Laws That Lack Foresight.

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

Sunday Vijay Times, 11 June 20064THEME

REHABILITATION

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BYATHA N JAGADEESH

THE NUMBER of people in Indiadisplaced by developmentalactivities such as dams, mining

and construction of infrastructure sinceindependence is estimated at 33 mil-lion. The long history of forcible dis-placement and inadequate resettle-ment and rehabilitation of the project-affected people have created hugeproblems in our society.

The span of opinions on dams rangefrom the Nehruvian faith in them as�temples of modern India� to the wellknown critical stand of organised move-ments against specific large dam proj-ects, like the Narmada Bachao Andolanor the Tehri Bandh Virodhi SangharshSamiti. These movements haveemerged from the continuous neglect ofthe social, economic and environmen-tal fall-outs of large dam projects. Inspite of widespread problems involvingrehabilitation, the country still does nothave a National Rehabilitation law.

Rehabilitation and State laws

Only three states in India have enactedstatutes for resettlement of the projectaffected people. Maharashtra, was thefirst to enact a law in 1976. After a legalchallenge of some of its provisions incourts of law, it was recast in 1986receiving Presidential assent in 1989.Madhya Pradesh followed suit and

passed a law in 1985 with a law spe-cially designed to apply for irrigation

projects, extendable to other devel-opmental activities at the discre-

tion of the state government. TheKarnataka Government passed

?The Karnataka Resettlement ofProject Displaced Persons Act,

1987? in 1987, but obtained thePresidential assent seven yearshence, in 1994.

A few other states have either evolveda cluster of policy guidelines or haveadministrative guidelines or ordersissued, from time to time, that concerndisplacement and rehabilitation. A pol-icy document concerning displacedpersons of irrigation projects emergedin 1994 in Orissa, out of a series of gov-ernment orders issued right from 1977.Although Gujarat is yet to evolve a pol-icy, it has a number of governmentorders passed, concerning the subject,including a scheme for land for land.

The Government of India has comeout with a National Development,Displacement and Rehabilitation Policyto aid the rights of displaced people. Ithopes to minimise developmentinduced displacement and to identifynon-displacing or least displacing alternatives to achieve developmentobjectives. Among other measures ithopes to ensure full transparency andjustice in the processes of displacementand land acquisition.

Reality bites

There are many issues with respect tothe development and displacement ofthe people and people's rights againstdisplacement that needs to beaddressed. The Central Governmentneeds to study how existing State-level

laws and project-specific policies havebeen implemented. Madhya Pradesh inits special law for the Maan and Jobatprojects makes mandatory provisionsthat the adivasis who lose their landmust be compensated with alternativeland and not cash. In exceptional cir-cumstances if the adivasi opts for cashcompensation against what he is legallyentitled to, the District Collector has topositively ascertain that giving cashcompensation will not have any adverseeffect on the said family.

This is a positive law, but on paper. Inreality adivasis are forced to acceptcash. The implementation of the poli-cies needs to be strengthened. Withouta proper rehabilitation plan, double dis-placement has become the commonphenomena. At least 200 families dis-placed by the Tehri dam and supposedto have been resettled a decade ago atBhaniawala in Dehradun district are tobe displaced again due to the plans ofexpanding the Jolly Grant Airstrip into afull fledged airport.

When Bargi dam on the Narmadariver filled in the year 1991, 60 additional village and 26 re-settlementsites were submerged. The Centre's policy fails to look into such situationsas well. The linkages between genderand displacement have also not beengiven adequate attention by theGovernment. The harmful effects of development were found to be particularly acute for women.

Clearly, these changes both in the policy and law would be effective if accompanied by a change in the mind-set of the implementing authorities.Therefore administrative mechanismswill have to be set up which translatethe spirit of the intended Policy and legislation into action. May be we arenot too late to rethink on our pattern ofdevelopment before it can brings inmore destruction. n

ISS TTHHEERREE aannyy ssppeecciiffiicc llaaww oorr ppoolliiccyy tthhaatt ddeeaallss wwiitthh rreehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn iinn KKaarrnnaattaakkaa??

