to health services, and increasing educational levels are also important. The term
‘development’6 envisages a battery of changes, changes for the betterment of community. It
involves the notion of progress, growth, upliftment and welfare of the collective (Patnaik,
2000). This multifaceted term carries different meaning to different people. For economists,
it is an increase in the growth rate and per capita income, for a politician, it is the acquisition
of some symbols of modernization and progress, for administrators, it is the enhancement of
the quality of life, standard of living and satisfaction of basic needs. Development is also
seen as a freedom of choice. Development requires the removal of major sources of
unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic
social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or over activity of
repressive states (Sen, 2000).

In the early stage of independence and process of nation-building, industrialization became

the dominant paradigm of development to ensure better quality of life to the people of India.
Indian states were involved in bringing rapid industrialization and economic development. It
was a period of “Development without restriction” and only economic development with
centralization of power was thought to be the parameter of human happiness (Agarwal and
Dubey, 2002). Massive industrialization has been taking place on the basis of exploitation of
natural resources, mines, forests for manufacturing commodities and infrastructural
development. A prerequisite for many of the post-independence development projects has
been land acquisition in the absence of which these projects could not have been initiated.
Most of these projects have brought about change in land use patterns, and water and natural
resources, leading to dispossession and displacement of a large number of people from their
original places of habitation. One of the inevitable outcomes of this has been a massive
environment degradation and ‘development induced displacement’ (Pandey, 1998).

6
According to Oxford Dictionary, development means “a gradual unfolding; fuller working out, of the details
of anything; the growth of what is in the germ”.

4
Development-induced displacement is one of the major social problems in the contemporary
India. Its scale and complexity are going to expand in the context of globalization. All forms
of development and change seem to entail some measure of displacement, which in turn
calls for readjustment. In the narrow sense, displacement implies relocation of affected
persons to a place away from their places of residence, but displacement need not
necessarily involve relocation. Displacement may be either physical or economic. In most
cases, displacement is triggered by land acquisition through the exercise of eminent domain7
or other powers of the state. Displacement is mainly due to development projects like
mining, major irrigation and hydro-electricity projects (Sen, 1995).

In the case of India’s development model, displacement caused by large project has actually
resulted in a transfer of resources from the weaker sections of society to more privileged
ones. Mega dams in particular, create a victim of development-mainly tribal’s who never
share the gains of development. It can be said that the bigger the development project, the
greater the centralized control over it. This centralization of planning process has been seen
as a bias in favour of large landholders, rich farmers, engineers, bureaucrats and politicians.
The increasing construction of development projects consistently displaced massive number
of tribal’s, poor and weaker sections, and an unavoidable event. The utilitarian principle of
maximum happiness for the maximum number has been invoked to lend respectability to
making the lives of communities into a cost, in the public interest. The law is ill-equipped to
counter this attitude and in fact, implicitly supports it by lending the force of state power.
Fernandez and Paranjpye (1997) observe that most of the displaced people belong to the
subaltern classes of which more than 40 per cent8 of the pre-1990 development projects
were tribals. There is also a violation of human rights, which is associated with the
displacement of people for building large dams, and reservoirs and this often gets unnoticed.
Despite strenuous efforts being made to enhance living standards and protect human rights,
each year another ten million people are uprooted and impoverished by development
projects (Serageldin, 2006). These displacements unleash multiple risk of impoverishment,
7
The term ‘eminent domain’ originally used by Grotius, the 17th century jurist, who stated that the state
possessed the power to take or destroy property for the benefit of society, but it was obligated to compensate
the injured property owners for their losses.
8
In India, for example, one study calculated that 2 per cent of the total population had been displaced by
development projects in the first forty years of the country’s independence (1951-1990). Of those displaced,
however tribal people were, though they comprise only 8 per cent of the population.

5
initiate unnecessary human suffering, harm social and economic development, and
undermine the civil society and their hosts.

The compulsory acquisition of land for public purposes9 and for public sector or private
sector companies displaces people, forcing them to give up their home, assets, means of
livelihood and vocation and to reside elsewhere and start their life all over again (Asif,
1999). It has been an important reason for the pauperization of affected families, sometimes
leading them to a state of shelterless and assetless destitution. Involuntary resettlement,
according to Cernea (1996), destroys productive assets and disorganizes production systems,
and creates a high risk of chronic impoverishment. He further observes that livelihoods of
displaced people are lost due to project a requirement; generating new income opportunities
for the affected people would appear to be a matter of high priority in resettlement planning.
In development-induced displacements, the state is accountable and amenable to provide
resources for reconstruction. Given the complexity of reconstruction livelihoods, research
done so far to analyze the variables that determine the success or failure in this endeavour is
inadequate. The following section gives an overview of the current debates on development
induced displacement and issues and concerns revolving around resettlement and
reconstruction of displaced people in India.

1.3. Development Induced Displacement and Reconstruction Process: Debate in India

To have a thorough understanding about politics of development and displacement, it is

important to study the problems associated with various projects and efforts towards
resolving them. Similarly to frame policies for planned rehabilitation, it is required to be
acquainted with the programmes of site selection, adequate compensation, provision of
alternative agriculture land, provision of minimum facilities in the resettlement colonies,
participation of the people, sharing project benefit, and preference for jobs in the project etc.
Keeping the above aspects in mind, an attempt has been made in the following section to
review various aspects of displacement and rehabilitation and reconstruction measures in
India.

9
The right of the state or the sovereign to its or his own property is absolute while that of the subject or citizen
to his property is absolute while that of the subject or citizen to his property is only paramount, and hence, the
citizen holds his property subject always to the right of the sovereign to take it for ‘public purposes’.

6
1.3.1. Impact of Development Projects

One of the major policy objectives of development projects10 in backward areas is to bring
effective changes in socio-economic and political life of poor and marginalized people and
also bringing changes in traditional values and cultural patterns which are inhibitive to their
progress. The development and infrastructure projects include: irrigation projects, building
big dams, railway line construction, power plants, and mining projects. These projects are
considered to be agents of change in economy, promoters of existing skills and a means to
diversify the productive capacities of the local population. However, in practice these
projects have not brought radical changes as planned. Rather, these projects have brought
about an adverse impact on the living styles of local people in general and tribal and other
backward class people in particular. This section examines the impact of development
projects on various aspects of displaced people in India.

