January - March 2013 - National Institute of Rural Development

Socio-Economic Impoverishment Risks in Displacement of Tribes Under Polavaram ... 35process tribals were also victimised byscattering of kinship groups, family system etc.(Biswaranjan Mohanty: 2005). The workinggroup on development of scheduled tribes setup during the Seventh Five Year Plancautioned that displacement of tribals facesmore risks than that of non-tribal populationdue to the following reasons. The first andforemost is the cultural aspects of tribal life.The kinship of the tribal groups is confined totheir habitation which is limited to certainspecific areas. Therefore, any displacementleads to a crushing blow to their socioeconomiclife. The other factor is attributedto their low level of education, and a traditionof a life of comparative exclusiveness andisolation and their difficulty in adjusting in analien environment. The third and equallyimportant is their dependency for living onincluding trade, profession and calling, rootsand fruits, minor forest produce, forest rawmaterials, game and birds and the naturalsurrounding and endowment. And finally,scheduled tribes being economically theweakest of all communities, find it harder thanthe others to settle on new avocations on adifferent site settlement (Ministry of HomeAffairs : 1984).Arguments Relating to Displacement andRehabilitation of TribalsThe different views that have been putforward regarding the displacement andrehabilitation of tribals can be broadlyclassified into two schools of thought. The firstschool stressed the need for integrating thehitherto isolated tribal communities into themainstream society. Those who advocate suchrelocation argue that with this there will beimprovement in rural livelihoods of the tribalsat the same time help preserving the forestand its resources. The protagonists of antidisplacementschool feel that the life styles oftribals are closely linked to the surroundinglandscape and have over time developed afine balance with nature. Any disruption ofthis equilibrium results in irreparable damagesto not only the livelihood of thesecommunities but also the natural system ofthe area.In a study aimed at coming out with acomprehensive rehabilitation plan for thetribes in nine villages of Similipal Tiger Reservein Madhya Pradesh, Alexander et al. (1991)examined the various benefits and advantagesthat they can avail of by shifting to good sites.The main argument in this study was that tribalarea is characterised by lack of basic amenitiesand facilities. Still there exists complacencyin the community but such attitude is limitingthe scope for material prosperity andimproved standard of living. However, for acommunity living in such a condition, thenecessity for dislocation and any programmefor rehabilitation can be made into anopportunity for development. Althoughdevelopment or change involvesdisequilibrium, nevertheless it provides theimpetus for eventual betterment of oustees.Conversely, in one of the contributing papersto the World Commission on dams based onthe review of studies made in IndependentIndia , A. Patwardhan (2000) maintained thatmany tribal communities live in relativelyisolated areas, which are remote, hilly and inthe vicinity of the forest, characterised by poorinfrastructure and lack of basic civic amenities.Because of this, there are attempts to portraydisplacement as “development opportunity”for tribal people. Some of the evaluationstudies have shown that in the relocated areasaccess to basic infrastructure like health care,education, sanitation, drinking water hasimproved. But according to her, improvementsin amenities do not necessarily lead toimprovement in the standard of living of tribals.Therefore, displacement cannot be a preconditionfor the tribal people to get access tobasic public facilities like health care,education or transport. It is their right.Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 32, No. 1, January - March : 2013JRD 2 (1)