Reconstructing Livelihood of the Displaced Families in Development Projects

Causes of Failure and Room for Reconstruction

Akhil B. Ota

Paper presented at the conference Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction: Lessons From Eastern India, 25-27 September 2001, by Akhil B. Ota.

1.0 
DEVELOPMENT INDUCED DISPLACEMENT & REHABILITATION SCENARIO IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ORISSA

A large number of Development Projects have been launched in India for the past 6 Decades. It has assumed even greater importance & projects have been taken up in larger number after Independence to usher speedy Economic growth & Development in the Country. The various development projects that have been taken up in the Country so far ranges from Dam Projects to Industrial Projects, Mining Projects, Thermal Power Projects, Urban Infrastructure Projects  & a host of such other projects. As a consequence of these development projects, land has been acquired in varying degrees from a very large number of people in the project area. Out of a large number of persons losing land, a sizeable number have been physically displaced losing their home & hearth and shattering their culture & kinship linkages built over several centuries & generations. 

Orissa is one of the most resource rich States in the Country characterized by Poverty amidst plenty. Realizing this, Government has taken up a very large number of Development Projects in the State ever since Independence to bring economic prosperity for the people who lead a very sordid life – majority of whom live below the poverty line. In fact, this is the State having the highest percentage of persons (about 50%) living below the poverty line. Besides Government, a good number of Business Houses also have been attracted to this State because of its bountiful natural & mineral resources for harnessing them and in the process have established Development Projects in different regions. Statistical figures indicate that till 2000, about 20 lakh people have been directly affected by Development Projects in varying degrees out of which about 5 lakh have been physically displaced losing their home & hearth from their original habitat. Statistical figures further indicate that while Dam/Irrigation Projects alone have displaced nearly 3.5 lakh people which is roughly 70% of the total displaced persons, Industrial Projects have displaced about 60,000 people which is 12% of the total displaced whereas the Mining Projects, Urban Development Projects, thermal Projects & Wild Life Sanctuaries have displaced 3.37%, 12.86%, 2.60% &0.5% of the total displaced people in the State of Orissa.  Although the above referred figures account for the already completed projects, there are a host of other projects which are either ongoing or are in the pipeline in which about 2 lakh more people are expected to be displaced. As it is widely known, displacement is very traumatic as it not only physically displaces the people, but also causes environmental, social, economic & cultural loses to the people which are immeasurable and which is very hard to compensate & restore in the post-displacement stage.  It is however, the prime duty of the implementing agency (Government, if the Project is a Government sponsored one and Private/Public Sector if it is set up by the Private/Public Sector undertaking) to take all precautionary measures in such a manner so that the Displaced Persons restore back their pre-displaced living condition at the minimum. Looking at the magnitude of displacement in various Development Projects in the State of Orissa, it is therefore very important to examine & assess whether or not the Displaced Persons of Development Projects have been able to reconstruct their former living standards and if not the reasons thereto.

2.0
REHABILITATION STATUS OF THE DISPLACED 

3.0
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Keeping the above facts in view, it is highly required to take up some empirical studies in the completed projects to examine & find out whether or not the displaced persons have restored back their pre-displaced living standards and the reasons of non restoration of the former standards of living. On the basis of the findings of such studies, it will be highly essential to formulate effective implementation strategies so that the risks of impoverishment of effective rehabilitation can be overcome & sustainable rehabilitation can be possible in development projects ensuring restoration of livelihood of the affected people. However, the present studies have the following specific objectives:

To ascertain as to whether the Project Displaced Families have reconstructed & regained their pre-displaced living standard in the post displacement stage.

To ascertain as to what are the risk factors that have been responsible for the non-restoration/non-reconstruction of the livelihood of the displaced persons.

To examine & identify the factors of non-restoration of the pre-displacement living standards of the displaced people in the relocation place & to learn lessons from the present study which can be used for future projects to avoid impoverishment.

On the basis of the findings of the study, to formulate an effective Resettlement & Rehabilitation strategy, which can be, used by the implementing agency in future & ongoing development projects for sustainable rehabilitation of the displaced families. 

4.0
GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE OF THE STUDY & ABOUT THE PROJECT

The present paper is based on an empirical study conducted on the Displaced Persons of a Major Hydro Electric and Irrigation Project named the Upper Indravati Multipurpose Project located in a very thickly concentrated tribal district of Orissa (Nawarangpur). This project has envisaged providing irrigation to a total area of 1.28 Lakh Hectares of cultivable land. But in the process, this project has acquired 11,691 Hects, 960.5 Hects & 4612 Hects. of Private land, Forest Land & Government land respectively. While more than 1 lakh people have lost land for the project in varying degrees, as high as 5534 families (about 18000 people) have been physically displaced/uprooted from their home & hearth. The Displacement has been over for about 7 years from now and this is the appropriate time to examine & assess the status of rehabilitation of these displaced people and to note whether they have restored their pre-displaced living standards at the minimum. Further it may be noted that this project was initially funded by the World Bank, but after a couple of years of funding, World Bank withdrew its funding from the project on the grounds of poor rehabilitation activities. There are about 100 colonies & clusters where the displaced families have resettled, while some also have resettled in scattered manner.