Many scholars have documented the impact of development projects on socio-economic,

political and cultural aspects of displaced people. Thukral (1992) has analyzed the effects of
development-induced displacement, especially in the area of river valley projects. In her
scholarly research work on “Big Dams Displaced People: Rivers of Sorrow, Rivers of
Change” she has found that how development projects such as Silent Valley, Tehri,
Ichampalli, Suvernarekha, Bodhghat, and Polavarm projects planned as harbingers of
progress began to be viewed as disaster for human beings and nature. The rivers destined to
bring change became the rivers of sorrow. People were no longer willing to pay the price of
progress. They began to ask: Who pays the price and who benefits? Cernea (1999) stated
that Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) justifies a project economically viable when, the sum of
project benefits outweighs the sum of project costs. However, CBA overlooks distribution
patterns-distribution of both cost and benefits. It does not ask who is paying the costs, who
is specifically getting the benefits, or who is losing. It only assesses the total effect of the
project design to determine how it stacks up relative to other investment alternatives.

10
Development projects in this study refer to Upper Indravati Hydro-Electric Project and Utkal Aluminum
International Limited Project in Orissa.

7
Despite such a historic and philosophical Indian tradition favouring rights of the displaced
and duties of the state, the displaced are facing severe traumatic condition. Agrawal (1996)
has observed that how through involuntary displacement displaced people have been facing
challenges in competing with new society or other human beings.. They are also not given
the well-deserved sympathy and empathy from their colleagues, who often brand them as
uncivilized. This leads to a multifaceted impoverishment. Their psychological strength, self
esteem, richness of skill and experience is steadily exhausted, and their social fabric is
disrupted.

In his empirical study on the impact of development projects and displacement Fernandes
(1996) has pointed out that most displaced people (DP) belonging to the subaltern classes
are brought face to face with the dominant society without adequate preparation. It creates in
them a crisis of cultural and social identity and a sense of powerlessness vis-à-vis the
powerful forces. They thus tend to not only get impoverished financially, but also lose all
motivations to improve themselves. Because they devalue their own culture, in many cases,
they accept the dominant value system, which, among others, goes counter to their rights
and further deteriorates since their subordinate status.

Apart from impact of development projects on livelihood and economic condition, in an

attempt to study social, psychological, and cultural and health parameters Cernea (1996) has
identified eight areas of impoverishment risks through his comparative analysis of
displacement cases across the world. These include: landlessness, joblessness, homelessness,
marginalization, food insecurity, morbidity and social disarticulation. While each of the
characteristics is distinct and irreducible, they share a common denominator: all are
dimensions of a multifaceted process of impoverishment.

Given the complex magnitude of the development projects and its adverse affect on people
Arundhati Roy (1999) has observed that the choice of development is an issue of democracy
versus power. To quote her “I have no doubt that Gujarat has a serious water problem, and
that the Sadar Sarvor Project is aimed at solving it. However, there are issues pertaining to
democracy that are equally, if not more important-‘The Greater Common God’. The
government says that 500,000 people will be displaced. Even supposing that the dam brings

8
benefits, is it still right that 500,000 people, who do not wish to move, are dragged out of
their natural circumstances”.

Health-related issues often fail to receive due to attention in resettlement planning. Given
the complexity of development projects, it is not surprising that health is low on the list of
priorities. Mathur (1995) has argued that involuntary resettlement leads to increased stress,
both psychological and socio-cultural and also heightens morbidity and mortality. Hazards
to health are a common experience for those being resettled and of those with whom they
come in contact in the process of resettlement. Thukural (1998) by highlighting the health
aspects of the females of the resettlement areas has pointed out that even under normal
conditions the mortality rate among females is higher than that among man. Given this fact,
there are all likelihoods that if there is an increase in morbidity induced by displacement, the
first to be hit will be the displaced women. Similarly, the nutritional and health status of the
women who is lower than the males even under normal circumstances is bound to
proportionately go down in the event of an overall decrease in the health status induced by
displacement. In some of the resettled villages of the Sadar Saravor Project (SSP) the per
capita intake of calories has shown a fairly significant drop. This is due to the low yields and
poor employment opportunities in the resettlement area.

Pointing out the changes in dietary habit and nutritional level and consequent health status
because of resettlement, Ramaiah (1998) has argued that a shift in principal source of
income from cultivation to salaried employment of wage labour had not been only economic
but also nutritional consequences. Dietary habits of the displaced people who were
cultivators before resettlement was governed by traditional and cultural practices related to
food intake, especially for social groups such as children, pregnant and lactating women and
the aged. This self-reliance was disrupted due to loss of agricultural land. A large number of
women had to seek employment as wage earners due to poor financial conditions and
therefore, had to discontinue breast-feeding.

While displacement has severe consequences for all, for women it is particularly
devastating. Mehta (2000) has pointed out that regardless of differences in caste, class,
religion, or region, women everywhere bear the brunt of the forced move a lot more than the

9
male members of their family. Resettlement results in their marginalization in various ways.
Generally, women lose their earlier income opportunities, and are forced to the margins of
the labour market. The loss of their previous access to food, fodder and fuel-wood, coupled
with the difficulties, they encounter accessing them in the new place make life a hard
struggle. Their participation in decision making is next to nothing, although men admit that
consulting the women in the process of site selection and other matters can avert many of
the hardships that arise in a new place. Kothari (1996) has also pointed out that the trauma
of displaced women is compounded by the loss of access to fuel, fodder and food the
collection of which require greater time and effort. Very few resettlement sites have made
provisions for these essential things. In addition to this, when displaced, most women
experience greater marginalization. Similarly, children are adversely affected since there is
disruption in the traditional socialization process. The problem is compounded due to the
fact that modern schooling is not available in many cases and, even if available, is not easily
affordable and also accepted by the tribal communities.

Singh (1992) also observed that “the biggest shortcoming of all these development projects
is that women are not recognized as a separate entity”. A widow, unmarried adult daughters
and deserted women will be considered as dependents. The resettlement policy for the
oustees of the Maharashtra clearly states that an adult woman will not be entitled to any
land. For example, the Madhya Pradesh Rehabilitation & Resettlement policy is even more
gender biased. It emphasizes that if a couple holds property separately, they will be
considered one unit and will receive one package. In this situation, a woman will have to
forego her right to the package, as it will be given to the head of the family.

