Development Induced Displacement: Issues and Indian Experiences

Abstract

Development-induced displacement debate has attracted academicians, planners and policymakers in the last hundred years because of its contradictory connotation. The twentieth century is considered to be the period of unprecedented economic development in many areas of the world. Megaprojects, like irrigation projects and large dams, have become symbols of economic development; apart from generating energy, these projects have also generated employment and income for the people affected. Post-Independence India has witnessed a large number of development projects for fulfilling the socio-economic needs of a different section of society residing in different parts of the country. Efforts have been made by government authorities for the promotion of major, medium and small-scale developmental projects in sectors like irrigation, industries, power, transportation and so on. However such mega-development projects involve the acquisition of land from common and poor people resulting in forced mass displacement which disrupts the socio-economic fabric and spoils the environmental flavour of the surrounding areas. A large number of people are deprived of their cultural identities and livelihood primarily as a direct consequence of land acquisition. The experiences suggest that the long drawn-out process of displacement has caused widespread traumatic psychological and socio-cultural consequences including the dismantling of traditional production systems, desecration of ancestral sacred zones, graves and places of worship, scattering of kinship groups, disruptions of the family system and informal social network (Kothari, 1995. Economic & Political Weekly, 31(24), 1476–1485). Under this type of parochial treatment, the fundamental goal of economic development, that is, to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the people remains a daydream, and the vulnerable groups of human society are denied of their fundamental/human rights and have to bear the situation at the cost of development.