Guidelines on how to prevent such displacement and how to shape adequate policies to ensure the adequate rehabilitation of the displaced.
South Asian dynamics of the resource politics and ensuing conflict between nations.
This module would thus deal with these questions through specific case studies from North East India and other parts of India and South Asia taking up cases of ethnic conflict, and developmental displacement all due to resource conflicts and environmental degradation.

Case of North East India 

The resource conflict and forced migration are closely inter-linked. In India, this operates at various levels and regions and is reflected in the developmental imbalances across sections of society regionally and nationally. The worst manifestation of this has been in the North East region in the form of ethnic conflicts between various communities. It has witnessed protracted conflicts and displacements of thousands of people in the last few decades. On the one hand, we know of such cases, where an ethnic community claimed exclusive rights over a space that it defines as its “homeland” on the ground that it is the “original inhabitant” of the land. By the same token, they have held that outsiders have no right to settle there. In Assam in Northeast India in the last count (August 2004) a total of 37,677 families (2,37,768 people) were staying in makeshift camps in three districts of western Assam – Kokrakjhar, Bongaigaon and Dhubri.
These IDPs have been staying in make shift camps for past 10 years and have moved from one camp to other due to various reasons. Due to their prolonged stay in camps and no relief coming from the government some of these have already 

started going back to villages nearby their original places of residence on their own or with help of voluntary organisations. The IDPs have also witnessed large-scale migration to the bigger cities in search of livelihood and have created a money order economy in the camps. One of the prime reasons given by the government for its inability of rehabilitate them is the unavailability of suitable land. Their return has also become difficult because their land and other resources has been now occupied by the rival communities. All these factors together pose challenges for the IDPS and also for the agencies involved in relief and rehabilitation.
The land use pattern in North East India has also contributed towards the ensuing conflict between various communities and environmental destruction. Prior to independence if British encouraged plantation agriculture and brought many labourers from outside now it is the time of modern day developmental agencies who have been trying to change the agricultural patterns of the indigenous people and trying to encourage coffee plantation and other crops which are not viable in this region. The plantation labourers now termed, as ‘outsiders’ has now become target of local conflicts. The crisis in plantation economies has also rendered many people jobless and vast tracts of land unutilised and in control of private parties. A large chunk of land is also inhabited by the various security agencies in the region that further aggravates the situation. The region has also suffered considerable environmental destruction due to large scale deforestation leading to frequent land slide, increased siltation of rivers, floods, and river erosion displacing a large number of people.
In addition to all this government has planned a large number of big and small dams to tap the water resources in the region. These dams would submerge a large tract of forests, land, and displace thousands of people. There is also danger of destabilising the region, which may cause earthquakes and land