The present study has been carried out in 5 colonies & 10 clusters covering 500 sample Displaced Families. All the 5 colonies as well as the 10 clusters are located in the undivided Koraput District of Orissa & hence the geographical coverage of the study is restricted to the 15 colonies & clusters of the undivided Koraput District. In addition to this, some of the affected areas from where the affected people were displaced also have been covered for the study for the purpose of forming an idea as to what was the quality of living of the displaced people during the pre-displaced stage in the affected villages. Thus, some of the affected area coming under the undivided Kalahandi District were also covered for the study. 

5.0
METHODS OF STUDY

For the study, 5 colonies and 10 Clusters have been covered and a total number of 500 Displaced Families were selected on the basis of random sampling method. Care has been taken to select 42% ST (210), 15% SC (75) and 215 General Caste Displaced Families from out of the 500 sample families. The above proportion of families have been taken keeping the Social Composition (proportion) of the Displaced Families in the total project in to consideration.  Information pertaining to the Civic amenities, infrastructure facilities, common property resources available to the Displaced Families in the Colonies/Clusters, health care facilities, educational institutions, religious institutions etc. present in each of the clusters & RCs now and what type of facilities & provisions that existed in the pre-displaced stage were collected through a separate schedule called the R.C. & CLUSTER SCHEDULE. Similarly, information from individual family level pertaining to the Socio-Economic condition, health & education status and information of the like were also collected by using a Family Schedule from the 500 sample families covering 5 colonies & 10 clusters. To be more specific, about 10% of the total Displaced Families of the project were covered for the study & due care has been taken to ensure that social composition aspect has been made in the selection of the sample to make the sample more representative.

The various methods used for the empirical data collection in this study are - Schedule Method, Participatory Rural Appraisal Method, Focused Group Discussion Method, Participatory Walk Through Method & Social Mapping etc. To substantiate the findings, Case Study Method also has been used. But in this study, effort has been made at all stages to draw a comparative account of the quality of living of the Displaced Families during the pre-displacement stage and post-displacement stage with a view to examine as to how & to what extent the Displaced Families have been able to reconstruct/restore their pre-displacement standard of living. 

6.0 
LIVELIHOOD RECONSTRUCTION/RESTORATION STATUS OF THE DISPLACED PERSONS

In the empirical study, an attempt has been made to find out as to whether the Displaced Families of Upper Indravati Project after a lapse of 7 years of displacement have been able to reconstruct & restore back their pre-displaced living standards and if not to what extent they have restored back & what extent they have failed to restore back their former standards of living. For assessing this aspect, certain parameters have been used under 10 Braod Heads. The 10 Broad Parameters which have been taken for the analysis in this study are:

LAND HOLDING SIZE
ACCESS TO COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES
ACCES TO HEALTH SERVICES, MORBIDITY & MORTALITY
SOCIAL DISARTICULATION
STATUS OF FOOD SECURITY
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
HOUSE OWNERSHIP
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
STATUS OF MARGINALISATION
INCOME LEVEL & ACCESS TO CREDIT INSTITUION.

LAND HOLDING SIZE       

It has been a tested truth that expropriation of land removes the main foundation upon which a person’s productive systems, commercial activities and livelihoods are constructed.  Professor Michael Cernea therefore rightly states that this is the principal form of decapitalisation & pauperization of displaced people through loss of both physical & man made capital. Since land is considered as the most long standing productive asset, this parameter has been taken for analyzing the standard of living of the displaced people in the post displacement stage as compared to their former standards of living before displacement.  For analyzing this, three indicators have been taken in to consideration. They are - legal average land holding size of a displaced family, average encroached land of a displaced family & percentage of landless family.             

It has been observed from the findings of the study that the average land holding of the Displaced Families which was 2.64 Acres before displacement has substantially come down to 0.62 Acres in the Post Displacement stage.  Similarly, the data further indicates that the encroached land which the Displaced Families were enjoying before displacement was about 1.5 Acres per family and as is revealed from the study, this has considerably reduced to 0.20 Acres in the Post Displacement stage.  As regards the third indicator, it has been observed that while 48.98% Displaced Families were landless before displacement, it has increased to 85.25%. When the aforementioned three indicators of Land holding size is taken into consideration, it is observed that it has reduced considerably in the post displacement stage in case of the displaced people & this is as an important parameter that has been responsible for non-restoration of the livelihood of the Displaced Families of Upper Indravati Project. This also has contributed to the further impoverishment of the Displaced Families.          

ACCESS TO COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES

The Project affected area of Upper Indravati Project, which has been taken for study was a very thickly forested area and a large extent of forest has come under acquisition because of this project. More than 60% of the Displaced Persons belonged to the Scheduled Tribe & Scheduled Caste population and majority of the Displaced People depended on the forest for their survival. Besides, most of the Displaced Persons in general and the Tribal Displaced in particular had encroached a sizable area of either Forest or Government land which they were cultivating for ages & the earning from this source was substantial for their livelihood. Because of the acquisition of these lands, the displaced people lost very precious land, but could not either get replacement of such land nor could get any compensation whatsoever for these land as there was no record of right over such encroached land. This in fact contributed a lot to the impoverishment of the Displaced people in the Project area.  Besides, forest as a major common property resource, there are a number of other resources like Grazing Land, Wood Lot, Burial Ground, Waste Land and space for cultural shows which were very meaningfully used by the Displaced People in their original villages before displacement; but after the displacement, most of these facilities were not available to the resettled displaced people in the relocated places. Besides, for sharing the common property resources, in most of the resettlement places, feud/conflict of very serious nature has been reported between the Hosts & the Resettlers. All the aforementioned facts were observed & recorded in the study conducted in the relocation sites where the Displaced People of the Upper Indravati Project have resettled.  Besides, the fruits, roots, tubers and other forest produces consumed, collected & sold by the people were also stopped in the new relocation sites which really contributed profusely to the impoverishment of the displaced persons.