The �Karnataka Act for Project Affected People, 1994�,was adopted to deal with rehabilitation and resettlementof people affected by development projects. However,because of certain existent deficiencies, it was neverimplemented. But we follow specific policies framed foreach project. We have many laws for land acquisitions. Allthese laws are formed on the basis of �Land AcquisitionAct, 1894�. We also have the Central Policy onRehabilitation, which was adopted in 2003. Some defectswere identified in this policy as well. So the Centre has setup a seven member commission to review the policy.

SSoo,, wwaass 11999944 AAcctt aa ffaaiilluurree??Rather than a failure, I view it more positively. We can�t

frame a law to suit all projects. The rehabilitationdemands of the Seabird project is different from those ofthe Upper Krishna Project. So we have to frame a goodpolicy to suit all demands.

HHooww iiss aa rreehhaabb ppoolliiccyy ddrraafftteedd??The process to prepare a stringent policy begins well

before the actual implementation of a project. Weappoint an advisory committee to help us frame a goodpolicy. This advisory committee includes localites, theirleaders, representatives and taluk and district level offi-cers. This committee will frame a rehabilitation policysuitable to the needs of the area. If necessary we improveupon it and submit it to the Government. This thenappears in the Gazette notification.

WWhhaatt iiss tthhee mmeecchhaanniissmm ffoorr aaccqquuiirriinngg llaanndd aanndd ffiixxiinnggccoommppeennssaattiioonn rraatteess??

The Revenue Department has to approve the landacquisition plan at least four times. In the first step, landmass required for the project construction is announced.Next an enquiry is conducted and based on the result ofthe enquiry, a notification is issued, after which the landis transferred to the concerned department.

The price is fixed as the aggregate of land value regis-tered in the notified areas in the previous three to fiveyears. After negotiations a price acceptable to both theGovernment and affected people is arrived at. Usuallypeople register their lands at a rate much below theactual transaction. That is the reason why Governmentcompensations rarely meet the actual market value,which is ever fluctuating.

WWhhaatt aabboouutt llaanndd ccoommppeennssaattiioonn??It's not mandatory to give land compensation for all

evacuated people. Today we don't have sufficientGovernment land to distribute to all the affected people.

IIss tthheerree aannyytthhiinngg ffoorr llaannddlleessss ppeeooppllee??In Karnataka 52 per cent of the population do not own

a property and a majority of them are agriculturallabourers. They are not competent at other work. At thetime of rehabilitation and resettlement we try to providethem adequate training in handicrafts and other self employment skills. They are given priority at the time of providing shelter and other facilities in resettle-ment areas.

DDoo wwee hhaavvee aa mmaaccrroo ppiiccttuurree oonn ddiissppllaacceemmeenntt aannddrreehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn??

Till now we don�t have any scrutinised statistics regard-ing this. We are looking for some institute or university toscruitinise the information from various departments.We will help anybody who comes forward in this regard.

HHooww wwoouulldd yyoouu ccoommppaarree rreehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn pprroojjeeccttss ooffKKaarrnnaattaakkaa aanndd ootthheerr ssttaatteess??

I should say that our rehabilitation projects are honest.In Narmada Valley Project, the crisis is about the rehabil-itation of 40,000 people. In Upper Krishna Projects weevacuated about one lakh people. There may have beensome protests but on the whole, it was done humanely.Last month, a six member committee from Orissa visitedthe rehabilitation site to learn how we implemented theplan. Several people both official and activists of Tehriand Narmada Valley Project have visited the site. n

Laws that lack foresight

PPrriinncciippaall SSeeccrreettaarryy ooff tthhee RReevveennuueeDDeeppaarrttmmeenntt,, GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt ooff

KKaarrnnaattaakkaa,, SS MM JJaammddaarr,, ssppeeaakkss ttoo DD MM GGhhaannaasshhyyaamm oonn tthhee

rreehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn ppoolliiccyy ooff tthhee SSttaattee

