Large Dams and Displacement in India- Issues of Compensation, Rehabilitation and Resettlement

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It gives me immense pleasure in writing the "Foreword" to this interesting volume on the issue of displacement and rehabilitation on the request of both the authors, Dr. Nagaraju Chikkala and Prof. (Dr.) K. Anil Kumar, who were two of my bright students at the University of Hyderabad. I extend my gratitude to both of them for giving me this admirable opportunity. It is a matter of great pride and satisfaction for me as a teacher, as Prof. Anil Kumar is now working as Professor and Head of the Janapada Sampada Division of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, while Dr. Nagaraju is working as Associate Professor at the Tribal Cultural Research and Training Mission (TCR&TM) of Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam. This book is the result of their backbreaking work and passion to understand various dimensions of development-induced displacement and rehabilitation due to the Indira Sagar Multipurpose Dam Project at Polavaram in Andhra Pradesh.

"Development" has been conceptualized in the Social Science literature as a contentious concept and a double-edged sword in the sense that the process of development results in the subordination of the individuals and communities that the same development envisages to enrich and empower. This is more evident in the developing and poor countries, where the Government support to the victims of development is much less than their rights and expectations. This is more so when the development efforts induce involuntary displacement and sponsored rehabilitation of their victims. Against this background, the present volume is another welcome addition to the vast repository of literature on this subject.

This study aims at interrogating various dimensions of development-induced displacement due to the much controversial Indira Sagar Multipurpose Project on the river Godavari in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh, popularly known as the Polavaram Project. These include the magnitude of displacement and issues related to rehabilitation and resettlement, the socio-economic condition of the displaced population, compensation paid to the affected people, livelihood support provided by the Government, and the implementation of the rehabilitation policy for the displaced people. The study has followed standard. anthropological methods like observation, household interview, case study, focussed group discussion, besides informal discussion, for collection of reliable data from various stakeholders.

Indira Sagar Multipurpose Project has been politically and otherwise controversial much before its inception. But when the project gained momentum in the year 2004, numerous debates, discussions and agitations were initiated by the political parties, civil society organizations, independent researchers and the NGOs. Hyderabad-based Centre for Social and Economic Studies (CESS) in its 1996 Report stated that 296 villages were to be submerged due to this Project, of which 276 were in AP, 10 in Odisha and 7 in Chhattisgarh. Controversy arose when another study by Down to Earth in 2011 suggested that 323 villages were to be submerged. However, as per the official estimate 371 villages were affected and 1,05,601 families were displaced, of which 55,113 were tribal families. Political and Civil Society Organizations opposing large dams in India joined together to halt its completion. Similarly, the Project ignited interstate conflict with regard to irrigation and power sharing. submerged villages and their people under their jurisdiction. This study, therefore, is immensely intriguing and will benefit many researchers and policy planners. As anthropologists normally do, the authors have selected a tribal village, Devaragondi, inhabited by the Koya, a PVTG of Andhra Pradesh for a micro-study. This village is under the Polavaram Mandal and about 2 KM from the Mandal Headquarters. It is a newly established colony after the old Devaragondi village was submerged in the dam.

A reader finds very minute and passionately observed findings in this book. Interestingly, it has been stated in the CAG Report of 2018 that 356 displaced.

villages with a 1,01,532 families were yet to be rehabilitated, while only 15 villages with 4,069 families were rehabilitated in the newly constructed colonies. Displacement and eventual rehabilitation had literally shattered the tribal social-economic-spiritual life, as it has happened elsewhere. For example, the authors have established that traditional joint families were broken down into nuclear families. Once the children attained the age of 18 years, they moved out of their natal families, as the R&R Policy entitled a person with 18 years of age or above for full compensation. As a result, an average size of the household in the new colony decreased from 6 to 3 persons. However, new colonies facilitated education by establishing new Schools and therefore, the rate of literacy increased considerably compared to the pre-rehabilitation period.

Large dama projects have attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to the displacement they create. Numerous scholars have observed that project proposals for such expansive water resource management programmes infrequently contain an evaluation of the resulting displacement or the costa of rehabilitation. Numerous studies have also been done on the rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced people as well as the effects of displacement on income, living conditions, and physical and mental health.

The government of India, which is responsible for planning, funding, developing, and owning a number of large dam project, does not have statistics on the number of people who have been displaced by huge dams since the country's independence in 1947 or overall. The biggest indication that massive dam builders don't give much thought to relocating people is this fact.

Tribal people are compelled to abandon their customary homes and land, which is their main source of income, when land is acquired for development projects. Physical migration, disturbance of livelihood, and possibly community breakup are some effects of development initiatives (WB, 2004). As a result, because they strip tribal people of their traditional means of subsistence and leave them without alternatives, development projects frequently pose a serious threat to them. When it comes to displacement in India, tribal people have historically suffered the most because most industrial and development projects-like dams-are built in inhospitable tribal regions.

According to a recent estimate, tribal people make up at least 55% of the displaced people in India (Gol 2004). This organisation is primarily responsible for funding India's development. Most of the displaced persons have not received suitable resettlement or compensation. The problems the tribal people have in their way of life and moral code are not really made up for by the money they receive. In the long run, this can lead to a lack of integration and rootlessness in their new communities. As it deprives them of control and ownership of natural resources and land necessary to their way of life, displacement might result in a Fifth Schedule violation. In undivided Andhra Pradesh, irrigation project construction is being undertaken on a vast scale. The displacement caused by dams has disproportionately affected the tribal population of unbroken Andhra Pradesh.

Against this background, in the present book, we have attempted to put together numerous surveys of displacement to arrive at an estimate of the total numbers displaced by large and medium dams in India. The goal of the current book is to ascertain how the Indira Sagar multipurpose (Polavaram) project has affected the tribal people of Andhra Pradesh. It is an empirical investigation into the undivided Andhra Pradesh Indira Sagar Project. In-depth interviews and focus groups with members of the displaced community were held. Government representatives were questioned in interviews. The results of the research revealed a range of social and economic effects on households.

Due to the lack of comprehensive policies and lack of commitment in practise, the majority of these people were denied appropriate relocation and rehabilitation. Government policies on resettlement and rehabilitation that have been made public over the last few decades serve as evidence that governments are growing sensitive to the issue of displacement. But the commitment of governments to creating "best practises" in relocation and rehabilitation is crucial and has yet to be demonstrated. Complex linkages between economic, environmental, social, technological, political, and cultural aspects are present in these problems. Gender issues in involuntary resettlement have not received enough attention in development policies in India.