When the analysis of the empirical data in this regard is meticulously seen, it is observed that while 75.85% of the Displaced Families had encroached land before displacement, it has substantially reduced to 23% in the post displacement stage as most of the forest & government land encroached by them got acquired, and secondly in the new place of relocation there were no vacant government/forest land unencroached. Further, it is also seen that due to the acquisition of encroached land, the average encroached land per family, which was 1.50 Acres in the pre-displacement stage, got reduced to only 0.20 Acres in the Post-displacement stage.  In addition to the above status, it is also revealed that while forest was very easily accessible for the displaced persons before displacement and as many as 34.65% families depended on Minor Forest Produce for their survival, accessibility to Forest got reduced considerably and this resulted in reducing the percentage of Displaced Families depending on MFP for survival to only 14.20 percent.  It was also observed that while all the Displaced Families before displacement had access to Grazing land as well as to the Burial ground, in the post displacement stage, only about 25% & 26.66% had access to Grazing Land & Burial Ground respectively. It has been seen that in the relocation sites, since the Displaced Families did not had any earmarked places for burial & grazing land, while trying to share these places of the host population, there have been often conflict which have led to feuds in a large number of instances.  This access to common property resources have been very much reduced in case of the Displaced People in the Post-displacement stage & this has disrupted the livelihood restoration to a large extent.

ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES, MORBIDITY & MORTALITY

Health is taken as one of the important indicators to gauge the quality of living. It has been seen that in most of the disasters including displacement in development projects, vulnerability to illness normally gets increased, unsafe drinking water supply & waste water tend to proliferate infectious diseases, diarrhea, dysentery & decreases in health levels take place in the relocated site after Displacement. In the present study, 8 indicators have been taken for analyzing the Health Status of the Displaced Persons of Upper Indravati Project in the Post Displacement stage. The parameters are: average distance of medical center from the habitat, birth attendant at the point of delivery, frequency of the visit of the health worker, Quality of ICDS Services, Immunization Status of the Pregnant Mother, Immunization Status of the Children, M.M.R. & I.M.R.

When the aforementioned parameters are analysed, it is seen that in the post-displacement stage, the distance of the medical centers from the place of stay has become less, immunization rate of the pregnant women & children have increased and consequently the Infant Mortality & Maternal Mortality Rates have decreased quite considerably as compared to the pre-displacement stage. But on the other hand, there has been no change in the irregular visit of the health worker, irregular ICDS services in the post-displacement place and the indigenous untrained birth attendants continues to assist at the point of delivery.

Thus, when one looks at all the health indicators, it appears that there has been some improvement in the health status of the displaced people in their new place of stay as compared to their pre-displaced health standards.

SOCIAL DISARTICULATION

It has been observed that in most of the Development Induced Displacement, the Socio-Cultural & Economic base of the displaced families which has been built over several centuries & generations get dismantled. The Social Organisational structures, the dispersion of informal & formal networks, associations etc. are very expensive yet unquantified social loss. This causes social disarticulation & is one of the most important factors, which contribute to the Impoverishment of the affected people quite a lot. This aspect is hardly given any attention in most of the Resettlement & Rehabilitation operations.  In this study, in order to find out as to what extent Social Disarticulation has taken place & Rearticulation has been made possible in the Post Displacement stage in case of the Displaced Families, 7 indicators/parameters have been used, the analysis of which is presented in table number – 4. It is revealed from the analysis of the data that while in the affected villages, hamlets or settlements habitations of clusters were made on the basis of caste/kin/clan group, which was responsible for community cohesiveness, in the relocation sites the displaced people of one village were distributed into a number of relocation place. Thus, one resettlement site consisted of people belonging to many castes, many affected villages, member of many clan groups and due to this heterogeneous nature of the population drawn from many places, social disarticulation has taken place in the resettlement sites during the post displacement stage.  Further, kinship ties, inter family dependence & co-operation which existed among the families of the displaced persons in the affected villages is not seen among the families in the relocation place. This is because they have been drawn from different places belonging to different groups unknown to each other. Like wise, Social & Political organizations which existed in the affected villages amongst the displaced communities have broken down because the members are getting dispersed to many distant places. It also has been observed in the post-displacement period that the Joint family system which existed in the affected villages prior to displacement have given way to Nuclear Family type in the relocation sites. Statistical figures indicate that while 34% families were having Joint Family in the Pre-displacement stage, in the post displacement stage, only 8 percent families are found to be Joint Family.  One of the major indicators used for assessing the Social Disarticulation aspect among the Displaced Families in the study was Marriage Distance. It has been revealed from the study that Marriage Distance as well as Circle also has increased quite considerably among the displaced families in the new resettlement sites.

