C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K Sunday Vijay Times, 11 June 2006 4 THEME REHABILITATION We welcome your feedback. You may send your comments to [email protected] or # 40, Jaya Sai Towers, Sajjan Rao Circle, V V Puram, Bangalore - 04 BYATHA N JAGADEESH T HE NUMBER of people in India displaced by developmental activities such as dams, mining and construction of infrastructure since independence 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 huge problems in our society. The span of opinions on dams range from the Nehruvian faith in them as temples of modern India to the well known critical stand of organised move- ments against specific large dam proj- ects, like the Narmada Bachao Andolan or the Tehri Bandh Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti. These movements have emerged from the continuous neglect of the social, economic and environmen- tal fall-outs of large dam projects. In spite of widespread problems involving rehabilitation, the country still does not have a National Rehabilitation law. Rehabilitation and State laws Only three states in India have enacted statutes for resettlement of the project affected people. Maharashtra, was the first to enact a law in 1976. After a legal challenge of some of its provisions in courts of law, it was recast in 1986 receiving 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. The Karnataka Government passed ?The Karnataka Resettlement of Project Displaced Persons Act, 1987? in 1987, but obtained the Presidential assent seven years hence, in 1994. A few other states have either evolved a cluster of policy guidelines or have administrative guidelines or orders issued, from time to time, that concern displacement and rehabilitation. A pol- icy document concerning displaced persons of irrigation projects emerged in 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 government orders passed, concerning the subject, including a scheme for land for land. The Government of India has come out with a National Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation Policy to aid the rights of displaced people. It hopes to minimise development induced displacement and to identify non-displacing or least displacing alternatives to achieve development objectives. Among other measures it hopes to ensure full transparency and justice in the processes of displacement and land acquisition. Reality bites There are many issues with respect to the development and displacement of the people and people’s rights against displacement that needs to be addressed. The Central Government needs to study how existing State-level laws and project-specific policies have been implemented. Madhya Pradesh in its special law for the Maan and Jobat projects makes mandatory provisions that the adivasis who lose their land must be compensated with alternative land and not cash. In exceptional cir- cumstances if the adivasi opts for cash compensation against what he is legally entitled to, the District Collector has to positively ascertain that giving cash compensation will not have any adverse effect on the said family. This is a positive law, but on paper. In reality adivasis are forced to accept cash. The implementation of the poli- cies needs to be strengthened. Without a proper rehabilitation plan, double dis- placement has become the common phenomena. At least 200 families dis- placed by the Tehri dam and supposed to have been resettled a decade ago at Bhaniawala in Dehradun district are to be displaced again due to the plans of expanding the Jolly Grant Airstrip into a full fledged airport. When Bargi dam on the Narmada river filled in the year 1991, 60 additional village and 26 re-settlement sites were submerged. The Centre’s policy fails to look into such situations as well. The linkages between gender and displacement have also not been given adequate attention by the Government. 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 mechanisms will have to be set up which translate the spirit of the intended Policy and legislation into action. May be we are not too late to rethink on our pattern of development before it can brings in more destruction. n I S THERE any specific law or policy that deals with rehabilitation in Karnataka? The Karnataka Act for Project Affected People, 1994, was adopted to deal with rehabilitation and resettlement of people affected by development projects. However, because of certain existent deficiencies, it was never implemented. But we follow specific policies framed for each project. We have many laws for land acquisitions. All these laws are formed on the basis of Land Acquisition Act, 1894. We also have the Central Policy on Rehabilitation, which was adopted in 2003. Some defects were identified in this policy as well. So the Centre has set up a seven member commission to review the policy. So, was 1994 Act a failure? Rather than a failure, I view it more positively. We cant frame a law to suit all projects. The rehabilitation demands of the Seabird project is different from those of the Upper Krishna Project. So we have to frame a good policy to suit all demands. How is a rehab policy drafted? The process to prepare a stringent policy begins well before the actual implementation of a project. We appoint an advisory committee to help us frame a good policy. This advisory committee includes localites, their leaders, representatives and taluk and district level offi- cers. This committee will frame a rehabilitation policy suitable to the needs of the area. If necessary we improve upon it and submit it to the Government. This then appears in the Gazette notification. What is the mechanism for acquiring land and fixing compensation rates? The Revenue Department has to approve the land acquisition plan at least four times. In the first step, land mass required for the project construction is announced. Next an enquiry is conducted and based on the result of the enquiry, a notification is issued, after which the land is 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 five years. After negotiations a price acceptable to both the Government and affected people is arrived at. Usually