Developmental status of Indravati Dam oustees in India: A Human Development Index assessment

Abstract

Resettlement concerns arising by construction of dams have always remained pivotal in a country's developmental aspirations. Though, governmental agencies upfront provide a well schemed rehabilitation package for the resettled population, instances of disparity between the proposed package and its proper implementation is noted. Most of the reports and studies are subjectively biased as there is a lack of objective tool for assessing the rehabilitation schemes. We have used Human Development Index (HDI) to measure the effectiveness of rehabilitation package implementation on the displaced population of Indravati dam project in India. Data was collected by questionnaire from 300 households of 24 villages and assessment for HDI was estimated with three indices, that is education, life expectancy and real per capita income. Qualitative assessment measures were evaluated on social, educational, health care and financial aspects. The results showed that the HDI of the oustees (0.335 ± 0.010) were much lower than that of the people of India (0.558). The qualitative results revealed deterioration in the quality of life for respondents in the post displacement period comparing to pre displacement period. Our study emphasizes the value added to the assessment of the rehabilitation policy implementation using the advance analytical tool of HDI measurement.