Thus, when all the 7 indicators of SOCIAL DISARTICULATION are taken together, it is observed that in the project under study, the Displaced People have failed to restore back their pre-displaced living standards mainly due to Social Disarticulation.

FOOD SECURITY

Food Security is regarded as one of the most important indicators of livelihood.  Therefore, this indicator has been taken in the present study to find out as to what extent the Displaced Persons are Food Secure in the Post-displacement stage as compared to their Pre-displacement period. In fact, it has been invariably observed that forced uprooting increases the risk that people will fall into chronic food insecurity, defined as caloric protein intake levels below the minimum requirement for normal growth and work.  Sudden drops in food crops availability and/or incomes are certain during physical relocation. To analyses this Food Security level among the displaced families, 6 indicators have been used. They are average crop yield per family, principal source of livelihood of the family, secondary Source of livelihood, Principal Diet of the family, supplementary diet of the family & average surplus food grains per year per family.

The statistical analysis on the basis of the empirical data collected from the displaced families indicate that while the average crop yield per family has declined significantly in the post displacement stage as compared to their pre-displacement time, the average surplus food grains per family per year has reduced very sharply in the post displacement period.  Further while during the pre-displacement stage -along with Rice, Forest produces were used as the principal diet, due to the acquisition of forest in the affected villages & forest being almost inaccessible in the new place of resettlement, the Principal Diet has been restricted to only Rice in case of the displaced persons during the Post Displacement Stage.  Analysis of the above indicators with regard to Food Security indicate that the Displaced Families have become more food insecure after the Displacement as compared to the pre-displacement period.  This is also a positive indicator of impoverishment of the Displaced Families.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

It has been invariably found out that in the Post Displacement stage, the Displaced People of Development Projects do not get ample of employment opportunities and to be precise, the employment opportunity gets reduced. This culminates into impoverishment of the displaced people and eventually a large number of such families migrate out to far off places in search of earning their livelihood.  Therefore, in order to examine as to whether the Displaced Population have been further impoverished, 5 parameters in respect of Employment Opportunities have been assessed.  The analysis of data indicate that, while a person per day was getting about 300 days of work on an average per year before displacement, in the post displacement period, it has been reduced to 240 days a year.  Like wise, while in the pre-displacement stage 65% of DPs & 30% DPs were engaged in Agricultural Sector & Wage Earning respectively for their survival, it increased to 85% in Agricultural Sector whereas it decreased to 5% in Wage Earning. On the other hand, it is really a matter of concern that % of people without gainful occupation increased from 5% in the pre-displacement stage to 10% in the Post-Displacement stage and it was also observed that 8% Displaced Persons were found to be Migrated Out in the Post-displacement stage.  All these aspects put together, gives us a clear indication that employment opportunities have shrink in the post-displacement stage for the Displaced people for which they have even migrated out to far off places in search of migration & this is a clear indication of non-restoration of former standards of life & impoverishment of the Displaced People in the post-displacement stage.

HOUSE OWNERSHIP & HOUSING CONDITION

It is known that due to acquisition of land & homestead in Development Projects, a large number of people lose their home & hearth. Hence, Loss of housing & shelter is temporary for most displacees, but for some it remains a chronic condition. In fact, in a broader cultural sense, homelessness is also placeless ness, loss of a group’s cultural space & identity, or cultural impoverishment (downing: 1994-95). For examining as to what extent house ownership/homeless ness has taken shape in the post-displacement period in case of the displaced people 5 indicators have been examined (as may be seen in table no – 7). The analysis of data states that while only 65%  Displaced People had a house which stood in their name prior to displacement, in the post-displacement stage it increased & 87.25% displaced families owned a house.  Secondly, during the phase prior to displacement, 18% DPs had a house, which was on encroached land, but in the post-displacement period it reduced substantially & only 4.5% DPs were found to have constructed house on encroached land. The other indicators of housing indicate that the quality of house has improved quite considerably in the post-displacement stage. This is indicative of the fact that, while in the pre-displacement stage as high as 70% families had thatched house, it got reduced to only 17.8% in the post-displacement period. Similarly, while there were only 4.10% Concrete Roofed houses before displacement, in the post-displacement stage it substantially increased to 34.35%. The above analysis thus clearly shows that Housing as a Parameter of Livelihood has improved quite considerably in the Post-displacement period in case of the Displaced Families of Upper Indravati Project.               

ACCESS TO EDUCATION

Educational level is taken as one of the most important livelihood indicators for assessing reconstruction of livelihood. But unfortunately, it has been noted that after the displacement, educational losses are sustained by the children of the Displaced Families in a number of projects. In this context, in this study access to education has been chosen as an indicator for assessing the relative livelihood restoration status of the Displaced People in the post-displacement stage.  For analyzing this, 6 parameters have been used as may be seen in table number – 8. The analysis presented in the table indicate that the distance of the Primary School from the habitation has decreased marginally in case of the Displaced People in the post-displacement stage. But on the other hand the distance of the high school & college have become even more in the post-displacement stage. Likewise, the teachers in the school have become more irregular than before in the resettlement sites & drop out rates of students at Primary level have remained unchanged in the post-displacement period.  Thus, it is quite clear that Educational Loss has been experienced/Access to Education has been restricted in respect of the Displaced Children in the Post-displacement period as compared to the pre-displacement time.

