Title: india-development: towards a national rehabilitation policy
by mukul sharma
new delhi, jan 10 (ips) - every year massive hydro-electric
schemes, power generating units and other development projects
displace millions of mostly indigenous people from their native
habitats in india.
activists allege that most of the displaced persons have never
been satisfactorily rehabilitated and have instead been adding to
the swelling ranks of indigent landless rural labour and urban
slum inhabitants.
the only committee on rehabilitation appointed by the
government of india in 1984 conservatively estimated that
14.5 million people had been displaced by different development
projects till 1985. of these, only 3.9 million were rehabilitated
while approximately 11.5 million were still awaiting resettlement.
a more recent confidential world bank report last year said
bank-aided projects displaced over 140,000 people, most of them
tribals, in the western coastal state of gujarat. most of them
have yet to recover their previous standards of living, it said.
in the eastern state of west bengal, the public sector
national thermal power corporation's (ntpc) massive farakka ii
power project displaced 10,353 families. but only 353 got
employment with the ntpc. no one knows the fate of the remaining
7,000 families.
india has no national rehabilitation policy and the set of
guidelines on resettlement varies from project to project in
different states.
the only common parameter is the 100 year old land acquisition
act that activists say is totally unsuitable to meet the needs
of displaced communities in terms of compensation for the lost
resource base and means of livelihood. the only compensation the
law knows is cash compensation.
''...mere cash compensation is not adequate or just, land for
land must be given, adult members of the oustees' families must
be provided with jobs...,'' says medha patkar, noted activist and
leader of the movement against the gigantic three billion dollar
sardar sarovar dam scheme over the narmada river in western india.
movements like patkar's have been making it increasingly
difficult for the government to proceed with large-scale
development schemes that entail the displacement of huge sections
of the population.
the government has sought to remedy the situation by getting
the indian ministries for rural development, welfare and water
resources together to draw up a comprehensive scheme for the
resttlement of all displaced persons.
but the draft scheme has come in for flak by the activists who
have branded it as a guise to undertake a massive displacement
drive to make way for new projects under the government's four-
year-old push for a free market economy.
the draft policy lays down broad guidelines for
rehabilitation, leaving the details to state governments,
ministries or departments of the central government.
it makes rehabilitation plans mandatory for obtaining
clearance for a project and seeks to define displacement and
resettlement processes, stages of implementation and the
procedure for declaring project affected zones and people.
''there has been a gradual movement in the direction of
recognition of certain basic principles of a national policy of
displacement and resettlement viz., displacement should be
minimal and take place only when it is unavoidable, resttlement
must be on a community basis ... people's participation is
necessary and a monitoring and evaluation system is essential.
but the draft policy does not recognise these,'' says patkar.
patkar and some of her colleagues have suggested an
alternative resettlement policy that they say will help the
displaced people become partners in development. they suggest a
clear authority structure at different levels to carry out the
design, planning and execution of projects as well as the
settlement of the affected population.
''the law must recognise clearly the right of the project
affected people and social organisations and/or individuals
working with them or among them to challenge the viability,
justifiability and social justice content of the project before a
special commission established by law,'' say the activists.
arvind anjum, an activist battling for the rehabilitation of
thousands of indigenous people displaced by a development project
in the singhbhum district of the northern indian state of bihar,
goes a step further.
says anjum, the right to resettlement should be recognised as
a fundamental right in the constitution of the country and
written consent from the people proposed to be displaced should
be made mandatory.
says a spokesperson for the indian ministry for welfare, a
national policy for rehabilitation is slowly taking shape from
all the debate and discussion. but it is still uncertain when it
will be enacted and implemented, he adds. (end/ips/cd/ms/mv/94)
origin: new delhi/india-development/
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