Resettlement and risk of adverse incorporation: the case of the Polavaram dam

Abstract

This article argues that people involuntarily displaced by development projects face the risk of adverse incorporation into local processes of development, and that resettlement programmes should aim at mitigating this risk. The article also contends that investigating the risk of adverse incorporation enables the identification of context-specific factors and processes that are likely to affect the outcomes of resettlement. The argument is applied to the case of the Polavaram dam in Andhra Pradesh, India, which will displace 200,000 people. It demonstrates that the affected people face the risk of being exposed to landlessness, fragmentation of landholdings, and casualisation of labour as a result of resettlement.

Cet article soutient que les personnes involontairement déplacées par des projets de développement sont confrontées au risque d'incorporation négative dans des processus locaux de développement, et que les programmes de réinstallation devraient chercher à atténuer ce risque. Cet article soutient par ailleurs qu'en enquêtant sur le risque d'incorporation négative on peut identifier des facteurs et processus propres au contexte qui sont susceptibles d'influer sur les résultats de la réinstallation. L'argument est appliqué au cas du barrage de Polavaram, dans l’État d'Andhra Pradesh, en Inde, qui entraînera le déplacement de 200 000 personnes. Il montre que les personnes touchées risquent de se retrouver sans terres, et d'assister à la fragmentation de leurs parcelles et à la précarisation du travail suite à la réinstallation.

El presente artículo sostiene que las personas que deben desplazarse involuntariamente debido a la implementación de proyectos de desarrollo enfrentan el riesgo de ser incorporadas adversamente en los procesos de desarrollo locales, por lo que los programas de reasentamiento deberían ayudar a mitigar dicho riesgo. Asimismo, el artículo afirma que la investigación acerca del riesgo de la incorporación adversa permite identificar los factores y los procesos propios de cierto contexto, los cuales probablemente afectarán los resultados que conlleve la reubicación. Esta perspectiva fue aplicada al caso de la represa de Polavaram en Andhra Pradesh, India, cuya construcción desplazó a 200 mil personas. El artículo muestra que, a partir del desplazamiento, las personas afectadas se encuentran en riesgo de convertirse en desposeídas de tierra, de que sus tierras se fraccionen y de que su mano de obra se precarice.

Keywords:

• Labour and livelihoods
• Methods
• Rights
• South Asia

Acknowledgements

I am thankful to Pagano Didla for his hospitality during the months I spent in Andhra Pradesh, and to my research assistants Israel, Murthy, Shyam, Gova, and Subba Rao for their hard work under the burning sun of the Indian summer. I am also grateful to the Polavaram people, for having consented to share a part of their lives with me.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Chiara Mariotti is a development economist with a thematic expertise in involuntary resettlement and chronic poverty, and a regional expertise in India. She holds a PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and she has taught at SOAS and at the University of Bath. She now works as Research Officer at the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network (CPAN), hosted at the Overseas Development Institute in London.

Notes on contributor

Chiara Mariotti is a development economist with a thematic expertise in involuntary resettlement and chronic poverty, and a regional expertise in India. She holds a PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and she has taught at SOAS and at the University of Bath. She now works as Research Officer at the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network (CPAN), hosted at the Overseas Development Institute in London.

Notes

1 In Andhra Pradesh, a Mandal is the administrative division below the district level.

2 Indian society is organised into a hierarchy of hereditary groups called castes. Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other “Backward Castes” are recognised by the Constitution of India as historically disadvantaged social groups.

3 In September 2013, the Indian Parliament passed the Right to Fair Compensation, and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR 2013), which supersedes the Andhra Pradesh resettlement policy. However, it is not clear if, and to what extent, this will affect the PRRP; the uncertainty is increased by the delays in the construction of the dam, and the increasing attempts by the national government to amend the LARR.

4 For a more detailed discussion of the results of the choice experiment, see Mariotti 2014.

5 For space reasons, this paper does not discuss the risks of adverse political and socio-cultural incorporation faced by the Polavaram-affected people. See Mariotti 2012 for a full account.

6 Assigned land is land redistributed by the government to poor ST and SC families as part of the various land reforms implemented throughout the last decades. The land redistributed was usually private surplus land (land above a legal ceiling established by the government) or excess or waste government land.

7 All currency conversions are as of 28 February 2014.