om e 's Ali a - Land ss De elo en - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India Office

ole of breadwinners for the family,
which they did, in the pre-investment
phase. With land, forest, and social
networks all gone, they finally lose
their livelihood which are associated
with these things. This consequently
lessens their sense of worth both to
self and in the eyes of others.
Most of the affected families live in
hamlets that surround the mining
area, or the industrial area. The
unskilled labourers, who come for
jobs in the mines or the industries,
seek rented houses in these localities
and often become a part of this
displaced community. There have
been several instances in industrial
suburbs where these men have
entered into sexual relationship with
the women of the local displaced
society in exchange for money.
According to a Kolkata based
organisation, Durbar Mahila
Samanway Samiti, an organisation
which works for the rights of
women who are in the flesh trade,
the number of women in Jharkhand
who are in this trade has seen
an upswing over the years. The
Samiti has recently begun working
among such women in Jharkhand.
Impact of Aggressive Growth
“In Ranchi alone, there are at least
1,000 such women who are sex
workers. Dhanbad has the highest
number of sex workers,” says Om
Prakah Yadav, a functionary of the
Samiti who has been charged with
the task to begin work among these
women in Jharkhand. Yadav reveals
that these sex workers do not have
a permanent place of operation
but are ‘mobile’. According to a
survey conducted by the Samiti,
Jharkhand has at least 10,000 sex
workers; a sizeable portion of these
women have been direct victims
of displacement earlier. Similarly
in the mining areas of Keonkhar,
Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada
districts of Orissa incidence of
women trafficking for sexual
exploitation is rising.
Problem of drinking water,
sanitation and fuel
In the local indigenous society,
arranging drinking water and fuel
for cooking has been traditionally
thought to be the task of women.
In the new arrangement after
development and displacement, the
men in the displaced families still
think that these are tasks belonging
to women.
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