ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how post-displacement communities are formed through interactions between government policies, social divisions, and place-based attachments. It draws existing studies of displacement and resettlement in the Narmada valley, and the author's own observations of displacement and resettlement linked to the Sardar Sarovar dam in the state of Gujarat, and the Maheshwar, Indira Sagar, Maan and Tawa dams in Madhya Pradesh. The chapter argues that experiences of resettlement are linked not only to the specific reasons for displacement and the characteristics of displaced communities, but also to the resources that the displaced bring with them as they are forced to seek new lives. It addresses that the existing compensation policies can be directly linked to the production of floating and fragmented communities, even as local communities continue to struggle to remake place for themselves. The chapter documents the consequences of land-based forms of compensation through focusing on resettlement sites and the provision of agricultural land.
