Ecological Refugees: Resettlement & Rehabilitation Success

The people who are displaced due to dam construction in the new place and land provided for the resettlement which happens to be forest lands or degraded land which had never been inhabited by humans. As the people who are displaced from the construction side face many problems due to several constraints. The resettlers are fully dependent on the agriculture and the natural resources as they provide new places for their resettlement but without knowing more about the socio-economic needs of the people. There is little social concern and mobilisation by the civil society for such expansive displacement and issues like Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) policy, right to livelihood, right to housing, etc. are hardly recognised. It is easier to mobilise public support and hence struggle against development projects that offer easy identification of the displacing agency. Tribal people in forests or those displaced from rural areas invite public sympathy but dispossessed urban migrants get stigmatized. If women migrate, they work as domestic workers, daily wage earners, etc. Their additional income is extremely important for the family since it is often used to finance their children’s education and health. They suffer great hardships in urban slums with regard to sanitation and privacy. Changes in policies and laws are modified and effective institutions are in place to deliver the goods. Issues of human rights, good governance, participation, people centered and decentralised development dominated the discussions. Projects get rationalised in terms of cost benefit analysis. Their entire focus is on the monetised economy. The National Committee for the Protection of natural resources attempt to combine land acquisition and R&R into one policy framework. The legality of actions of the state in displacing people allows the characterization of protest as illegal. There is illegalisation of protest and an aggrandizement of state power over people. Such notions of illegality have created an “us” and a “them” in public policy. The displaced people are seen as obstacles to development and are subject to the coercive rigours of the law. Even bodies recently have failed to protect the rights of displaced people and legitimise and legalise state actions around demolishing homes or displacing entire communities. It is important to explore mechanisms for rehabilitation. Displaced people must be better off than the project beneficiaries. Displaced people should be promised on their property rights. Rehabilitation and compensation should take into consideration loss of livelihood and shelter, security and work. The issues of displacement, development and R&R cannot be holistically understood without reference to the policies and programmes of multilateral and bilateral agencies, particularly the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and United Nation Development Program. The World Bank has been the single largest international donor for development initiatives in India.