people register their lands at a rate much below the actual transaction. That is the reason why Government compensations rarely meet the actual market value, which is ever fluctuating. What about land compensation? It’s not mandatory to give land compensation for all evacuated people. Today we don’t have sufficient Government land to distribute to all the affected people. Is there anything for landless people? In Karnataka 52 per cent of the population do not own a property and a majority of them are agricultural labourers. They are not competent at other work. At the time of rehabilitation and resettlement we try to provide them 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. Do we have a macro picture on displacement and rehabilitation? Till now we dont have any scrutinised statistics regard- ing this. We are looking for some institute or university to scruitinise the information from various departments. We will help anybody who comes forward in this regard. How would you compare rehabilitation projects of Karnataka and other states? 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 we evacuated about one lakh people. There may have been some protests but on the whole, it was done humanely. Last month, a six member committee from Orissa visited the rehabilitation site to learn how we implemented the plan. Several people both official and activists of Tehri and Narmada Valley Project have visited the site. n Laws that lack foresight Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department, Government of Karnataka, S M Jamdar, speaks to D M Ghanashyam on the rehabilitation policy of the State Changes both in the policy and law would be effective if accompanied by a change in the mindset of the implementing authorities PRAVEEN BHARGAV T HE CRUX of the resettlement debate is that past social injus- tices perpetrated against forest dwelling people can be redressed by conferring the right of occupancy deep inside forests without causing any impact. The persistent demand to dilute forest laws to allow for regu- larisation of encroached forest lands rides piggy back on this. It is no secret that such demands are actively pushed by vested com- mercial interests like mining, log- ging, wildlife trade and thoughtless development projects like dams, highways? to penetrate deeper into rich forest areas. While no one can disagree with the objectives of deliv- ering true social justice to disenfran- chised people, ill informed debate have caricatured this complex issue as some sort of class struggle. However, some alternative solutions are also emerging. There are pro- grammes that suggests that there can be a win-win solution to this complex issue. In Bhadra, the voluntary resettle- ment effort succeeded in motivating 432 families living in 16 interior vil- lages inside the Tiger Reserve to move out. The key ingredients to this effort was the peoples desire to move out, along with the attractive site- specific package of land, compensa- tion and housing offered by the Government in a completely trans- parent manner. This successful case study highlights the potential of well- planned and sensible voluntary resettlement projects in delivering socio-economic benefits that people demand while ensuring consolida- tion of tiger habitat and elimination of human-wildlife conflict. A similar incentive driven voluntary resettle- ment project is underway at Nagarahole Tiger Reserve which has shown promise. The project has helped in instilling confidence among other tribal families willing to move out. In both these cases, land and resettlement facilities were pro- vided by the State Government even to those people without any recog- nised rights but were marooned inside. This policy has set a good precedent. Unfortunately, further progress on this promising project has been bogged down. The way forward These case studies highlight that Voluntary Resettlements can succeed if the following ingredients are in place. 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 be posted to handle such projects; Third, constructive public-private partner- ships between government, civil soci- ety groups and the beneficiaries must drive such projects. With rapid economic development coupled with WTO related impact on agriculture along with the need to ensure inviolate habitats for certain endangered species, it is vitally important to address the issue of resettlement in an equitable manner. The silver lining is that in many cases people marooned inside large forest blocks are themselves volunteering to move out given the right resettle- ment package. Governments must seize such opportunities and bring people to where socio-economic services exist rather than attempt to deliver such services to remote forested enclaves. This will also achieve the objective of securing precious forests and wildlife habitats for future generations. n Sir, I was very impressed with the Theme on Bird Sanctuaries (May 21, 2006). Thankfully you have covered the lesser known sanctuaries across Karnataka. It is sad to note that many of them are in bad shape without proper maintenance. If the Government doesnt wake up early we may end up losing our rich natural heritage. Theme was a timely 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 and a half hour cinema we enjoy on the screen is actually made. The behind the scene work that goes into making a movie, was brought to light in an excellent sequence of articles published in the Theme on Movie Making, (May 21, 2006). Congrats. Mallikarjun Bhagi, Belgaum Genuine peoples participation is key for a good rehabilitation programme Finding alternate solutions ’We can’t frame one law to suit all projects’ 3
Laws That Lack Foresight.
Oct 24, 2015
An Article by B N Jagadeesha on rehabilitation.
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CMYK
CMYK
CMYK
CMYK
Sunday Vijay Times, 11 June 20064THEME
REHABILITATION
We welcome your feedback. You may send your comments to [email protected] or # 40, Jaya Sai Towers, Sajjan Rao Circle, V V Puram, Bangalore - 04
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'
3
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