Dams and IDPs: The Inherent Issues

Since development process is inevitable for socio-economic uplift of any country, it is crucial to formulate planning, but without hampering the issues related to the sustenance of humankind. Government plans various programmes and projects to meet the different needs of the people and also to cope with the speed that the entire world travels. Dams are one of such projects which ironically have both positive and negative aspects. India stands as one of the major dam builders of the world and in fact it is the third largest with over 3600 large dams and over 700 more under construction at present. Dams were constructed to meet the required power demands, irrigation, etc. Several Hydro-Electric Projects were initiated and constructed and at the same time those projects every time entailed a worrying factor and that is displacement and environmental degradation. Millions of people were displaced by those projects and not surprisingly the rehabilitation efforts were derisory and in most of the cases the government or policy makers failed to rehabilitate the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). So it is mandatory for the government to accommodate the IDPs. Along with displacement, another factor involved with this is environmental degradation. But keeping in view the broad areas of study covered by these two issues, this study or analysis will try to focus only on displacement issues.


Internally Displaced Persons

There are various reasons behind every displacement. It may be dams, mines, industrial development, wildlife sanctuaries and national park, and development of new towns or cities, etc. It is here pertinent to understand what does IDP mean? According to the Wikipedia online dictionary ‘Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are people forced to flee their homes but who, unlike refugees, remain within their country's borders’. However a United Nations report, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement uses the definition:
“Internally displaced persons are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border”(Wikipedia.org).
Though it entails different meanings but the core remains the same and that is massive displacement of peoples. In one of her articles on displacement Anupama Hazra views that:
“The two forms of internal displacement of critical concern in Asia are conflict-induced displacement and development-induced displacement. Indeed, the two are often linked. Forced displacement caused by development policies and development projects often produces internal conflicts and violence within societies, especially over land and resources, directly leading to conflict induced displacement”
Significantly the two are linked and both incorporate a serious concern within themselves. Interesting thing is that whatever the reason behind displacement, at international levels it is violation of human rights. Though the state is entitled to shape development policies, yet it is the entire responsibility of the state to accommodate those displaced as displaced persons suffer loss of privacy, limitations on their capacity or ability to work, and restrictions on their access to basic health and education services. They often do not enjoy full civil and political rights. As again to quote Hazra “Displacement jeopardizes their physical security and impacts negatively on their quality of life and potential for physical and emotional growth. Family and community life may be damaged or destroyed, opportunities for cultural activity may be restricted, and their identity as a people may be put at risk”. Such can be the adverse effects of development and displacement within a country.
UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) reported that by the end of 2007, there were a total of 51 million IDPs, 26 million of whom were displaced due to conflict, and 35 million displaced due to natural disaster (Hazra 2009).




Sasanka Dhaval Saikia

J.D.S.G. College, Bokakhat
E-Mail sasanka27@yahoo.co.in