
Government’s unilateral approach in development planning and
implementation has widened the gulf of mistrust between people and the
government bringing the both face to face against each other in almost all
project locations over the issue of displacement.
Narasimha Mishra, veteran politician and the leader of opposition in the Odisha State Legislative Assembly, explains the gravity of the issue of displacement is its impact on industrialisation in the state by saying, “People, hearing the name of development or industry, are being alarmed. They hate the idea of industry, they disapprove the idea of industry because they lose everything and in return they get nothing.” Mishra has said this in an interview carried in “The War for Steel” (2013), a documentary on the conflict between people and their elected government over the POSCO Project.
Narasimha Mishra, veteran politician and the leader of opposition in the Odisha State Legislative Assembly, explains the gravity of the issue of displacement is its impact on industrialisation in the state by saying, “People, hearing the name of development or industry, are being alarmed. They hate the idea of industry, they disapprove the idea of industry because they lose everything and in return they get nothing.” Mishra has said this in an interview carried in “The War for Steel” (2013), a documentary on the conflict between people and their elected government over the POSCO Project.
Displacement
from homestead land, farmland and other perennial sources of livelihood has
been the cause of conflict in most project areas. The state police, on
insistence of the local as well as district administration and the state
authorities, more often resort to repeated armed actions against agitated displaced
and affected people.
The two
known cases of firing by the state armed police on tribal people, who were opposing
different industrial projects, took place during the rule of Naveen Patnaik. In
2000, the year of Naveen’s ascendance to power in Odisha as the Chief Minister,
the State saw the first incident of police firing at Maikanch in Rayagada
district, and the second one at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district on January 2,
2006.
During
last few years, the state police forces have indiscriminately thrashed
protestors and, even, opened fire on people while demonstrating against POSCO
Steel plant Project in Jagatsinghpur district.
The
Niyamgiri episode of people’s movement against mining stands as testimony to
the Naveen Patnaik government’s idea of non-inclusive development, which has
only helped hostility to grow in most of the proposed industrial, mining and
large infrastructure project locations.
Despite formulation and implementation of the Odisha Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy (ORRP), 2006, by the government, issue
of displacement still continues to be a reason of mass discontentment. The government, while listing families
displaced or affected by different projects, doesn’t give adequate importance
to the issues of displacement of people from their natural livelihood sources.
Dispute
over definition
According
to the ORRP 2006, a family ordinarily residing in the project area prior to the
date of publication of notification under provisions of the relevant Act and either
displaced or required to be displaced from such area on account of acquisition
of his/her homestead land is to be counted as a “displaced family.”
But the
affected communities contest this definition placing the livelihood sources as equally
important as house and homestead land.
Speaking on
the issues of displacement and livelihood in case of the proposed POSCO steel plant,
the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) project planned on the coastal
plains adjacent to Jatadhar river mouth in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, POSCO
Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) leader Abhay Sahu says, “Taking the economic
group into consideration, the fishermen community and peasantry both will be
deprived of their natural livelihood. So, we consider the displacement of
livelihood is the real displacement of a family. The family may be there; his
house and homestead may not go in the project area; but if his livelihood is
displaced; his dependency on the forest land is displaced; his dependency on
the sea, Jatadhar River is displaced. That is the real displacement for which
we have been fighting tooth and nail relentlessly against the POSCO steel
plant.”
If
snatching out the source of livelihood is to be termed as displacement,
Naveen’s first term as the Chief Minister of Odisha is to be termed as the
phase of mass displacement. Thousands of skilled and unskilled workers lost
their jobs during this period due to closure of many state run public sector
units (PSUs) like the Konark Television, Ipitron and many more including state
run spinning mills and the Odisha Textile Mill (OTM). Supported by DFID, the
British Agency for International Development, such closure of PSUs in the name
of disinvestment is believed by many to be a conspiracy to make Odisha industry
starved and pave the road for global players to exploit and loot the State’s
huge mineral resources in the name of industrialisation.
Dearth of data
The
industry minister informed the house of assembly, in March 2015, that 66 out of
92 projects the Naveen Patnaik government has signed memoranda of understanding
(MoU) for have started full or partial production. But, ironically, a complete
database on families displaced and affected by different industrial and
developmental projects is not yet available with the government. This in itself
speaks about the seriousness Naveen Patnaik government has towards the issue of
displacement.