Emphasizing on job aspects Fernandes (2005) has pointed out that while it is destructive in
general of the marginalized categories, it is much more so for women’s status. Even when
only unskilled jobs were available, they were given almost exclusively to men since
illiteracy is higher among women. Besides, in most cultures the man is deemed to be the
breadwinner and therefore gets priority in jobs. This too has a consequence on their self-
image. Their traditional techniques, like their culture and social life in general, are of no use
while the assets, they have very little value. Such an approach to their livelihood, and their

10
being reduced to the status of cheap labour, mostly daily wage earners and at times bonded
labourers, confines them in their sub-human self-image.

Tribal regions are more particularly affected in the process of development in India. A
significant number of displaced tribal’s have historically been dependent on natural and
common resources for their subsistence (Mathur, 1995, Mohanty, 2005, Parasuraman,
1996). These scholars have argued that displacement of tribal people on a massive scale
adds a serious dimension to the problem. The tribal communities have an ethos and a way of
life based significantly upon their natural resource base. Due to development project, they
are forced to move out of areas where they have lived for generations. Apart from depriving
them of their lands and livelihood, displacement has brought other traumatic psychological
and socio-cultural consequences. These include dismantling of the production system,
scattering of kinship groups and family systems, disruption of the trade and market links.

Highlighting the economic aggression of Orissa government against indigenous community,

Sahu (2008) has observed that the Orissa government’s agreement with Vedanta Alumina to
allow mining of bauxite deposits in the Niyamgiri hills, the home of the Dongaria Kondha
tribe, is an example of how corporate interests backed by state support are trampling on
tribal livelihoods and threatening an ecologically rich and important region. In fact, the
Orissa government has treated opposition to economic “development” as a crime of
subversion, often acting with aggression against indigenous communities seeking to retain
their customary lands or to participate in decision-making regarding use or management of
natural resources.

Tribals are the most vulnerable and powerless in the periphery of the Indian democracy.
During the last two decades of the previous century, the magnitude of forced population
displacements caused by development programmes was 10 million people each year or some
200 million people globally during that period. The increasing construction of development
projects consistently displaced a massive number of tribals, poor and weaker sections
(Cernea, 2000, Fernandes and Paranjpye, 1997). The tribal’s represented 8.08 per cent of
India’s total population in 1991, but are estimated to represent much more-some 40 per cent-
of the displaced people and project affected persons. At least 20 per cent are Dalits

11
(Mahapatra, 1994) and a big proportion of the rest are from other assetless rural poor like
marginal farmers, poor fisher folk, and quarry workers. No compensation had been given for
the loss of Common Property Resources (CPRs) on which the tribals depended so far. Their
regions have been administratively neglected. If at all they get compensation, it is too late,
too little, to live a dignified life.

Thukral (1996) has focused on the plight of the oustees of the projects involving more than
one state. To quote her “If the project involves more than one state, an entirely new set of
problems arises”. In such cases, the plight of the oustees is even worse because even though
each state wants the maximum benefits of the project, neither want to share the
responsibility of rehabilitating the people consequently displaced”. The case of the Pong
oustee is a good example. The states of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have seen intent on
playing ping-pong with each other, forcing the oustees to shuttle between the two states
looking for redressal in vain. While many were not rehabilitated, others, having lived their
lives in the hills of Himachal Pradesh found themselves unable to cope with the deserts of
Rajasthan, where they had been offered resettlement.

Mukerji (1997) in his empirical research has highlighted that the Rihand dam promised a lot,
but it also brought down the hopes of thousands of families on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya
Pradesh border. For generations, Gahbhar’s family had lived at Raja Paraswar, in UP’s
Sonebhadra district. In March 1960, they had to leave home when the water of the just
completed dam submerged the entire village. In 1978, they had to move again when part of
Chilkadand was acquired for a project set up by the National Thermal Power Corporation
(NTPC). Like the victim of a nightmare, they lost it all in 1989 to the NTPC’s third thermal
power plant in Rihand Nagar.

The above review of literature on the impact of the development project has brought to
surface at the fact that how development projects in India has affected the livelihood, health,
economic activities and cultural aspects of people. These studies provide scope to
understand how the development projects have been planned and initiated by the state or
private companies, notwithstanding their failure in the rehabilitation and resettlement
measures.

12
1.3.2. Compensation Measures and Its Implications

Payment of cash compensation to the affected people is one of the important aspects of
rehabilitation. Many studies have focused on the inappropriate payment of compensation by
the project authorities and the consequent indiscriminate spending of the amount by outsees.
Studies done by the Centre for Science and Environment (1985) and many scholars have
mentioned cases of inadequate compensation, disparities in fixation of compensation,
scandals in payment, especially to be tribals and many instances of exploitation by
landowners, money lenders, and lawyers (Thukral, 1998, Mahapatra, 1999). Narrating the
lacunae of land compensation, Thukral (1992) has pointed out that the Nagarjuna Sagar
oustees have been Promised Land for land, along with irrigation facilities and house plots.
However, as per the rules, they received only five acres of dry land. This was not in the
command area and also no irrigation facilities from the project that took away their land.
The Hirakud oustees found that their rehabilitation sites were a great distance away, badly
connected and totally unprepared for resettlement. It is estimated that not more than 11 per
cent of the oustees decided to settle in these camps. The others preferred to find their own
alternative. This suggests that resettlement process is carried out without much involvement
of public in the decision-making process.

Highlighting land-for-land compensation, Goyal (1996) argues that alternative land is seen
as a means of ensuring that resettlement is sustainable, given the unique characteristics of
land as an asset, as a factor of production, as a commodity, and as a basis of community
living. The land-for-land principle is particularly pertinent in the case of tribal areas, where
rights to land may rest with the community rather than individuals. Rao (1986) has observed
that the plight of suffering to the villagers resettled after the Rengali Dam project in Orissa
is very pathetic, because of the distribution of poor quality of agricultural land. Although
every family has been provided with six acres of land, not even a square inch of it could be
cultivated. This prevented the villagers from getting institutional loans for making their land
cultivable. Mathur (1997) highlighted that quite often it is reported that lands allotted are
either unsuitable for cultivation or are of poor quality. In other words, the land holding size
may appear to be reasonable, but in terms of productivity it may not ensure the pre-project
farm returns. Because of corruption, people with money and power have access to good

13
quality and large size land allotment as compared to the poor, scheduled castes/tribes
population and other vulnerable section.