STATUS OF MARGINALISATION

Marginalisation is the ultimate outcome witnessed in most of the cases (Displaced Families) of Development Projects after the Physical Displacement takes place.  In fact, Marginalisation occurs when families lose economic power and slide downwards: middle income farm-households do not become landless, but become small landholders; small shopkeepers & are down sized and slip below the threshold of poverty (Cernea/1995).   In the present study, 5 important parameters have been used to find out as to whether & to what extent the Displaced Families have been marginalized in the Post-displacement stage. The analysis of data as may be seen in table number – 9 shows that the average land holding size per displaced family have been drastically reduced from 2.64 Acres in the pre-displacement stage to 0.62 Acres in the post-displacement period.  Similarly, prior to displacement, each displaced family had an average Encroached area of about 1.50 Acres under his possession, which has been reduced to less than 0.20 Acres in the post-displacement stage. Like wise, % of landless families before displacement was 48.98%, which substantially increased to 85.25%. But when the percentage of homeless families are taken into consideration, the situation appears to be fairly good, because while about 35% of families were homeless before displacement, this has decreased to 12.75% in the post-displacement period. 

Thus, when Marginalisation is analysed as an important indicator for assessing the livelihood restoration status of the Displaced Families in the present study, it appears from the above analysis that by & large almost all the Displaced Families have become marginalized in the post-displacement stage and have certainly become impoverished. This must have prevented them from reconstructing their former standards of living.

INCOME LEVEL & ACCESS TO CREDIT INSTITUION

Income level  & Economic condition of an individual is very widely used as the criteria for determining the standard of living of a person.  Taking this fact into account, in this study an attempt has been made to make comparative assessment of the economic condition of the displaced families prior to displacement & in the after displacement period using 5 distinct indicators.  The analysis has been presented in table no. 10.

The analysis indicates that Income level of the Displaced Families have almost remained unchanged. It has marginally increased from Rs.9, 500/ per annum to Rs.8, 500/- & since the inflation rate has not been taken into consideration, the increase is not substantial. In respect of % of families below the poverty line, percentage of families borrowed money from the private money lenders & location of the credit institution from the habitat have almost remained unchanged in the post-displacement stage as compared to the pre-displacement phase.  Thus, it is clear that the economic level of the Displaced Families have remained almost unchanged in the post-displacement stage as compared to the stage prior to displacement.    

Thus, when the analysis is made in respect of the aforementioned 10 Broad Indicators, it is revealed that the Living Condition or the Quality of Living of the Displaced People have deteriorated invariably in the Post-displacement stage with the exception of Housing Condition as the sole indicator which has improved quite significantly & income level has remained almost unchanged as compared to the pre-displacement stage. 

7.0
CRITICAL FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR NON-RESTORATION OF THE LIVELIHOOD

It is evidenced from the above analysis of facts that the Displaced People of Upper Indravati Project have failed to reconstruct & restore their pre-displaced living standards in the post-displacement stage.  It was therefore thought to examine & find out the various factors/causes responsible for non-restoration of former standards of living of the Displaced Families in the study. Keeping this in view, a detailed study was conducted to find out the key factors under each Indicator, which have been mainly responsible for the non-reconstruction of the livelihood of the Displaced Families. On the basis of the findings of the study, factors responsible for various Indicators used for the study to assess the status of the livelihood have been given below.

LANDHOLDING SIZE

As has already been discussed in the foregoing Section, land holding size in case of the Displaced Families have substantially reduced in the post-displacement stage as compared to the pre-displacement status. Similarly, more number of families have become landless in the post-displacement period. The analysis of the study further indicate that the following reasons are mainly responsible for the non-restoration of the former Landholding status of the Displaced Families even 7 years after displacement.   

Encroached land which got acquired from the Displaced Persons, but which are of unobjectionable category and could have been settled in favour of the encroachers as per law should have been settled in favour of the Displaced Persons so that they could have at least got the compensation for such land. This money would have enabled the Displaced Families to purchase some land & increase their landholding size near their relocation site.

Usually at all places & especially in rural & tribal pockets like the resettlement sites of Upper Indravati Project, there are huge extent of revenue land, which are leasable. But such lands are available in small patches in large number as reported from the revenue officials & records in the study area. If this possibility would have been explored by the project authorities in co-ordination with the revenue officials, land based rehabilitation could have been possible in about 2/5^th of Displaced Families & such families would have rather improved in their landholding size as compared to their pre-displacement stage. But no initiative was made in this direction.

Like land acquisition in the affected area, if land settlement/consolidation would have been done in the proposed command area of the project simultaneously and land would have been acquired from the benefited persons in some patches, the same land could have been allotted & land based rehabilitation would have been possible in case of the Displaced Persons & such a step would have ensured increase in the land holding size of the displaced persons. Such a step has been successfully made in Dam Projects of Madhya Pradesh.  

