Introduction

Gandhi said, “Earth has the natural resources to meet the needs of human race but not its greed”. He said this in context of his developmental vision for the human civilisation in consonance with nature. This assumes much importance due to rapidly growing population and limited natural resources on earth. The growth rate of population is much greater than the rate at which natural resources are replenished. We are witnessing a resource conflict at an unprecedented scale today largely due to the crisis we are faced with. The resource crisis is directly or indirectly responsible for the conflicts all over the world be it in the developed world or developing world. Our capital and technology intensive developmental strategy has further contributed and is still contributing towards the resource crisis and environmental destruction leading to the forced displacement of a large section of population all over the world.

Annually, the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the globe are affected by forced displacement due to ethnic conflicts, infrastructure projects like dams, mines, industries, power plants, and roads and then due to natural disasters such as floods, river erosion etc. The forced migration is due to many reasons but question of control over natural resource has been at the centre of these reasons. Even in displacements induced by conflicts, it is the question of resources that lies at the heart of most of these conflicts. The situation in South Asia is no exception. In fact, the phenomenon of displacement due to resource politics and environmental degradation may said to be more pronounced in this region because of the industrialisation drive of these developing states and also because of the inadequacy of existing legislatures in either preventing such displacement or in facilitating suitable rehabilitation of the victims of such projects. Very often it is the state that is the transgressor, responsible for effecting such displacement.

In the last one-decade the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDP) are on the increase in South Asia just as in many other parts of the world. Discrimination against minorities, violence, war, ethnic hatred, state repression, demands for self-determination, natural and man made disasters such as famines and floods, ill-conceived development projects such as highways and dams – all have contributed massively to internal displacement. Often the victims of forced displacement are unable to cross borders due to severe lack of resources and are forced to live within a regime that had created occasions for their displacement in the first place. At the same time there are no legal or constitutional mechanisms in any country in South Asia for the IDPs in particular and there exists no inventory of best practices. In fact South Asian states have organized rehabilitation and care on an adhoc basis for the IDPs in the same manner as they have dealt with refugees.

At the same time, it has been observed that most of the displaced people remain women and children, and even when men are displaced, their displacement negatively impacts on the womenfolk. The displaced rarely get adequate compensation for their losses of homes, livelihoods, and resources. Most often than not they get no compensation and are hardly ever provided relief or rehabilitation packages by the Government. Since most of the displaced are usually marginalized groups, they are unaware of their rights to adequate compensation and better rehabilitation and neither do they benefit from the end products of the developmental projects. These groups are largely dependent on the common property resources (CPR) for their survival owned by the state. The area under CPR has been decreasing across South Asia because states has been using it for various developmental purposes at the cost of marginalized communities leading to conflict between state and people. In the current age of globalisation this conflict has assumed gigantic proportions and people are organising for their rights over the resources against the state.

This module is thus designed to give a comprehensive understanding of the following:

Resources lie at the heart of conflicts which in turn lead to forcible displacement of groups of population.

The concept of environmental degradation and environmental displacement.

The effect of resource politics and environmental degradation on women.

Impact of globalisation on the resource politics, environmental destruction and forced migration.

Guidelines on how to prevent such displacement and how to shape adequate policies to ensure the adequate rehabilitation of the displaced.

South Asian dynamics of the resource politics and ensuing conflict between nations.

This module would thus deal with these questions through specific case studies from North East India and other parts of India and South Asia taking up cases of ethnic conflict, and developmental displacement all due to resource conflicts and environmental degradation.

Case of North East India

The resource conflict and forced migration are closely inter-linked. In India, this operates at various levels and regions and is reflected in the developmental imbalances across sections of society regionally and nationally. The worst manifestation of this has been in the North East region in the form of ethnic conflicts between various communities. It has witnessed protracted conflicts and displacements of thousands of people in the last few decades. On the one hand, we know of such cases, where an ethnic community claimed exclusive rights over a space that it defines as its “homeland” on the ground that it is the “original inhabitant” of the land. By the same token, they have held that outsiders have no right to settle there. In Assam in Northeast India in the last count (August 2004) a total of 37,677 families (2,37,768 people) were staying in makeshift camps in three districts of western Assam – Kokrakjhar, Bongaigaon and Dhubri.

These IDPs have been staying in make shift camps for past 10 years and have moved from one camp to other due to various reasons. Due to their prolonged stay in camps and no relief coming from the government some of these have already started going back to villages nearby their original places of residence on their own or with help of voluntary organisations. The IDPs have also witnessed large-scale migration to the bigger cities in search of livelihood and have created a money order economy in the camps. One of the prime reasons given by the government for its inability of rehabilitate them is the unavailability of suitable land. Their return has also become difficult because their land and other resources has been now occupied by the rival communities. All these factors together pose challenges for the IDPS and also for the agencies involved in relief and rehabilitation.

