ABSTRACT
Development projects often displace people from their habitats. This involuntary displacement of people from their productive assets and homes, due to industrial or infrastructure projects, has been one of the social issues that has caused intense debate among academics, social activists and planners. Literature suggests that tribes are the most impacted, who are forced to migrate to new areas. The scheduled tribes constituted about 8.6 per cent of the total population of the country according to the 2011 Census. But it is quite interesting to learn that the tribes constitute around 55.16 per cent of total displaced people. Does this imply a sort of victimisation of the tribes in the context of development? Studies on the displacement, rehabilitation and resettlement, particularly in the context of tribal society in Odisha, have been done extensively. This chapter is based on secondary sources of data and provides an outline regarding the problems, prospects and impact of mining industrialisation on the tribes of eastern India (Orissa). This chapter aims at giving some policy suggestion. It urges that rehabilitation policy for the tribes should safeguard their means of livelihood.