By emphasizing on the compensation package, Cernea (2008) has observed that sometimes
borrowing agencies propose cash compensation only; in lieu population tends to show that
the payment of cash compensation alone is often a very inadequate strategy for dealing with
the displaced people. In some instances, the entire compensation has been used for
immediate consumption purpose, leaving the displaced with nothing to replace their lost
income-generating assets and opportunities. Fernandes & Paranjpye (1997) on the Review
of World Bank’s Rehabilitation Directives commented that “In India, there is not a single
project were during the last sixty years any of the displaced families have, in fact, been able
to share benefits, above and beyond the compensation worked out according to the market
value, not the replacement cost.

The study carried out by World Bank (1998) highlighted that the bureaucratic way in which
compensation is made often after a long wait and in installments over a period of time,
prevents the affected people from moving to the new place, and resettle as quickly as
possible. A World Bank study reported that Pong dam displaced people waited for three
years for the final cash payments for their houses, and are still waiting for compensation for
trees. This show how serious is the administration has been in providing compensation as
per the stipulated deadline.

In his empirical study, Patwardhan (2000) has argued that the success of land-based
resettlement has largely depended on the availability of land close to the project area. The
availability of the forest and government land for allotment to the displaced families is the
first choice for implementing agencies that want to pursue the land-based resettlement
approach. The oustees of the Bhakra dam project were compensated in the form of land, and
cash was paid only to those who did not opt for land based resettlement. Baboo (1991) has
observed that most of the tribal people were not in a position to utilize or could not utilize
the compensation in a productive way. Compensation in cash to people who had never seen
so much money led to a lot of misuse, especially by the poor, unlettered lower castes and
tribals. People were cheated and looted, there was conspicuous consumption, and they also

14
spent on litigation, medication, and pilgrimages. Very few people utilized it for productive
purposes. Overall, there was a general economic decline. However, the haves, the clever and
the educated took advantage of the crisis.

Joshi (1987) has pointed out that there is gender bias in the forms of compensation.
Substantial land is often worked, owned and even inherited by women in many cases, but
compensation is provided to the head of the family or to men. Compensation is limited to
individual landowners, who have land titles. In tribal households and joint families,
households are often registered by the name of the individual, while they are framed based
on nuclear households. Such a policy provides the Indian state with the opportunity to
minimize its expenses on compensation.

Dhagamwar (1997) has highlighted that the basic criterion of compensation should be the
replacement of the livelihood lost, and not of just the market value of the individual assets.
This involves quantifying the loss suffered by the CPR dependants, of the non-timber forest
produce like fodder, food, fertilizer, medicinal herbs, etc., and of community resources such
as common and pasture land and places of worship. It also involves quantifying the
livelihood lost by artisans, barbers, agricultural labourers, nomads, and others that make
their livelihood from providing services, and depend on having customers. The cost of
enabling them to begin life again must be recognized and covered.

Cernea (2000) has focused one possible way of minimizing displacement. Besides, the local
people may also need many of the facilities that the project builds for its own staff. For
example, it builds educational, medical, sports, and entrainment facilities, mostly limited to
its staff. Even if a township is not built, the project should continue to build them, but they
should be open to all the people of the region, not merely the project staff. This is one step in
ensuring that the livelihood of those who pay the price is better after the project than before
it. It can also integrate the project into the local economy instead of remaining an island of
prosperity in the sea of poverty, much of it created by the project.

The above-discussed studies broadly address that compensation is a critical issue in any
resettlement programme. As compensation is important to the reestablishment process, until
recently resettlement has remained largely a neglected aspect of the development process.

15
Compensation should be at replacement value, not at market value. As the experience has
shown cash-for-land compensation fails to assist in the reestablishment process. Land-for-
land has evolved as the major focus of the most current policy proposals, combined with the
broader understanding of the notion of displaced people and of the losses and deprivations,
they experience. Alternative land is seen as the means of ensuring that resettlement is
sustainable. Given the unique characteristics of land as an asset, as a factor of production, as
a commodity, as a basis for community living and therefore, not comparable to the
inadequate one-time cash payment that is made for it in the cash-for-land approach. What is
lacking. However, in these studies is to understand the implications of state initiated process
of determining the compensation for the displaced people and how the displaced people
view compensation as a method of addressing their long-term livelihood interests.

1.3.3. Displacement and Resettlement: Policy Concerns

There has been no legal framework to deal with the problem of displacement in India. It has
been found that no specific policy was ever formulated either by the Central or the State
governments to address the issue to involuntary displacement of the people who could take
place, when the Indian state initiated development projects in different parts of the country
soon after independence. Many resettlement specialists in India have criticized the policy as
being developed to support development proponent and big businesses. Fernandes (2004)
argues that the policy draft appears to be more concerned with protecting the interests of big
businesses rather than the livelihood security of the displaced.

The Land Acquisition Act of 1894, with its power of ‘eminent domain’, promulgated during
the nineteenth century in several Asian countries remains in force even today. Parasuraman
(1997) argues that the 1984 Amendment to the LAA of India is a colonial legacy which
empowers the state to acquire land even for private industry requirements, and the state has
often used the acquired land even for private industry requirements. The state has often used
the law indiscriminately to deprive the people of their livelihood by the name of larger
public interest. All the efforts to gauge and mitigate the problem of involuntary resettlement
become invalid in the absence of a concrete record of the number of the persons affected and
their whereabouts. Fernandes (1996) further argues that many scholars thought that it was

16
impossible to evolve new people oriented policy based on the ground reality. Of late, when
social scientists made an effort to assess the situation of displacement and rehabilitation in
their own states, they realized that the country lacks the database on displacement and
rehabilitation, and a suitable rehabilitation policy measure is the urgent need of the hour.
Fernandes (1996) also points out the issue of communication gap and unawareness of the
displaced people regarding their resettlement. To quote him “it is not merely that they are
not involved in the decision, but also that information about the project is kept away from
them”. Knowledge is power. The powerful project authorities render the affected
populations further powerless by keeping them ignorant of their future situation. Much has
been said about the tensions created by this situation, between the project authorities and the
people. However, very few have understood that it creates a sense of insecurity among the
people to be displaced and thus become a barrier to their preparing themselves for a better
life forgetting the benefits of the project. This is confirmed by studies on the Machkund and
Upper Kolab dams, the National Aluminum Corporation (NALCO) Plant and Salandi dam
in Orissa, coal, uranium and other mining projects in Bihar in Eastern India, and the
Narmada Project in Gujarat in Western India.

