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

Chhattisgarh in 2000 needs to be
seen in the context of aggressive
development and its violence
on people and nature. People,
particularly in resource-rich areas
like Chhattisgarh are exposed to
the threat of displacement, resource
alienation, destruction of livelihood
opportunities and their sociocultural
identities. In many cases
they have been forcibly evacuated
by the state, while in many others
resource restrictions are forcing
people to migrate to seek out an
alternative source of livelihood.
Over-exploitation and pollution of
rivers and other water resources
has seriously affected livelihood of
communities in basin areas. Industrial
pollution is hampering agricultural
production around industrial areas.
Fast degradation of forest resources
is further aggravating the lives
and livelihood crisis. Aspirations
that they would be involved in the
development and prosperity of the
new state have proved futile; people
have experienced the violence of
development even deeper and closer
after formation of new state, than
they did earlier.
Chhattisgarh government with
328 mining leases, 14 prospecting
Process of Land Alienation
licences, and 1853 quarry leases in
2004-05 alone considers the state’s
natural resources underutilised and
plans to double the contribution of
minerals to full form (NSDP) from the
sum of Rs. 12,000 million inked in its
present vision document. The vision
document identifies forest cover and
lack of policy initiatives to be the
main reason for underutilisation of
minerals in the state and plans for
still more investor-friendly policies.
Approximately, 85435.551-hectare
area was under mining lease in the
state in 2005-06. But the ongoing
and pending lease patta (LPs)
indicates the onslaught of mining
activities in the offing. Nearly every
corner of the state is under the
scanner, be it agricultural areas,
forest areas or inhabited areas.
The impact of mining on livelihood
of the people, environment and
natural resources have already
become unmanageable causing
total breakdown of the society
and environment in the state and
there is no possibility of retrieving
the situation unless the ongoing
aggressive paradigm of development
and growth is redesigned, putting
the people at the centre. Following
tables indicate the onslaught on land
for various projects in the state.
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