Forced Evictions
Forced evictions are on the rise in several parts of India. Most development projects, at face value, seem aimed at improving the lives of people: a new dam will generate more electricity to power industry; a new shopping mall will create new businesses and therefore more jobs.
However, the reality for communities living near a project is often quite different. These projects often about result in destruction of communities, the loss of jobs, and the impoverishment of people. Each year an estimated 15 million people across the globe are forcibly uprooted from their homes, farmlands, fishing areas and forests to make way for dam reservoirs, irrigation projects, mines, plantations, highways, and tourist resorts. Urban slums are bulldozed to make way for luxury condominiums, sporting facilities and shopping centres. Human rights abuses do not end after a forced eviction. A community may not be formally resettled and often find themselves living without adequate housing and without access to water, work, schools and hospitals. A forced eviction exacerbates poverty, social unrest, environmental degradation and loss of cultural identity.
Often, society accepts this collateral damage as the price the nation must pay for development. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way: it is possible to both safeguard people’s rights while also experiencing economic growth.
On PM’s Birthday, Villages in MP Submerged After Sardar Sarovar Dam Reaches Maximum Capacity
People have drowned, starved, and died, but nobody is talking about rehabilitation plans. Why? Sardar Sarovar Dam was fully filled before schedule for Prime Minister’s 69th birthday, resulting in hundreds of villages and hectors of land under water. Thousand of families, faced displacement, and loss of livelihood.
Families of Ghatkopar Rehabilitated to Mumbai’s ‘Human Dumping Ground’
Residents of the Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area were forced to relocate to Mahul, having hazardous living conditions and bad air quality.
Families Evicted for Hockey World Cup Venue Beautification yet to be Rehabilitated
While the Hockey World Cup 2018 was kicked off with aplomb, 2000 people evicted for the expansion of its venue continue to live in deplorable conditions.
Sardar Sarovar Dam: A Spectre of Displacement and Human Rights Violation
Fourteen persons from two villages in Maharashtra rehabilitated; over a 100 families in the state are still waiting.
Government Evicts Nomadic Communities in Jammu Without Notice or Rehabilitation
The Forest Right Act does not apply to Jammu & Kashmir, making nomadic communities in the state vulnerable to alienation, eviction and violence.
State Repression Forces Adivasis Out of Their Land in Odisha
The PESA law makes it mandatory for village councils to be consulted before any land acquisition in the village, but it is being blatantly violated today.
No End to Forced Evictions for Those Displaced by Sardar Sarovar
The Sardar Sarovar Dam has been in the news more than once for the large-scale displacement it has caused. But there is a lull in the media after rehabilitation is promised, says Community Correspondent Pawan Solanki, reporting on life after rehabilitation.
Kol Adivasis’ Decade Long Battle for Land Rights
The Kol community, a Scheduled Tribe in most states, has had little in the name of land rights or even human rights and dignity. But not one to step back, they see some hope in the Forest Rights Act of 2006 even after 10 years of running back and forth...