Ramanathan (1996) has stated that the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is a statutory statement
of the state’s power of eminent domain, which vests the state with ultimate control over land
within its territory. The paradigm of development that has found favour with planners and
makes displacement of large numbers of people, even whole communities an unavoidable
event. The utilitarian principle of maximum happiness for the maximum number has been
invoked, and people have been paying the price by the name of public interest. The law is ill
equipped to counter this attitude and in fact, abets it by lending the force of state power.

Singh et al (1992) has further verified this and argued that the work on the main dam site in
both the Narmada and Tehri projects began simultaneously in the seventies. Even after ten
or twelve years, there is no clear estimate of the exact number that will be displaced by these
projects. This indicates clearly that when a project is planned, although details about how
the last drop of water will be utilized are never left out, the people affected by the project are
conveniently forgotten. This trend has been observed in all other major development
projects.

17
Emphasizing on the importance of policy and planning David Marsden (1998) has pointed
out that baseline surveys are important for a number of reasons. They should provide an
accurate record of who the project affected person are, how they gain their livelihoods, but
they also create the boundaries of entitlement by delineating all those who are eligible for
benefits. In the Indian context where illegal and/or unauthorized encroachment is a major
issue, such as boundaries of entitlement allow the cost of the resettlement and rehabilitation
action plan to be more accurately gauged. There was little specialist expertise in R&R
issues. Engineers working out of personnel and public relation or external affair unit dealt
with the problems.

Hemadri (1995) has argued that in the absence of a statutory rehabilitation law or even a
national policy, there is no legal imperative for state governments or project authorities to
integrate comprehensive rehabilitation planning into the planning of a project. Indeed, it has
been found that even the existence of state and project specific policies is not sufficient to
ensure this. The so-called pari passu or incremental approach of allowing land acquisition
and project construction activities to proceed parallel to displacement and rehabilitation, has
led in practice to ad hoc, piecemeal and minimalist rehabilitation. Highlighting on the
lacunae of policy planning in India, Cernea (1996) has remarked that the worst consequence
of displacement-impoverishment and violation of basic human rights-happens, most
frequently when national resettlement policy guidelines are absent. Consequently, equitable
action strategies for the socio-economic re-establishment are not pursued. There is no
independent professional monitoring and evaluation of outcomes about the rehabilitation
process. He suggests that the key to sound like resettlement is to adopt a people-centered
development policy, not a property-compensation policy.

Thukral (1996) adds that arriving at an estimate of the magnitude of the problem is even
more difficult in the absence of adequate data. The various estimates available seem to be
based largely on surmises and conjecture. Fernandes, Das and Rao (1989) have estimated
the number of persons displaced in the last four decades at 18 million. Mankodi (1989)
states that although no reliable statistics are available, the number of displaced could be
anywhere between 2 and more than 20 million. Another estimate puts the number of persons
affected directly or indirectly by irrigation projects alone over the past 40 years at 20

18
million, of whom only 25 per cent have been rehabilitated. However, these estimates
exclude a very large section of the affected population: those who are not directly affected
due to the acquisition of their land, but indirectly, due to the changes in the land-use a
pattern, as a consequence of the project.

Such repeated failures of resettlement without rehabilitation reveal profound fallacies and
failures in the planning system itself, which need to be corrected. As Shiva (1994)
highlighted the development planning in India needs drastic change in the method of setting
the goals of planning. It is not the rate of growth of the economy per se, but the degree of
fulfillment of human needs and the elimination of glaring inequalities in society, which
should be the yardstick of success in planning.

Highlighting the aspects of the adjustment problem and the hostility from the host
population, Mathur (2006) has observed that conflicts between new settlers and the host
population have foiled most such resettlement efforts. He further points out that despite
governmental assistance for the refugees, new comers often face an under-current of
resentment. Some of the resentment is directed against their tendency to live in isolated
communities of their own. The reason why new comers rely on ethnic communities’
organization and ethnic support networks is that they meet their important economic, social
and psychological needs. Paradoxically, however, as ethnic communities and social
networks help, the new arrivals adjust to the new setting; they also prevent their rapid
integration into the larger society.

Kothari (1996) has also stated despite the magnitude of displacement and the longevity of
the multiple traumas that most oustees’ face the successive central governments in India
shunning their constitutional responsibility in ensuring effective resettlement of displaced
people. The policy initiative so far viewed displacement is inevitable for development
projects; the need is to “deal” with the trauma, not to question the project or the process that
is causing the displacement.

The above-mentioned studies have broadly identified that due to lack of a detailed
comprehensive resettlement and rehabilitation (R & R) policy, the process of rehabilitation
and resettlement of uprooted people has been minimal and not very successful. So far, R &

19
R has tended to be considered as some kind of externality of development projects, and
investment in R & R has been minimized. This approach has led to widespread
impoverishment of project-affected persons, and to conflict between them and project
authorities who have had extremely high financial and human costs. It is in this context the
rehabilitation and rehabilitation policy needs to be taken far more seriously than they have
been in the past.

1.3.4. Process of Reconstruction Measures

The finding of various studies has pointed out that in many cases; the reconstruction
measures are mechanical and inadequate. This exposes the affected people to drastic
changes, and in some cases prolonged suffering. In his empirical study, Dhagamwar (1989)
finds out that if any rehabilitation programme to be successful, institutional changes are
required for its early planning. In the rehabilitation and resettlement process, the
participation of displaced people is necessary in the decision-making process. He also
emphasizes that for every development project; there should be a comprehensive policy of
rehabilitation. He also stressed that there is an urgent need to have a single body of all
rehabilitation projects, since at present the displacing authority whose main mandate is to
meet the material target of constructing the project, is also the displacing authority. Partridge
(1989) has pointed out that poor preparation of resettlement plans is the single most
important reason for failure of resettlement components of development projects. Poor
preparation leads to delays, increased costs, foregone benefits, which negatively impact
human communities affected and subvert the development objectives of civil work projects.
In particularly difficult instances, poor resettlement preparation leads to unwelcome political
backlash, unintentional environmental degradation, and the unanticipated creation of
development refugees.