CChhaannggeess bbootthhiinn tthhee ppoolliiccyy

aanndd llaaww wwoouullddbbee eeffffeeccttiivvee iiffaaccccoommppaanniieedd

bbyy aa cchhaannggee iinntthhee mmiinnddsseett

ooff tthhee iimmpplleemmeennttiinngg

aauutthhoorriittiieess

PRAVEEN BHARGAV

THE CRUX of the resettlementdebate is that past social injus-tices perpetrated against forest

dwelling people can be redressed byconferring the right of occupancydeep inside forests without causingany impact. The persistent demandto dilute forest laws to allow for regu-larisation of encroached forest landsrides piggy back on this.

It is no secret that such demandsare actively pushed by vested com-mercial interests like mining, log-ging, wildlife trade and thoughtlessdevelopment projects like dams,highways? to penetrate deeper intorich forest areas. While no one candisagree with the objectives of deliv-ering true social justice to disenfran-chised people, ill informed debatehave caricatured this complex issueas some sort of class struggle.However, some alternative solutionsare also emerging. There are pro-grammes that suggests that there can be a win-win solution to thiscomplex issue.

In Bhadra, the voluntary resettle-ment effort succeeded in motivating432 families living in 16 interior vil-lages inside the Tiger Reserve tomove out. The key ingredients to thiseffort was the people�s desire to move

out, along with the attractive site-specific package of land, compensa-tion and housing offered by theGovernment in a completely trans-parent manner. This successful casestudy highlights the potential of well-planned and sensible voluntaryresettlement projects in deliveringsocio-economic benefits that peopledemand while ensuring consolida-

tion of tiger habitat and eliminationof human-wildlife conflict. A similarincentive driven voluntary resettle-ment project is underway atNagarahole Tiger Reserve which hasshown promise. The project hashelped in instilling confidenceamong other tribal families willing tomove out. In both these cases, landand resettlement facilities were pro-vided by the State Government evento those people without any recog-

nised rights but were maroonedinside. This policy has set a goodprecedent. Unfortunately, furtherprogress on this promising projecthas been bogged down.

The way forward

These case studies highlight thatVoluntary Resettlements can succeed

if the following ingredients are inplace. Firstly, people need to be moti-vated and the right site-specific pack-age must be designed through a par-ticipatory process. Second, resettle-ment being a sensitive issue, hand-picked government officials must beposted to handle such projects; Third,

constructive public-private partner-ships between government, civil soci-ety groups and the beneficiaries mustdrive such projects.

With rapid economic developmentcoupled with WTO related impact onagriculture along with the need toensure inviolate habitats for certainendangered species, it is vitallyimportant to address the issue ofresettlement in an equitable manner.The silver lining is that in many casespeople marooned inside large forestblocks are themselves volunteeringto move out given the right resettle-ment package. Governments mustseize such opportunities and bringpeople to where socio-economicservices exist rather than attempt todeliver such services to remoteforested enclaves.

This will also achieve the objective of securing precious forests and wildlife habitats forfuture generations. n

Sir,I was very impressedwith the Theme on BirdSanctuaries (May 21, 2006).Thankfully you have covered thelesser known sanctuaries acrossKarnataka. It is sad to note thatmany of them are in bad shapewithout proper maintenance. Ifthe Government doesn�t wake upearly we may end up losing ourrich natural heritage. Theme was atimely warning.

- Shakeel Aziz, Mysore

Dear Sir,What you see is not

always what it is. It was a fasci-nating read to know how a two anda half hour cinema we enjoy onthe screen is actually made.

The behind the scene work thatgoes into making a movie, wasbrought to light in an excellentsequence of articles published inthe Theme on Movie Making, (May21, 2006). Congrats.

Mallikarjun Bhagi, Belgaum

GGeennuuiinnee ppeeooppllee��ss ppaarrttiicciippaattiioonn iiss kkeeyy ffoorr aa ggoooodd rreehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn pprrooggrraammmmee

Finding alternate solutions

'We can't frame

one law to suitall projects'

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