Moving Beyond Economic Analysis: Assessing The Socio-Cultural Impacts Of Displacement And Resettlement By Sardar Sarovar Project, India

Gaurav Sikka

doi:10.24057/2071-9388-2019-165

Abstract

The large scale development projects like dams have been justified for a greater economic benefit of the nation. However, the development projects have become synonymous with land acquisition leading to dispossession and forced migration of a large number of people and their involuntary resettlement. Unfortunately, too much focus on the economic benefits of such large scale projects has omitted many relevant tangible and intangible socio-cultural aspects and ignored the impacts of development policies that shape forced migrations. The present paper asserts to move beyond the ‘limited’ economic analysis of large projects and includes the critical social and cultural implications of forced migration and displacement. The paper presents views of respondents displaced from the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and were resettled inGujarat. Perhaps, it is the most unique aspect of this paper to understand the socio-cultural adjustment in context of the spatial origin. The resettlement caused by the Sardar Sarovar Project has led to a change in dress patterns and marriage customs, loss of tribal folk art, destroyed the existing social networks and hindered access to new ones. Increased violence against women, problem of drunkenness and bootlegging at the resettlement sites are also highlighted. The insights in the work are based upon the fieldwork in select resettlement sites inGujarat. The author adopted participant observation, focus group discussions and key informant interviews as a means for data collection and better comprehension of the study area.

Highlights

Contemporary supporting arguments for large scale projects like dams are developed primarily on the basis of economic analysis
Jawaharlal Nehru’s zeal for basic industries and «scaling the commanding heights of the economy» (Chattopadhyay 2011) can be put into a perspective here, which was evident in his speeches with statements like «dams are the temples of modern India» and to the displaced persons of Hirakud Dam in 1948 he said, «If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country» (Guha 2005)
The analysis presented in this paper on socio-cultural impacts of displacement and resettlement on the resettlers adds to the existing literature and presents a perspective to understand the long-term impacts of displacement on the resettled population

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Contemporary supporting arguments for large scale projects like dams are developed primarily on the basis of economic analysis. Development projects have become synonymous with land acquisition leading to dispossession and displacement of a large number of people and their involuntary resettlement in an alien environment. In this context, dams are considered to be the greatest cause of displacement worldwide. Sardar Sarovar Project, a large multipurpose river project on river Narmada has displaced more than 40,000 families, primarily tribals from the 245 villages spread over three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. A total of 245 villages have been affected by the submergence, out of this – 19 lie in Gujarat, 33 in Maharashtra and 193 in Madhya Pradesh (Fig. 2)

METHODOLOGY

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

CONCLUSION