Development and Displacement
In the 1950s and 1960s, it may be said that the dominant view on development was
informed by modernization theory, which, put crudely, saw development as transforming
traditional, simple, third world societies into modern, complex and westernized ones. Seen in
this light, large-scale, capital-intensive development projects accelerated the pace toward a
brighter and better future. In recent decades, however, a ‘new development paradigm’ has been
articulated, one that promotes poverty reduction, environmental protection, social justice, and
human rights.
In this paradigm, development is seen as both bringing benefits and imposing costs.
Among its greatest costs has been the involuntary displacement of millions of vulnerable
people. After independence, India faced massive challenges in the economic front. Centuries
of colonial rule had drained out its productive resources and led to huge unemployment and
disguised unemployment. The subsistence agriculture often battered by floods and droughts
could barely hold up an ever-growing population.
Determined steps were taken to bring development and make India an industrialised
and modern nation. The 'Five-Year Plans' emphasised on developing key sectors like irrigation,
power, heavy industries and transport. Large dams, colossal steel plants, national highways and
big ports were built to create 'growth centres' with the twin objective of creating employment
and reducing the burden of import.
Eventually most of these projects came up in mineral-rich areas, upper stream of the
rivers and coastal belts. While heavy industries like steel and power were set up near coal and
iron-ore rich belts, dams were built in mountain ranges and refineries and ports in coastal areas.
These developmental projects, though increase productivity and production to a great
extent, give rise to involuntary displacement, thereby creating untold miseries for the oustees
as has been experienced in the completed and ongoing projects.
Apart from the cost of displacement and relocation, there is also the problem of
deforestation, loss of agricultural land, environmental degradation, and marginalization of the
weaker sections. These adverse effects are called the ‘backwash effects.’ The benefits of
‘spread effects’ are enjoyed by the nation at large, while it is the local population that bear the
brunt of the backwash effects.
Development-related Displacement may be divided into two subcategories – direct and
indirect. Direct displacement refers to those cases, where the installation and commissioning
of development projects lead to a direct displacement of people who have inhabited these sites
for generation together.
Indirect displacement emanates from a process whereby installation and functioning
of projects continuously push up the consumption of natural and environmental resources,
thereby depriving the indigenous people of the surrounding regions of their traditional means
of wherewithal and sustenance.
Impact of Developmental Projects on the Displaced
• Landlessness: This is the principle form of de-capitalization and pauperization of
displaced people, as they lose both natural and human-made capital.
• Joblessness: Unemployment or underemployment among re-settlers often endures long
after physical relocation has been completed.
• Homelessness: Loss of a family’s individual home and the loss of a group’s cultural space
tend to result in alienation and status deprivation.
• Marginalization: Marginalization occurs when families lose economic power and spiral
on a ‘downward mobility’ path. Many individuals cannot use their earlier acquired skills
at the new location; human capital is lost or rendered inactive or obsolete. Economic
marginalization is often accompanied by social and psychological marginalization.
• Food Insecurity: Forced uprooting increases the risk that people will fall into temporary
or chronic undernourishment, defined as calorie-protein intake levels below the minimum
necessary for normal growth and work.
• Increased Morbidity and Mortality: Displacement-induced social stress and
psychological trauma are sometimes accompanied by the outbreak of relocation related
illnesses, particularly parasitic and vector borne diseases such as malaria. The weakest
segments of the demographic spectrum— infants, children, and the elderly—are the most
affected.
• Loss of Access to Common Property: For poor people, loss of access to the common
property assets that belonged to relocated communities (pastures, forest lands, water
bodies, burial grounds, quarries, and so on) result in significant deterioration in income
and livelihood levels.
• Social Disintegration. The fundamental feature of forced displacement is that it causes a
profound unraveling of existing patterns of social organization. Long-established
residential communities and settlements are disorganized, while kinship groups and family
systems are often scattered. Life sustaining informal social networks that provide mutual
help are rendered non-functional.
• Violation of Human Rights: In addition to violating economic and social rights, arbitrary
displacement can also lead to violations of civil and political rights, including: arbitrary
arrest, degrading treatment or punishment, temporary or permanent disenfranchisement
and the loss of one’s political voice.