The
department (of Revenue and Disaster Mitigation) launched a software named
'Project Punarbas,' in 2009, with the objective to automate the land
acquisition as well as rehabilitation and resettlement (RR) process, develop
database and survey methodologies, set up responsive grievance redressal system
etc. for the entire state. But the project failed in its implementation stage after
an expenditure of 1.40 crore rupees, according to the audit report of the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
However,
on basis of records of 32 test-checked industrial projects in 13 districts, the
CAG report reveals that 6533 families have been displaced and 35632 families
affected due to acquisition of 36555.180 acre of land by industrial projects during
the period between 1992 and 2013.
Taking all
projects - industrial, mining as well as development projects - together,
number of total displaced families goes up to 23,845, says a report published
in The Hindu, which also brings to light that 38% of it or over
9,000 displaced families are yet to be resettled by the government.
Because of
absence of any effective system for data gathering, companies and unscrupulous
government officials find it convenient to tamper and produce fabricated data on
displacement suiting to their own interests.
As per the
CAG report, the minutes of Rehabilitation Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting notes
that 1865 families are affected by Bhushan Steel Limited in Dhenkanal. But the
figure is twisted twice to 1663 and 1296 in survey report and monthly progress
report (MPR) respectively.
The
government too plays its part in the nexus, which relentlessly works to deprive
the displaced families of the due RR benefits. Citing the case of Angul based
Jindal Steel and Power limited, CAG report mentions, while the MPR of October
2013 indicated the numbers of PDF (project displaced families) and PAF (project
affected families) as 261 and 2073, a report submitted to the State Legislature
in August 2013 says that the said numbers are 583 and 5029 respectively.
When
non-availability of data creating scope for such manipulations is a reality,
the obvious question is: which of the figures were taken into consideration for
disbursement of compensations and other RR benefits under ORRP 2006? There is
no single point where one can get an answer to this question.
Norms for
the namesake
Instead of
dealing with the issue of displacement, which means a lot to ensure an
industrialisation friendly environment in the State, the government machinery has
rather seriously attempted to deny RR benefits to affected families.
In an
official order issued by the Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Revenue and Disaster
Management Department of Odisha, it is clarified that families who are normally
residing in or near the project areas for a period of at least 3 years prior to
the date of notification may be considered as ordinarily residing and thus for
the purpose of RR benefits as project displaced families.
The
clarified definition of “residing in or near the project areas for a period of
at least 3 years prior to the date of notification” has deprived many tribal
families, who have been residing in villages affected by the mining project of
Utkal Alumina International Ltd. (UAIL) in Kashipur block of Rayagada district since
being displaced by the Indravati reservoir project, of their rightful benefits.
Though
section 7 (iv) of the ORRP 2006 has provision of additional 50% of the normal
compensation payable as ex-gratia to families facing multiple displacement, Indravati
project displaced families resettled in villages like Durmusi and Suryagarh,
near Baphlimali bauxite reserve, are being forcefully driven out by the local
administration without giving any compensation just to serve the interests of
UAIL.
This
indicates how official orders in clarification of some specific norms have
superseded the very intent and objective of ORRP 2006 and have made the policy
almost dysfunctional. Multiple displacement cases are rampant in other districts
like Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur etc.
CAG report
confirms non-payment of any additional compensation in violation of ORRP norms
by Aditya Aluminium Project and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) to at least
173 families facing multiple displacement in Sambalpur and Angul.
Not only
in cases of multiple displacement, there have been serious lapses and
negligence in cases of first time displacement for industrial and developmental
projects in the state.
798 PDFs
displaced during 1992-2013 have not been properly rehabilitated and full
benefits due to them have not been extended because of inadequate institutional
mechanism and absence of proper planning. Even the process of extending RR
benefits to the displaced and affected families has been faulty in many cases,
CAG report notes.
While
project authorities in many cases have made payment at pre-revised rate despite
fresh revisions in the amount for rehabilitation assistance on the basis of
wholesale price index (WPI), the report also mentions about gross
irregularities in distribution of Record of Rights to the resettled families.
Though the
government has revised the amount of monthly maintenance allowance (MMA) to
3400 per month, with effect from 1.4.2014, the pre-revised rates are still in
effect in many cases. As a fact to substantiate, MMA for the families displaced
by UAIL in Rayagada still remains Rs.1800.00, which again has not been paid
since last one and half years, as said by people of Bagrijhola, a village
adjacent to UAIL plant.