ACCESS TO COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES

As regards the access to common property resources, as may be seen from table no – 2, access to most of the common property resources have been substantially reduced in the new place of relocation after the displacement. As may be seen in most of the cases, scope of access to forest is not there in the new relocation place and similarly in very limited places access to common property like burial ground & grazing land is available where as in most of the places no earmarked places are there for such purposes in and around the place of relocation. Thus, due to substantial reduction of access of the displaced persons to most of the common property resources- especially to the forest, the displaced families receive adverse effects from various fronts.  Critical analysis in the project affected as well as the relocation places in the study area indicate that there are many factors which are responsible for lack of access to common property resources for the displaced persons in the project affected area. If such factors would have been taken care of, loss of access could have been reduced to a large extent. However, the main factors responsible are given below:

Space for Burial Ground, Grazing Land and Waste Land has not been provided to the Displaced Families close to the relocation sites. Due to this, the Displaced Families in the post relocation stage have faced a lot of inconveniences and also have picked up feuds & quarrels with the host population for sharing such places, which are meant for them.

It also has been seen that invariably the displaced families have been relocated far off from the forests and this is the reason for which the Displaced Families have lost access to the forest/natural resources. In fact, the study team could find out during the study that there are still places close to the forest which are leasable and had such land been selected for the relocation of the displaced families, they could have got better access to the forest and this would have helped them a lot in rebuilding/reconstructing their former standards of living.

It also has been found out that although some sort of forest or the other is there near the relocation sites where the displaced families have been resettled, the host population are using them and are denying the access of the displaced families to such forests. This is because, before the resettlement of the displaced families, proper discussion between the hosts & the resettlers have not been done and no interventions for the host population have been made in the relocation sites for integrating the host population with the resettlers. These are the reasons for which the access of the displaced people to the common property have been denied in the post-displacement stage.

ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES, MORBIDITY & MORTALITY

So far as the access to health services, morbidity & mortality is concerned, it is observed that while the distance of the hospitals from the habitational sites has marginally reduced and the MMR, IMR, Immunization of the mother & the children have marginally improved, deplorable health conditions of the displaced persons in general still persists even in the new place of relocation after the displacement. However, the various important reasons for the continued deplorable health status of the displaced persons and their family members still continues due to the following important reasons:

There is no drainage system in the relocation sites and the rainwater accumulates in & around the relocation places for which the mosquitoes breed in this area & the vulnerable diseases take away the life of many children.

Besides, there are no sanitary latrines in the houses of the displaced families and the people defecate in the open field and often near the habitational sites. This also results in unhealthy living and lead to unhealthy status of the people. Therefore, septic latrine must be insisted in the houses of each displaced family either through some intervention or the other to ensure the people a healthy living.

Safety drinking water also has contributed to the deteriorating health status of the people belonging to the displaced families in the relocation place. Although the project have installed the required number of tube wells as per the stipulation of the provisions, yet the tube wells have been defunct and are drying out much before summer season. Thus people are taking contaminated water, which is adversely affecting the health condition of the people.

In most of the dispensaries the doctors are not staying for most part of the year and the ICDS supervisors as well as the health workers are becoming highly irregular for which the health status of the displaced people are in a very bad state in the post relocation stage.

SOCIAL DISARTICULATION

Social Disarticulation parameter when analyzed clearly indicate that Social Disorganization has taken place among the displaced people in the post-displacement stage in the relocation sites. The main reasons for the Social Disarticulation of the Displaced People in the present study are mainly the following:

Displaced families drawn from different villages belonging to different Caste/Ethnic group have been resettled at a single relocation site for which the social disarticulation have taken place and the people have failed to adjust with heterogeneous people having different cultures & way of living. If enbloc resettlement would have been made, that is displaced families of a village would have been relocated at a single place, this problem would have been minimized to a large extent.

As a consequence of the above reason, which has resulted in Social Disarticulation, a number of spiral effects have taken place. They are – Joint Family System have given a way to Nuclear Family Type; Labour Exchange System among the families have stopped; Marriage Distance have increased; Kinship Ties as well as Social & Political Organisation have broken down.

STATUS OF FOOD SECURITY

The analysis of data indicated in the previous section shows that the Displaced People by & large have become Food Insecure in the new place of relocation after the Displacement. This is indicative of the fact that the average yield of paddy per family per year has reduced from about 15 quintals during the pre-displacement stage to about 7 quintals in the post displacement period and Secondly while the average surplus food grains per family per year was 1 to 2 quintals prior to displacement, it became almost nil in the post displacement period. In the empirical study an effort was made to find out the various factors responsible for increase in food insecurity among the displaced families after displacement. The study revealed the following main factors to be associated with the food insecurity:

Land holding size has been reduced quite considerably in the post displacement period decreasing thereby the per capita yield of foodstuff.

Due to loss of employment opportunities in the place of relocation, the people have become further food insecure in the new place of stay after displacement.

Access to Forest has been stopped & dependence on it also has become very minimal in the new place of stay for which people have became increasingly food insecure.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

It has been invariably found in most of the relocation places that the employment opportunities for the displaced people have decreased quite considerably and people are remaining without employment for a good number of days as compared to the pre-displacement time. The study tried to reveal some of the key factors responsible for stiff reduction in employment opportunities some of which are as follows:

Before the displacement & acquisition of land, people by & large were engaged in farm labour for an appreciable number of days & were eking out their living. But due to acquisition of land and relocation of the Displaced Families mostly in the non-command areas the displaced persons were deprived of this opportunity, which culminated in impoverishment.

