capital and technology intensive developmental strategy has further
contributed and is still contributing towards the resource crisis and
environmental destruction leading to the forced displacement of a large
section of population all over the world.
Annually, the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the
globe are affected by forced displacement due to ethnic conflicts,
infrastructure projects like dams, mines, industries, power plants, and
roads and then due to natural disasters such as floods, river erosion
etc. The forced migration is due to many reasons but question of control
over natural resource has been at the centre of these reasons. Even in
displacements induced by conflicts, it is the question of resources that
lies at the heart of most of these conflicts. The situation in South
Asia is no exception. In
fact, the phenomenon of displacement due to resource politics and
environmental degradation may said to be more pronounced in this region
because of the industrialisation drive of these developing states and
also because of the inadequacy of existing legislatures in either
preventing such displacement or in facilitating suitable rehabilitation
of the victims of such projects. Very often it is the state that is the
transgressor, responsible for effecting such displacement.
In the last one-decade the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDP)
are on the increase in South Asia just as in many other parts of the
world. Discrimination against minorities, violence, war, ethnic hatred,
state repression, demands for self-determination, natural and man made
disasters such as famines and floods, ill-conceived development projects
such as highways and dams – all have contributed massively to internal
displacement. Often the victims of forced displacement are unable to
cross borders due to severe lack of resources and are forced to live
within a regime that had created occasions for their displacement in the
first place. At the same time there are
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no legal or
constitutional mechanisms in any country in South Asia for the IDPs in
particular and there exists no inventory of best practices. In fact
South Asian states have organized rehabilitation and care on an adhoc
basis for the IDPs in the same manner as they have dealt with refugees.
At the same time, it has been observed that most of the displaced people
remain women and children, and even when men are displaced, their
displacement negatively impacts on the womenfolk. The displaced rarely
get adequate compensation for their losses of homes, livelihoods, and
resources. Most often than not they get no compensation and are hardly
ever provided relief or rehabilitation packages by the Government. Since
most of the displaced are usually marginalized groups, they are unaware
of their rights to adequate compensation and better rehabilitation and
neither do they benefit from the end products of the developmental
projects. These groups are largely dependent on the common property
resources (CPR) for their survival owned by the state. The area under
CPR has been decreasing across South Asia because states has been using
it for various developmental purposes at the cost of marginalized
communities leading to conflict between state and people. In the current
age of globalisation this conflict has assumed gigantic proportions and
people are organising for their rights over the resources against the
state.
This module is thus designed to give a comprehensive understanding of
the following:
Resources lie at the heart of conflicts, which in turn lead to forcible
displacement of groups of population.
The concept of environmental degradation and environmental displacement.
The effect of resource politics and environmental degradation on women.
Impact of globalisation on the resource politics, environmental
destruction and forced migration.
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