Scholars like Morse and Berger (1992) have observed that resettlement is primarily a
management issue. Actual relocation-the moving of people, animals, and household
possessions, is a matter of demanding logistic. For people to be able to live at new sites,
basic services have to be in place, water and temporary housing being the most important.
Sooner than later, range of civic amenities too should be available such as, medical facilities,

20
schools, bus services, electricity, temples, churches and other public binding. In addition to
this, the provision of adequate opportunities for reconstruction of livelihoods is basic to the
sustainability of the entire resettlement process. All these depend upon a great deal on
administrative capacity, flexibility, and continuity.

Mathur (2006) highlights how the sustainable reconstruction of displaced people could be
made through involvement of displaced people. He suggests that a degree of involvement of
displaced people in the planning and implementation processes; no use of force in moving to
the new site; no breakup of the existing social group due to relocation; housing and basic
services at the new site to be in a fully operating condition; and availability of economic
opportunity for improving the living conditions are important requirements in order to make
effective the resettlement process. Ramaiah (1998) has also identified two major priorities
for most resettlement programmes in India: (a) income restoration of the displaced people,
and (b) provision of infrastructure facilities. These priorities aim to raise the standard of
living of those affected as compared to their former living standards.

Moreover, just preserving the pre-project standard of living is not enough. As Mahapatra
(1994) has argued the “essence of any comprehensive rehabilitation process should be
development of affected people on a sustainable basis rather than concentration on more
relief and meager welfare activities”. The standard of living is not only a matter of restoring
incomes but also providing basic facilities, which would be a significant component of
rehabilitation packages aimed at reconstruction of their primary livelihood. For people
losing livelihoods due to development projects, mere income restoration is, however, not
rehabilitation, as people do not just lose incomes and the capacity to earn it. A narrow view
of the resettlement issue, as Goyal (1996) has shown, fails to do justice to other bases of
human well-being, such as common property resources, public services and social
interaction. In addition to income at the pre-displacement level, resettlers need access to
basic services such as education and health and other civic amenities including water and
sanitation.

21
Cernea (1996) has observed the need for a sociologically informed resettlement policy. In
more than one way, social research on displacement is a form of public responses to the
effects of such processes. This response generates knowledge and invites public action.
Indeed, over the years, anthropologist and sociologist of various countries have generated an
impressive body of knowledge about the effects of socio-economic uprooting and the
patterns of people’s responses to displacement. In a few countries, this knowledge was used
in the formulation of legislation and policy guidelines about the rights and entitlements of
those displaced by projects.

Thukral (1988) while analyzing the various aspects of rehabilitation measures under
Narmada Project has stated that displaced people are not aware of the nature of displacement
and the extent of land to be submerged. The number of people affected is underestimated
and incorrect information is encouraged in order to ensure that the project meet the various
criteria for approval.

Success in reconstruction of the livelihood of displaced people cannot be judged for many
years, possibly until next generation. Relocated people in a new environment take time to
recover from trauma and get back on their feet, and require assistance for a considerable
length of time. As Scudder (1997) pointed out successful resettlement takes time. At the
minimum, it should be implemented as a two generation process. If success cannot be
passed on by the first generation of resettlers to their children, then resettlement has failed.

Viegas (1992) highlights the requirement of technical training, and psychological, cultural,
and social preparation of the people to begin a new life, to ensure the re-emergence of social
structures in a new from enabling them to adapt themselves to the new society they are
pushed into. Such replacement is important because most DPs are from the powerless
classes whose only source of livelihood is alienated from them. If they are not given
adequate cultural and psychological support, as well as social and technical training to deal
with the new surrounding, they are unable to cope with the changes. Rehabilitation has to
deal with this aspect too and that requires something more than technical training, which is
not excluded. The victims have to get a share of the project benefits. In fact, if it planned
properly, technical training can minimize displacement and help the DPs/PAPs share the

22
first benefit: employment in project construction. As Stanley (1996) pointed the case of
NALCO in the Koraput districts of Orissa shows that it is possible for the illiterate to
acquire such skills. In this case, a voluntary agency trained the displaced tribals in skills
such as driving and welding and many of them got semi-skilled jobs in the project.

Scudder (1993) identifies a four-stage model of resettlement projects. Stage one is the stage
of planning, infrastructure development and settler recruitment. Stage two is the transition, a
period of one to five years during which people actually move and seek to re-establish
livelihoods in a new location, making use of whatever investment has been made for them
(e.g. health facilities, roads, housing or employment). In stage three, settlers ideally start to
become more risk-taking, making investment strategies to increase productivity through
diversification of family labour (investigating in education, livestock, and off-farm income).
In stage four, resettlement project activities are handed over to local organizations, and a
generation of settlers takes over.

The above literature suggests that the challenges in reconstructing livelihood of displaced
people are indeed formidable. There is an urgent need for creating conditions where if
displacement is inevitable, resettlement can become an opportunity, a mandate for
reconstructing production systems, raising standards of living, restoring community and
kinship relations and minimizing conflict with the host community. To ensure resettlement
as a developmental opportunity, projects that cause displacement also generates many new
income-earning opportunities through benefit-sharing approach to reconstructing resettlers.
Therefore, the commitment has to be not just for resettlement but for reconstruction, which
should be an entitlement and not an act of reluctant generosity.

In this connection, it is worthwhile to examine the reconstruction process of the displaced

people in the development induced projects. The studies so far have highlighted that there
has been variation in the rehabilitation and resettlement process and not much focus in
identifying the factors that determine the variation and its implications. Therefore, this study
would help to find out various socio-cultural, economic and political aspects of different
government policies and programmes towards planned reconstruction of people’s livelihood
affected by the development projects. In doing so, this study will not only highlight the

23
current legal and policy framework for resettlement and reconstruction in India but also
explore. How effective have been the existing legal and policy frameworks? Further, the
study is an attempt to understand the process of resettlement and reconstruction and why
variation takes place in the reconstruction process and how different actors get engaged in
this process through examination of two case studies: Upper Indravati Hydro Electrical
Project (UIHEP) situated in the border of Koraput, Kalahandi and Nawarangpur district, and
Utkal Aluminum International Limited Project (UAILP), located in Rayagada district of
Orissa.