Besides, before the displacement, for about 5-6 years earth work & other unskilled work of the project generated employment for the displaced as well as non-displaced persons in the affected area. But after the displacement, the project activities/construction activities almost stopped and hence the employment opportunities suddenly got stopped. This is one of the main reasons of the shrinkage of employment opportunities.

HOUSE OWNERSHIP OR THE HOUSING STATUS

In fact, one of the positive livelihood parameters in the study which has shown remarkable improvement/restoration in case of the displaced families in the post displacement stage is the House ownership as compared to the pre-displacement stage. To be precise, more than 87% of the Displaced Families became house owners in the post-displacement stage as against 65% prior to the displacement. Similarly, the quality of the housing also has improved considerably in the post-displacement stage. Hence, this is the parameter, which has rather shown improvement as compared to the former standard and therefore needs no identification of non-restoration factors.

ACCESS TO EDUCATION

As regards the access to education is concerned, the study findings have revealed that while the distance of the Primary Schools have decreased from the habitational sites in case of the post-displacement stage, the distance of the High School & Colleges have increased and the teachers have become more irregular before. In addition to this, the rate of drop outs have remained almost unchanged in the post-displacement period. Thus, taken as a whole, the access to education continues to be the same as it was before.  However, it cab be certainly said that the access to education & the educational attainment have been far from the desired level in the post-displacement stage.

STATUS OF MARGINALISATION

It has been found in the study that the Displaced Families have been marginalized in many aspects in the post-displacement stage. Their land holding size has considerably reduced (from 2.64 acres to 0.62 acres, the average encroached land has also reduced quite considerably from 1.50 acres per family to 0.20 acres per family & the landless families have increased from 48.98% in the pre-displacement stage to 85.25% in the post-displacement stage). These figures clearly indicate that the Displaced Families have become severely marginalized in the post-displacement stage.  On the basis of the empirical study, the following main factors have been identified which are responsible for the marginalisation:

Land based rehabilitation was not explored for which marginalisation in the shape of landless ness has taken place.

The unobjectionable encroached land of the displaced families, which could have been settled in their favour, has not been done in the project. This is the reason the Displaced Families losing such category of encroached land have not been paid any compensation. Had it been settled, they could have received compensation money for the acquisition of such land utilizing which they could have purchased some amount of land & also could have got over the marginalsiation to a large extent.

INCOME LEVEL & ACCESS TO CREDIT INSTITUTION

It also has been observed from the findings of the study that the income level of the Displaced Families in the post-displacement stage has marginally increased when compared with the post-displacement stage; but when the rate of inflation taken place between the last 7 years is taken into consideration, it gives us an indication that the income level in the true sense has declined. Further the access to credit institution in case of the displaced persons have remained unchanged after the displacement also.  The study has revealed the following main factors responsible for such poor economic level in case of the displaced people:

As the job opportunities have reduced drastically because of the acquisition of land & non-replenishment of land by the project by way of land based rehabilitation, income level has declined in true sense of the term.

Secondly, as no viable alternative for income generation for the displaced families have been tried out in the resettlement sites either by the project, or by the Government or even by the people themselves, the income level of the displaced families could not be restored.

Thus, the above factors indicated under each of the Livelihood Parameters explained above clearly indicate that the factors which have become responsible – directly or indirectly for the non-restoration of the former standards of living of the Displaced Families could have been & could be overcome in development projects if certain safeguards or precautionary measures are taken timely.  Keeping this in view, an exercise has been made in this paper to list out some steps, which should be followed by the project implementing agencies & policy makers associated with resettlement so that impoverishment can be avoided in case of displaced families when they are displaced & rehabilitated. This can ensure not only regaining former standards of living, but can also improve the pre-displaced living standards in the post-displacement stage & can end up with sustainable physical resettlement & economic rehabilitation.

8.0
SUGGESTED STARTEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD RESTORATION

It is thus revealed from the empirical study & analysis of the data that the Displaced Families of Upper Indravati Project have failed to restore & reconstruct their former standards of living; rather they have further become impoverished & slipped below the threshold of poverty in the post displacement stage.  The various factors responsible for the non-restoration of former standards of living have been also brought out from the study, which have been described in the aforementioned section. On the basis of the causes of non-restoration of livelihood brought out in the study, a number of strategies have been put forth below which may be used by the implementing agencies as & when required depending upon the nature of the project & type of impoverishment risks the project affected persons are expected to encounter:

• A Base Line Socio-Economic Survey to be conducted in the affected area at a very early stage of the project- preferably within 3 months of the announcement of the project.

• Public Hearing to be done in the Project Area before official start of the project.

• Classification of the Displaced Persons on the basis of the Loss of Livelihood, Occupation & Resource Base.

• Categorisation on the basis of Land Based & Non Land Based Rehabilitation.

• Identification of lesable land in and around the project affected area & near the possible relocation sites.

• Identification of alternative sits for relocation as close to the affected villages.

• Possible change in the alignment of the project boundary so as to avoid habitations to the extent possible to minimize displacement.