The
promises of social amenities in the resettlement colonies are not yet fulfilled
in most cases. Many such colonies do not have basic health facility, piped
water supply, provision of pond, street light, all-weather roads, school for
education, place of worship etc., CAG report marks while classifying such resettlement
habitats as “deficient on many counts.”
When
original and amended norms of ORRP 2006 are being violated, the government has
not set any mechanism for proper monitoring of the rehabilitation and
resettlement process in order to minimise public dissent by extending all due
benefits to the PDFs and PAFs.
“Review meetings conducted by the RDC and
Collectors were also inadequate and no follow-up actions were taken. Grievance
redressal mechanism was inadequate as several petitions were lying unattended
by the district authorities as well as project authorities,” according to the
CAG report.
Employment
- an eyewash
The
government has always showed employment generation as the primary objective of its
drive for industrialisation. Reports based on facts presented in the Assembly say, in 66
projects that have commenced production either partially or fully, direct and
indirect employment has been created for 100,410 people, which include 70,241
within the state and 29,442 hired from outside the state.”
The figure
of 70,241 seems to be an eyewash attempt because a report published in The
Hindu during mid-2014 reveals that only 19300 persons have been employed during
the past decade by all steel projects the government has signed MoU for.
When
employment provided to members of displaced families is concerned, the kind and
nature of employment provided in various industries needs serious verification.
In many cases, affected people working with companies are not taken as
full-fledged staff members but as contractual or wage-based workers without any
job guarantee and other benefits.
As it came
to notice during a recent visit to the villages affected by the UAIL project in
Rayagada district, local people who lost their land for the industry are not
getting employment in the plant or mining site. Even those who have been
working since commissioning of the plant are not yet taken as staff members.
They are paid a meagre 3000 rupees a month. Some have also been arbitrarily asked
not to work.
It’s also
noted in the audit report that “adequate employment was neither provided by
industries nor the scope of self-employment created in project areas.”
Five
industries that should have sponsored 2085 members for ITI training could
sponsor only 233 and “employment or one-time cash compensation in lieu of
employment was not provided to 588 families displaced by 10 out of 32 test
checked industries,” the report adds.
It also
mentions that interviews conducted with 597 persons affected under 12
industrial projects in four districts in presence of representative of
Collector during CAG audit reveals that 53% (315) of people want permanent
employment to be assured with a perennial source of income.
It can be
imagined how difficult the life of a displaced family becomes without any
employment because of non-realisation or delay in realisation of a project.
This is one of the major issues and a cause of resentment among people whose
land is already acquired for the POSCO project. As the project is facing
inordinate delay due to several reasons, land losers are forced to live without
an assured source of income since more than last three years.
Same is
the case with people who have lost their land for the TATA Steel project
proposed near Gopalpur in Ganjam district which is now declared an SEZ project.
In fact,
the volume of unemployed workforce created by the government is much higher
than the number of employment it has generated through industrialisation.
Because
mostly forest and agricultural land have been acquired for various industrial,
mining and developmental projects, the forest dwellers and farming communities
in the project areas have lost their natural sources of livelihood. And, as
employment scope in agriculture is not limited to the land owners only, the
population losing employment due to the land grab in the name of industrialisation
is much larger than the official displacement caused by the projects.
Caring to
the corporate houses
Despite its failure in addressing all the issues raised and
analysed above, the Naveen Patnaik government has always promoted forceful
displacement by limiting the constitutional rights of people in order to pursue
its pro-corporate industrialisation agenda.
Be it for the TATAs, the POSCO, Vedanta and other big industrial
houses, issues raised by people are not being heeded to at any level of the
governance system. Bypassing norms set in Acts like Panchayat (Extension to
Scheduled Areas) Act or PESA and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act, 2006, commonly known as Forest Rights Act, has become the
new norm. Rights of communities over forest and natural resources are being
withdrawn to promote industrial and mining projects opposed by people.
In any case, the poor and ordinary people have always been the
losers to make way for the corporate players to win in the game.
An unedited version of this article is published on May 9, 2015,
at the HotnHitNews.
[An edited version of this piece is published in the report
"15 years of Odisha governance," brought out by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan
(WNTA).]
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