Resettlement and rehabilitation efforts face huge developmental challenges

The World Bank estimates that by the end of 2022, around 108.4 million were forcibly displaced across the world, including refugees and those internally displaced. The majority of the displaced are hosted by the developing countries. Disasters due to natural causes displace thousands of people from their homes. Similarly, anthropogenic causes due to developmental projects like construction of roads, dams, canals, industries and biological disasters displace and render many homeless.

The economic development, a necessary change, requires certain amount of mobility of labour and capital. While capital can be moved from one place to another to suit investment needs, labour, on the other hand, is more real and, hence, requires a humanitarian understanding to make sense of mobility, particularly in matters related to resettlement and rehabilitation.

Often, when it comes to understanding economic activities and processes, we may consider labour as an individual unit. But when it comes to the question of resettlement and or rehabilitation for developmental purposes, the issue extends to a family, community, a ward or a village. It becomes a matter of social life and, by extension, their political and economic life.

Resettlement and rehabilitation are the processes which give the displaced people a sense of relief to their lives and achieve normalcy over a period of time. The change for the displaced is both physical and psychological. With the increasing pressure on land due to urbanization, increasing infrastructure requirement and large-scale projects in a fast-growing economy like India, land acquisition by the government and the corporate sector has increased. Both acquire land for the purposes of development, as a result of which millions of people are displaced. These people need resettlement and rehabilitation in a way that they could live in the new settlement without losing the freedoms they enjoyed in their original or native place. Therefore, the problem at hand in India is beyond monetary compensation.

Issues:

Major issues pertaining to resettlement and rehabilitation are struggle for resources, employment, loss of culture, and environmental, health and psychological issues. The aspects the displaced people lose are the once which fill their lives with confidence, good health, security and nourishing social lives, given historical-generations attachment to the area. When a large group leaves its home and resettles elsewhere, the first struggle is for basic resources such as food, water, shelter and electricity.

Despite the monetary compensations, the everyday struggle for employment weighs heavily on people’s daily lives meaning a basic right becomes a daily fight, resettled have low employment opportunities and face numerous problems in getting admission for their children in schools.

For family and communities, the identity crises and the associated social issues become even worse. Women, children and the aged in particular are deprived the most, as often the compensation does not extend to meet their needs. For the people who have long association with their native region, particularly the tribes, they lose their indigenous cultures, are often in no position to conduct their cultural practices or assimilate in the resettled area. Further, when a group of people resettles in a distant region, new houses are built for their accommodation. For this reason, forested areas are cleared, leading to deforestation. As a result, the effect on biodiversity is drastic.

In addition, people face myriad psychological pressures and health-related ailments. The change can give people a sense of helplessness and purposelessness. The problem is accentuated, when they cannot be equal participants or contribute to the local economy of the newly settled region. That is, their equality of opportunity as citizens is lost, if not permanently.

Considerations:

In a developmental change (continuous and positive), the displaced become a micro minority, at least for a while, until properly resettled, if not for a long period. Therefore, their human rights should be considered unique and special. The first measure to make change easier is to conduct a social and environmental impact assessment. The first step towards resettlement and rehabilitation is to help the displaced to encourage their own ways of living, without any external pressures from other cultures. This should allow the new resettlers with opportunities to develop their own art and culture in every way possible. To this extent, people may be allowed to move in groups and live as a community.

The most important change due to resettlement is means of sustenance, the resettlement must build their capabilities and not push the families into poverty. For the new groups to assimilate into the local regions, they must be allowed to contribute to the local economy and increase dependence on the local resources. Further, as far as possible, the resettlement must happen in a neighboring area, with irrigation facilities, supply of basic inputs for agriculture, drinking water, wells, grazing grounds, educational facilities, primary healthcare and other necessary amenities.

For any scale of displacement, the resettlement and rehabilitation are impossible without the active intervention of the government and involvement of the civil society. This includes formulating, executing, and monitoring the resettlement and rehabilitation plan. Therefore, when the land is acquired for setting up private or public sector, the acquisition must be based on consensual decision of the affected people. Abandoning consensus would mean development without equality; progress without dignity. Participatory democracy must first practice inclusion. True consensus, however, can only be based on complete knowledge with the onus on the government to provide the affected members with complete information through meetings and discussions, including their rights during the resettlement and rehabilitation process.

The way forward:

Change is inevitable, development is a must, what matters is how humane is this transformation. Infrastructure development is important for which land acquisition becomes imperative but hat should follow the idea of collective consensus and inclusiveness. The land being acquired should not be based on the whims and fancies of the authorities or influential private bodies rather should consider the people’s needs and ecology, this is why Social Impact Assessment becomes mandatory.

The disregard for Social Impact Assessment in India is shocking. The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 which provides for benefits and compensation to people displaced by land acquisition purchases should be implemented in letter and spirit. Project-specific plans should be formulated, implemented and monitored.

The rehabilitation and resettlement process should be carried out with the involvement of all stakeholders. Ideally, the process and change should increase a community’s equality of opportunity, not reduce, particularly, when the displaced belong to the most backward groups, which is often the case.

(The writer is founder of Kahaani)