• Holding talks with the Host & Resettlers in the host village areas and plan out some interventions in the host villages for integration of the hosts & the resettlers.

• Space for Burial Ground, Grazing Land, Space for Wood Lot should be provided for the displaced families close to the relocation sites.

• Identifying the unobjectionable encroached land of the displaced persons, which are coming under acquisition and settling them in their names as per law so that they can get compensation money.

• On the basis of the Skill possession of each Displaced Person, their aptitude and resource base as well as the feasibility of the vocations, Displaced Person’s Specific Rehabilitation Action Plan is to be formulated.

• Before preparation of the above DP Specific Action Plan, possibility of Convergence of Ongoing Development Prorgammes of Government need to be explored and effort should be made to integrate them with the R&R Package.

• Lok Adalat to be held once in every 6 months time in the project affected area for quick disposal of land acquisition related cases.

• Grain Banks to be formed in each relocation sites with the Joint initiative of Project Authorities, NGOs & the affected persons to tackle food insecurity.

• Minimum Gap Between the Acquisition of Land and Payment of Rehabilitation Assistance & Evacuation.

• A well spelt out R&R policy.

• Frequent transfer of Key Officials to be avoided.

• The Vulnerability Assessment in the project needs to be done before starting to formulate the Action Plan.

• Basic Services to be provided & made ready in the relocation sites before physically displacing the persons.

• Association of a Credible NGO working in the area. If not found, CBOs to be formed with the help of national level consultancy & to build their capacity for self management of various activities.

• Freezing the sale of land in & around the project area to avoid dispossession of land from the local people to the mafias.

• External Monitoring Agencies to be in place from the time of land acquisition till the Displaced Families are resettled & rehabilitated completely.

• A Management Information System (MIS) to be in place again before the start up of the activities in the project area. The MIS & the M&E agency will have to work in close co-ordination.

• Skill acquisition training to be provided to all those who require specific training for absorbing the affected people in the project.

• Simultaneous Land Settlement/Consolidation in the command area needs to be carried out and the required extent of land necessary for the land based resettlement of the displaced persons is to be acquired from the landholders of the command area. This will enable land based rehabilitation of all the displaced people.

• Roles & responsibilities of all actors associated with the R&R activities to be spelt out before the start of the project activities. Accountability of all activities to be made clear. A Stake Holder work shop is to be conducted where the roles & responsibilities of each stake holder is to be spelled out in their presence so that one can know what he is expected to do & what his other counterparts are expected to do. This will be extremely helpful in successful implementation of the R&R of the displaced families.

It is hoped that if the above strategies are adhered to by the implementing agencies/project authorities during the project formulation as well as implementation, the Physical Resettlement & Economic Rehabilitation of the Displaced Families will be very sustainably achieved and all the Displaced Families will not only restore back their former standards of living – they can even improve upon their former standards of living in the Post-displacement stage.

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. 1
(LAND HOLDING SIZE DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE NO. 2
(ACCESS TO COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE NO. 3
(ACCES TO HEALTH SERVICES, MORBIDITY & MORTALITY DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE- 4
(SOCIAL DISARTICULATION DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE – 5
(STATUS OF FOOD SECURITY DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE – 6
(EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE –7
(HOUSE OWNERSHIP DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE – 8
(ACCESS TO EDUCATION DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE – 9
(STATUS OF MARGINALISATION DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

TABLE – 10
(INCOME LEVEL & ACCESS TO CREDIT INSTITUION DURING PRE & POST DISPLACEMENT)

REFERENCE

Cernea, M.M. 1994. “Understanding and Preventing Impoverishment from Displacement.” Keynote Opening Address, International Conference on Development Induced Displacement and Impoverishment, Oxford, January 3-7. Journal of Refugee Studies.

Cernea, M.M. 1996a. “Bridging the Research Divide: Studying Refugees and Development Oustees” In T.Allen, ed., In Search o Cool Ground: War, Flight and Homecoming in northeast Africa. London: James urrey.

Cernea, M.M. 19946c. “Eight Main Risks: Impoverishment and Social Justice in Resettlement.” Paper, World Bank Environment Department, Washington D.C.

Cernea, M.M. 1996D. “Understanding and Preventing Impoverishment from Displacement.” In C. McDdowell, ed., Understanding Impoverishment: The Consequences of Development Induced Displacement. Oxford: Berghahn Books.

Cernea, M.M. 1997C. “The Risks and Reconstruction Model for Resettling    Displaced Populations.” World Development 25(10).

Guggenheim, S.E. and Cernea, M.M. 1993. “Anthropological Approaches to Involuntary Resettlement: Policy, Practice, and Theory” In M.M.Cernea and S.E.Gguggenheim.eds., Anthropological Approaches to Resettlement: Policy, Practice & Theory. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.    

Ota, A.B. 1996. “ Countering the Impoverishment Risk: The Case of the Rengali Dam Project.” In A.B.Ota and A.Agnihotri, eds. Involuntary Resettlement in Dam Project. New Delhi, Prachi Prakashan.

Ota, A.B.1998, eds. Development Induced Displacement and Rehabilitation. New-Delhi/ Bhubaneswar: Prachi Prakashan.