1.4. Research Questions

The foregoing observation clearly reveals that the displacement of people due to large
development projects is a nationwide problem. The planners feel and emphasis in
subsequent policy documents that the irrigation, power, and industrial projects initiated after
independence has led to economic development. Since independence, a number of
development projects, such as steel plants at Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bhilai, Bokaro, the coal
mines at Hazaribagh and Dhanbad districts, and a number of irrigation and hydro-electric
projects like Tehri Dam, Damodar Dam and Sardar Sarvor Project in North India, Almaty
Dam and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in Southern India, and Mahanadi, Machkund and other
different parts of Eastern India have been initiated. These development projects have been
viewed as bringing transformation in the socio-economic and livelihood condition of
millions of people.

Recent economic activities in Koraput and Rayagada districts, the areas under study, began
with the exploitation of water, forest and mineral resources. Koraput and Rayagada districts
of Orissa are among the poorest regions in the country where deaths due to malnutrition and
diseases frequently occur. This underdevelopment has prompted funds to flow into the
regions through various programmes and project. These activities have marked an era of
rapid progress in these backward tribal districts, which is thus undergoing a significant
transformation from being an economically backward area to a reasonably advanced region.
However, these projects are not unmixed blessings as they have caused widespread
displacement of local people. The present study is an attempt to understand the process of

24
development and displacement of people and identify the process of resettlement and
reconstruction measures in the two purposively selected areas in Orissa. In doing so, the
study addresses the following questions:

• What are the major issues revolving around development projects in India?
• What are the impacts of displacement? Does it confine to improvement of social-
economic status of tribals or does it lead to pauperization and marginalization?
• Can displacement be turned into development by compensation alone?
• What can be done to minimize the cost and spread the benefits as widely as possible?
• How can we prepare a reconstruction module, which will genuinely help the project
affected people to build their lives in the present and the future livelihood
conditions?

1.5. Objectives

Based on the above questions the following objectives have been framed:

• To understand the nature and trend of development projects in India and its
implications.
• To make a comparative examination of the impact of development projects and
emerging trends with reference to Upper Indravati and Utkal Alumina International
Limited projects in Orissa.
• To highlight the process of resettlement and reconstruction measures in the study
areas.

1.6. Methodology

To carry out a systematic study of the politics of development, involuntary displacement and
reconstruction measures, two infrastructure projects are purposively selected. The two
projects selected for the study are: Upper Indravati Hydro Electrical Project (UIHE) situated
in the border of Koraput, Kalahandi and Nawarangpur district, and Utkal Aluminum
International Limited Project (UAIL), located in Rayagada district of Orissa. The projects
such as UIHEP and UAIL of Orissa have been chosen for this study on account of
significant reasons. While the former, being an irrigation project, has created situations for

25
large scale primary with little secondary displacement, the later being an industrial project
has caused some primary but substantial secondary displacement. It is also important to
mention that while the former project is the state-led project and the latter is a private
ownership project.

The majority of the affected people belong to tribal and other weaker section of the society.
The study aims at understanding both the benefits as well as the adverse effects of the
projects both on the economy and societal aspects of the project affected people. These
projects required vast amount of land for its inception and erection, which naturally
displaced thousands of people. They are resettled in other places. The study includes
analysis of these projects affected persons and their socio-economic, political and cultural
lifestyle living at the new location sites. It also provides scope to examine two different
types of rehabilitation polices adopted, and how the displaced people have benefited and re-
integrated from the process of rehabilitation. Another important reason for choosing these
two projects is that both the projects are located in remotely backward tribal regions. It
provides scope to examine the dominant theoretical assumption that the effective
implementation of development activities and welfare measures depends upon the resource
capacity of the local people and the way they take an interest in the development projects. In
this connection, it is also important to mention that development-induced displacement is
one of the major social processes in contemporary India. Its scale and complexity are going
to expand in the context of globalization. To identify the basic socio-economic and cultural
mechanisms set in motion, when people are forcibly displaced; five-fold dimensions have
been studied. These include:

Social structure: The affect of involuntary displacement on the social structure of

the society like family, caste, and community are acute. Family system receives a
severe jolt and family as a traditional system of production changes into the system
of consumption. Consequently, caste system also losses its grip due to
industrialization and community system changes shape. Forced displacement tears
apart the social fabric and the existing patterns of social organizations. Production
systems are often scattered, local labour markets are disrupted, and people’s cultural
identity is put a risk. Life-sustaining informal social network of mutual help among

26
people, common property resources, and local involuntary associations, and self-
organized service arrangements are dispersed and rendered inactive. This unraveling
represents a massive loss of social capital incurred by the uprooted people.

Values, beliefs, customs and culture: Due to change in social structure, consequent
change in values, beliefs, customs, traditions and culture is observed. The old values
guiding the natal ties, family relationship breaks down. It is seen that, in most cases,
the benefit received by a nominee of one family left his rest of family, even parents.
Beliefs attached with the place, rituals, and religious deities get affected. It also
impacts some kind of changes in dressing pattern, education system and the
relationship between elder and the children, the generation gap, and respecting elders
have changed dramatically.

Existential condition: Involuntary displacement creates the conditions of

landlessness, homelessness and joblessness. Expropriation of land removes the main
foundation upon which people’s productive systems, commercial activities and
livelihood are constructed. The loss of housing and shelter may be only temporary
for many displace, but for some, homelessness remains a chronic condition. Due to
both the above conditions, loss of wage employment occurs are landless labourers,
service workers, artisans and small businessmen. Resulting unemployment or
underemployment among resettlers lingers long after physical relocation.