The land use pattern in North East India has also contributed towards the ensuing conflict between various communities and environmental destruction. Prior to independence if British encouraged plantation agriculture and brought many labourers from outside now it is the time of modern day developmental agencies who have been trying to change the agricultural patterns of the indigenous people and trying to encourage coffee plantation and other crops which are not viable in this region. The plantation labourers now termed, as ‘outsiders’ has now become target of local conflicts. The crisis in plantation economies has also rendered many people jobless and vast tracts of land unutilised and in control of private parties. A large chunk of land is also inhabited by the various security agencies in the region that further aggravates the situation. The region has also suffered considerable environmental destruction due to large scale deforestation leading to frequent land slide, increased siltation of rivers, floods, and river erosion displacing a large number of people.

In addition to all this government has planned a large number of big and small dams to tap the water resources in the region. These dams would submerge a large tract of forests, land, and displace thousands of people. There is also danger of destabilising the region, which may cause earthquakes and land slides in future. These measures will also have adverse impact on the neighbouring regions of Bangladesh and further contribute towards distress migration of Bangladeshis to the states of West Bengal and in North East. Already the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh has witnessed large-scale displacement and migration of indigenous people due to developmental projects and settlement policies of the Government which tried to change the demographic composition of the area in order to consolidate the territorial integrity of the state. Hence, it is important to take in consideration various factors before any such move is planned.

Role of Globalisation

The phenomenon of globalisation has further aggravated the resource crisis by creating new demands for the resources and introducing private corporations with large financial resources. This has brought them in direct conflict with the communities who were early enjoying these resources and are now being handed over to private corporations by state for a price. One can see it, among others, from the extent of land most states acquire for private companies. For example, Orissa had acquired 40,000 ha for industries during 1951-1995 but plans to acquire 100,000 ha in a decade. Andhra Pradesh has acquired in five years half as much land for industry as it did in 45 years. Similar quantities are being acquired in Jharkhand for mines that foreign companies are eyeing. Goa had acquired 3.5 per cent of the state’s landmass 1965-1995 and plans to acquire 7.2 per cent of it during this decade.

Our experience suggests that governments have expressed their inability in rehabilitating IDPs citing paucity of land so, any land acquisition will happen only by confiscating common property resources (CPRs) being used by other communities causing tension between host communities and oustees, and culturable waste land which will need investment of an unusually higher order than the amount of compensation paid by the government. This needs to be understood that the CPRs are crucial to people’s sustenance. There are also instances where the rivers are being privatised; water systems are being privatised and creating extraordinary demands on the existing resources leading to environmental destruction. The unmindful exploitation of resources and unregulated discharge of harmful chemicals and waste materials are contributing to the environmental degradation. All these factors are together contributing towards resource and environmental crisis leading to forced migration of people.

In addition this module would discuss the impact on women of the tie up between global capital and local economy, not only in terms of personal displacement but also by the migration of the men folk in search of employment because of the disruption of the traditional economy and employment patterns in villages and semi-urban situations. The module would also give insight in to these questions : How women particularly are affected by developmental projects and resource policies ? How policies can be and need to be framed with the gendered perception and with the participation of women in order to understand and learn ways to redress the problems particularly faced by them.

Suggested Readings

“Uprooted Twice : Refugees from the Chittagong Hill Tracts” / Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, in Refugee & The State, Ed. Ranabir Samaddar, Sage : New Delhi.

“Pakistan : Development and Disaster”, Atta ur Rehman Sheikh, in Internal Displacement in South Asia, Sage : New Delhi

“Bangladesh : Displaced and Dispossessed”, Meghna Guhathakurta and Suraiya Begum, in Internal Displacement in South Asia, Sage : New Delhi

“Agrarian Impasse and the Making of an Immigrant Niche” in The Marginal Nation : Transborder Migration from Bangladesh to West Bengal, Ranabir Samaddar,)

“Ethnic Politics and Land Use : Genesis of Conflicts in India’s North-East” / Sanjay Barbora in Economic & Political Weekly, March 30, 2002

“Globalization, Class and Gender Relations : The Shrimp Industry In South-western Bangladesh” / Meghna Guhathakurta, unpublished

Report of Workshop on Engendering Resettlement & Rehabilitation Policies and Programmes in India, Mohammed Asif, Lyla Mehta and Harsh Mander, November 2002

“Development Induced Displacement in Pakistan” / Atta ur Rehman Sheikh, in Refugee Watch, No. 15

“Scrutinizing the Land Resettlement Scheme in Bhutan”, Jagat Acharya, in Refugee Watch, No. 9, March 2000