ABSTRACT
Development projects are undertaken with the general welfare of the population in mind, but, nonetheless, they raise the possibility of adverse impacts on specific segments of the population. Almost any large infrastructure project, be it dams, roads, urban sanitation, requires land, and, therefore, has direct impact on local populations whose land is taken for the general good. The amount of land required will vary with the project, but the fact remains that, almost invariably, land is required. Because this simple fact has not always been recognised and dealt with in project planning, international development agencies have adopted safeguard policies with the express intention of avoiding impoverishment of any group of people for the general good. The logic here is clear: further impoverishing the poor and vulnerable segments of society, and thus exacerbating existing social and economic inequalities, contradicts the basic notion of economic development — improvement in the condition of life of the population.
