Development & Displacement
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EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH IN GUJARAT |
DAM
CONSTRUCTION IN RAJASTHAN |
Left homeless by natural
disasters,
(cyclones, floods, earthquakes):
50 million. |
Displaced by infrastructure projects,
(factories, road, dams, canals):
90 million! |
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Dams: The biggests busters
India and China are the two most populous countries in the world. They are also two of the
biggest dam builders.
The Indian government has built many dams in the
past four decades. Some estimates say this has displaced in excess of 20 million. Many of
the displaced people were not consulted or properly compensated, and most of these
refugees are also indigenous and tribal groups.
For example, the Karjan and Sukhi reservoirs in the
Gujarat displaced only tribal people. In Orissa, tribals constituted 98% of those
displaced by the Balimela Hydro Project and 96% of those displaced by the Upper Kolar Dam.
Also, due to the land specifications necessary to
construct dams, the displaced people generally were hill or river inhabitants, but were
moved to plains, deserts, or mountains—less desirable, less productive lands.
But the most controversial of these has proved to be
the Narmada valley, where the government demarcated 30 dams including 2 large dams dubbed
as "megadams". It has attracted the widest protests and is still steeped in
controversy.
Modern industry, not being
labour-intensive, cannot absorb the displaced people at the same rate in which agriculture
supported them earlier
China’s Three Gorges Project is regarded as one of the biggest development
projects in the world. The largest dam in the world when completed, it is estimated that
1.3 to 1.9 million people will be relocated to other areas. Government officials claim
that the quality of life of the oustees will be improved after relocation. Unfortunately,
that has not proved to be the case till now.
Cities uprooting shelters
In Chennai, the Government of Tamil Nadu took a loan from
the World Bank to clean up and 'beautify' the waterways. While it seemed like a good idea,
it resulted in the displacement of the people who had been living on the banks of rivers
and canals for many years.
Nearly 29,400 families were living along the waterways in Chennai—the Buckingham
Canal, the Cooum river, the Adyar river, the Otteri Nullah and the
Virugambakkam-Arumbakkam drain. They were given eviction orders and offered to far away
places where it is difficult to find employment. People in 33 settlements were affected.
They are slum-dwellers who work as domestic servants, construction workers, coolies,
auto-rickshaw drivers and pavement vendors in the city.
The Public Works Department plans to settle them in dry lakes or tanks in and around
Chennai. The middle class and the upper class support their displacement as they feel
Chennai should be kept "beautiful".
Make way for the industries!
Unlike the uprooting caused by big dam construction, which
draws a lot of public and media attention due to one-time projection of the number of
people affected or the amount of land acquired, industrial displacement is a slow, gradual
process, where growth on one hand leads to marginalization on the other.
The affected people demand a share of whatever development occurs in their land. But
modern industry, not being labour-intensive, cannot absorb the displaced people at the
same rate in which agriculture supported them earlier. Moreover, better jobs go to
outsiders who then dominate the new set-up. The impact on women is severe. Their old
occupations are not available and there is much less scope for them in industry.
The barren fields
While all governments talk of development through big projects, very few concentrate on
the development of agricultural lands. And, degradation of agricultural land is another
big displacer. The most affected are the poor, those who rely on the land for their
livelihood and sustenance. Desertification and deforestation affect more than one-sixth of
the world's population already. Reports of displacees from desertification cite 24 million
as the worldwide total for this category, the African Sahel alone producing 2 million.
Whither individual rights?
In recent years, one social issue that has caused intense debate among academics, social
activists and planners is the involuntary displacement of people from their productive
assets (particularly land) and homes, due to industrial or infrastructure projects. Though
the process of acquisition of land for setting up mining, irrigation, transportation or
mega-industrial projects (mostly in the public sector) is not new, the intensity of
adverse effects was never comprehended in the past as it is today. The liberalisation of
the economy, growing needs of infrastructure in fast-growing cities and new partnerships
in industrial/economic sectors have threatened traditional sources of sustenance of
people. More and more agricultural lands are being depleted for setting up industrial/
infrastructure projects. The situation is aggravated due to major conversion of
agricultural lands voluntarily or involuntarily into urbanisable lands. There is no
authentic data to ascertain the loss of agricultural lands due to increasing urbanisation
in the country. |