Specific problems arising out of displacement: Involuntary displacement creates

some specific problems like marginalization, increased morbidity and mortality, food
insecurity, loss of common property and violation of human rights. Marginalization
occurs when family losses economic power and slide on a ‘downward mobility’ path.
Serious decreases in health level result from displacement caused social stress,
insecurity, and psychological trauma, and from the outbreak of relocation-related
diseases. Further, for the poor, loss of access to common property assets like forest
land, water bodies, and grazing land represents a major form of income and
livelihood deterioration. Forced eviction of people is considered by the United
Nations as a ‘gross violation of human rights’, resettlement is often resisted, leading

27
 many cases, to violence and accompanying human rights abuses. In addition to the
flouting of international and national laws and agreements intended to protect the
economic interests of project-affected people, there are well-documented cases
where oustees and their supporters have been intimidated, beaten up or murdered by
State or paramilitary forces for opposing projects.

Policy and its adequacies: Until the date, India does not have any national policy on
resettlement and rehabilitation. Although some states such as Orissa and Maharashtra
have their state wise policy. Coupled with this, some government organization like
NTPC, CIL, etc., also developed their own written policy, partially due to pressure
from project-affected people and pressure from some funding agencies like World
Bank and Asian Development Bank. Government of India’s national draft policy on
R& R is still open to discussion, in addition to some NGO’s have developed their
own alternative policy on this problem, which is also open to discussion. The whole
process of acquisition, resettlement and payment of compensation is so complicated,
that it is very difficult to understand by common people.

1.6.1. Methods

Dams, mines, power plants, industries, parks and sanctuaries induce varying magnitudes of
displacement of people from their traditional habitats. Typically, displacement causes
serious economic, social and cultural, disruption of the lives of those affected by it, and the
social fabric of the communities of the area. Since the 1970, after exhausting the resources
in the south, north and west of India, mainstream Indian industries have begun exploitation
the resources of the Eastern Ghats areas of which the state of Orissa accounts for 36 per
cent. The area is rich in resources and the process of transferring resources from the
periphery to the centre is now visible. This has led to several socio-economic problems with
significant proportions of the population, largely tribals, being displaced. Comparative
studies of displacement, compensation and rehabilitation in the irrigation and industrial
projects in Orissa highlight the need for a uniform, but flexible, policy on resettlement and
rehabilitation. To understand the different dimensions of a research problem, data is
collected from both primary and secondary sources. For the collection of primary data, the

28
method of ‘non-participant observation’, use of schedule (both structured and unstructured),
‘random sampling’, ‘interview’, and ‘Focused Group Discussion’ (FGD) are used,
depending upon the circumstances and demand of the situation.

The study areas were visited twice to acquire the baseline information and interview was
done with 242 heads of the households of seven blocks with the use of random sampling.
The schedule was utilized to procure the baseline information of the head of the household,
his/her family and the socio-cultural, political, economic and psychological status of before
displacement and after displacement. Interactions were conducted with the displaced people
in detail to understand various aspects of their socio-economic, cultural and political impact
of development projects. These include demographic characteristics, occupational pattern,
educational background, ownership of assets, pattern of family income, utilization of
compensation and rehabilitation grant, difficulties faced on account of compensation and
rehabilitation grant, difficulties faced on account of the project and their notion of well-
being before and after the project. Information relating to the extent of property acquisition,
rate and amount of compensation paid, and eligibility of individual Project Affected People
for rehabilitation assistance have been collected from various projects implementing units.
To obtain the quantified data, the method of FGD was used. With the help of local senior
citizens and community leaders of the area, general information was acquired. FGD was
conducted in the villages of Nawarangpur, Koraput and Kalahandi districts. Finally, the
interview method was used, and views were gathered from key functionaries of UIHE and
UAIL, like Director of R&R, Chief Engineers (Planning), District Magistrate, Land
Acquisition Officer and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Officer, the Tahasildars, the
Representatives of people like the MLA of the constituency, the NGOs working in the study
area and some of the local leaders regarding the resettlement and rehabilitation process.

The secondary sources include the review of various Government documents on

resettlement policy measures; documentation made by NGOs in the study areas; and also
review of existing literature on development, displacement and reconstruction measures in
India. The books written by political scientist, sociologists and anthropologists are the prime
source of secondary data. Reports of planning and implementation of several projects are
also used. Apart from that, articles and survey reports published in magazines, and journals

29
are also utilized for getting a better idea about the earlier studies and the exact R&R
situation of the concerned projects. Demographic data is collected from the documents of
the revenue officials of the area, census records and land records.

1.7. Limitation of the Study

This study has certain limitations to examine every aspect revolving around the resettlement
and reconstruction process in India in general and in the study areas in Orissa. The analysis
of the research problem is limited to the data collected from the field through direct
observation, interview methods, focused group discussion and data collected from various
secondary sources. The sophisticated analytical techniques and models could not be used
since much of the information obtained through a primary surveys suffers from the sense of
subjectivity. It has also found that the socio-cultural attributes as obtained through the
surveys were difficult to be expressed in quantitative terms, and they were felt unsuitable for
constructing indicators for rigorous quantitative analysis. The other methodological
constraint has been the lack of documentation of development history in the study areas.
Even the oral history of development projects in the study areas from the senior citizens of
the affected area could not have been gathered accurately as the most affected people are
tribal’s who speak their own dialects. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made to understand
the development history through interaction with local NGOs and other Community Based
Organizations (CBOs) working in these areas. The analysis of environmental implications
has also been set aside from the domain of the present work because of the non-availability
of information and lack of technical understanding of the subject. Therefore, prescriptions
indicating suitable measures for maintaining ecological balance were based on general
understanding and not on laboratory or outdoor experiments.

1.8. Outline of the Dissertation

The thesis contains six chapters, including the introduction and the conclusion. The first
chapter introduces the problem, states the objectives and discusses the methodological
issues. In doing this exercise, the study has raised different questions revolving around
development, displacement and reconstruction measures in India. The second chapter
highlights the debate revolving around the politics of development, displacement and

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reconstruction process in India and the way it has been conceptualized from different
perspectives. The third chapter discusses the politics of development in Orissa and
development induced displacement, with the reference to Upper Indravati Hydro-Electrical
Project. It briefly highlights the impact assessment of the project displaced people. The
chapter fourth deals with the industrialization process in Orissa and assess the impact of
industrialization on the local people, with reference to Utkal Aluminum International
Limited Project. A comparative analysis on the success and failure of reconstruction
measures in the study areas and factors that determine the effective rehabilitation and
reconstruction of displaced people is the focus of fifth chapter. Finally, the sixth chapter has
summarized the issues and major concerns of the study.

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