ABSTRACT
The issue of development-induced displacement has been an area of special interest among researchers, policy-makers and society at large. The Nano (small car production of Tata Motors) project (2008) in Singur in the state of West Bengal, India, was supported by the state government. Though failed, it is a most recent illustration of displacement, which has assumed major importance on the Indian political scene of late. The fact that some development initiatives ‘induce’ displacement has been recognized in the existing writings on the subject (De Wet 2006). The economic policies that are being pursued in many underdeveloped/developing countries under the liberalization, privation and globalization (LPG) syndrome have, inter alia, significantly contributed to displacement of people on a massive scale from their existing sources of livelihood. Temporary/contractual jobs for meagre compensation are pushing the regular sources of livelihood (in both rural and urban areas) to the back seat to a large extent, thus affecting a sizable section of the poor population and forcing them to accept a very difficult economic situation. Whereas there has been opposition to certain development initiatives, such as dams, on the supposition that they might affect people, there have also been several instances of marginalization and deprivation arising out of certain developmental initiatives that either could have been avoided or could have been pursued with a ‘human face’. Although on one hand the positive impact of dams has been widely acknowledged, the adverse effects of certain development initiatives have been identified in the existing scholarship.
