Moving beyond economic analysis: Assessing the socio-cultural impacts of displacement and resettlement by sardar sarovar project, india

Abstract

The large scale development projects like dams have been justified for a greater economic benefit of the nation. However, the development projects have become synonymous with land acquisition leading to dispossession and forced migration of a large number of people and their involuntary resettlement. Unfortunately, too much focus on the economic benefits of such large scale projects has omitted many relevant tangible and intangible socio-cultural aspects and ignored the impacts of development policies that shape forced migrations. The present paper asserts to move beyond the ‘limited’ economic analysis of large projects and includes the critical social and cultural implications of forced migration and displacement. The paper presents views of respondents displaced from the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and were resettled in Gujarat. Perhaps, it is the most unique aspect of this paper to understand the socio-cultural adjustment in context of the spatial origin. The resettlement caused by the Sardar Sarovar Project has led to a change in dress patterns and marriage customs, loss of tribal folk art, destroyed the existing social networks and hindered access to new ones. Increased violence against women, problem of drunkenness and bootlegging at the resettlement sites are also highlighted. The insights in the work are based upon the fieldwork in select resettlement sites in Gujarat. The author adopted participant observation, focus group discussions and key informant interviews as a means for data collection and better comprehension of the study area.