GIAN Network on
Migration (and Displacement)
The South Asian Story
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
Migration is not a major issue in India. There is not much
in-migration (immigration) to India. There is out-migration
(emigration)) from India to the West in search of career
enhancement and job opportunities.
The major issue for India is displacement caused by
development projects, ethnic conflicts and natural calamities.
THE BACKDROP
 Globalization and Economic Liberalization measures of
1990s causing impoverishment and massive social
unrests.
 Free flow of global capital for rapid exploitation of
mineral resources displaces the hapless people from
their hearths and homes.
 According to an estimate every year 15 million people
all over the globe are forcedly displaced by
development projects such as dams, power plants,
mines and mineral-based industries.
JALA SATYAGRAHA IN
MADHYA PRADESH
"Till the time water
level comes down to
189 meters and as
per court orders, we
get the 5 acre land,
and labourers get
Rs. 2.5 lakh, till that
time even if we die,
we will sit here.”
IMPACT OF DISPLACEMENT
(MICHAEL CERNEA)
Landlessness
Community
Disarticulation
Joblessness
Homelessness
Impoverishment
Risks
Loss of access
to CPRs
Increased
Morbidity
Marginalization
Food
Insecurity
WHY IMPOVERISHED?
1. Landlessness has increased
enormously.
2. Land Holding size decreases.
Most become uneconomic.
3. Subsequent decrease in
production.
4. Downward mobility of
occupation: from
cultivation-daily wage
earners, domestic workers,
petty business.
5. Niggardly Compensation:
Hardly any resettlement
6. CPRs dependents suffer
more
EXTENT OF MIGRATION/DISPLACEMENT
The Government of India does not have an official database on the
number of displaced persons.
According to Fernandes (2008: 89-90), there are 60 million Displaced
persons during 1947-2000, from 25 million hectares (62 million
acres) of land, more than half of it forest or common revenue land.
Nearly 40 percent of the 60 million Displaced People and Project
Affected People are tribals who are a little over 8 percent of the
country’s population. 20 percent each are Dalits and the poorest
among the Backwards like fisher folk and quarry workers (Murickan
et al. 2003: 185-189).
Migration in India
(Population in
thousands)
Less than 100
100 to 200
200 to 300
More than 300
EXTENT OF REHABILITATION
State
Extent of Rehabilitation
Orissa
Andhra Pradesh
Kerala
Goa
West Bengal
Gujarat
35.27 %
28.82 %
13.18 %
33.23 %
9%
18 %
STRENGTHS
Jesuits in South Asia have centres that address the issues at the local
level, national level and to some extent even at the international
level.
The centres are most vibrant at the local level. Example, SWADESH
in Goa & NESRC in Guwahati.
In the area of research, the national level centres like Indian Social
Institute, Delhi and Indian Social Institute, Bangalore, have done
considerable research and studies.
SAPI: South Asian People’s Initiative, an offshoot of WSF 2005 of
Mumbai has done commendable work in networking and
advocacy.
WEAKNESSES
Local level protests and mobilization without linkage to
national level advocacy efforts.
The second lacuna has been the lack of skills in advocacy,
lobbying and negotiations.
The third limitation is dearth of systematic research both at the
local and national level.
POSSIBILITIES
Working for Comprehensive Legislation Reforms in favor
displaced people and project affected people.
Example:The Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Bill 2011
National Centres to play a proactive role in networking and
advocacy efforts
CONCLUSION
“We have for over a century been dragged by the
prosperous West behind its chariot, choked by the dust,
deafened by the noise, humbled by our own helplessness,
and overwhelmed by the speed. We agreed to
acknowledge that this chariot-drive was progress, and
that progress was civilization. If we even ventured to ask,
‘progress towards what and progress for whom’, it was
considered to be peculiarly and ridiculously oriental to
entertain such doubts about the absoluteness of
progress. Of late, a voice has come to us bidding us to
take count not only of scientific perfection of the chariot
but of the depth of the ditches lying across its path”.
- Rabindranath Tagore2