Lesson 24. RESETTLEMENT AND REHABILITATION (2023)

Module 6. Social and environmental

Development projects that involuntarily displace people often generate serious economic, social and environmental problems: production systems are dismantled; productive assets and sources of income are lost; People are relocated to environments where their productive skills may be less applicable and competition for resources is greater; Community structures and social networks are weakened; Kinship groups are scattered; and cultural identity, traditional authority and the potential for mutual aid are reduced. Involuntary resettlement can lead to severe and long-term deprivation, impoverishment and environmental damage if appropriate measures are not carefully planned and implemented.

The World Bank was the first multilateral lending agency to adopt a resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy.

Address resettlement issues beyond hydroelectric and irrigation projects for all types of investment operations. Emphasizes the need to:

• minimize involuntary resettlement;
• provide funds to people displaced by a project to improve, or at least restore, their former standard of living, earning capacity, and production levels;
• Involve both resettlers and hosts in resettlement activities;
• a time-bound resettlement plan; AND
• Principles of valuation and remuneration of land and other assets affected by the project.

A full EA is required when a project is likely to have significant adverse impacts that may be sensitive, irreversible and multifaceted. The impact is likely to be comprehensive, far-reaching, industry-wide, or precedent-setting. The impacts generally result from an essential part of the project and affect the area as a whole or an entire sector.

• dams and reservoirs; Forest production projects;
• Industrial plants (large) and commercial areas;
• irrigation, drainage and flood control (large scale);
• cleaning and leveling of land;
• mineral development (including oil and gas);
• port and port development;
• land reclamation and new land development;
• resettlement and all projects that may have a significant impact on people;
• river basin development;
• thermal and hydroelectric power development; AND
• Production, transport and use of pesticides or other dangerous and/or toxic materials.

The impacts are not as sensitive, numerous, severe or diverse as category A impacts; Corrective actions can be more easily designed. For many Category B projects, creating a mitigation plan is enough. Few category B projects would have a separate environmental report. Examples of category B projects are:

• Agricultural industry (small);
• electric transmission;
• aquaculture and mariculture;
• irrigation and drainage (small scale);
• Renewable energy;
• rural electrification;
• Turismo;
• Rural water supply and sanitation;
• watershed projects (management or rehabilitation); AND
• Rehabilitation, maintenance and modernization projects (on a small scale).

Category C projects do not normally require an environmental impact assessment or environmental analysis as the project is unlikely to have adverse impacts. Based on professional assessment, the project has negligible, negligible, or minimal environmental impact. Category C projects can be:

• Education,
• Family planning,
• Health,
• Food,
• institutional development,
• technical support and
• Most HR projects.

Social analysis is part of the EA process and resettlement is one of five issues that, where appropriate, must be explicitly addressed in an EA. The five themes are:

• involuntary resettlement,
• settlement of new lands,
• induced development,
• indigenous people,
• and cultural goods

The objective of the resettlement policy is to ensure that the population displaced by a project benefits. Involuntary resettlement is an integral part of project design and should be addressed from the earliest stages of project preparation, taking into account the following policy considerations:

• Involuntary resettlement should be avoided or minimized whenever possible, considering all viable alternative project designs. For example, realigning roads or lowering the height of dams can significantly reduce resettlement needs.
• When displacement is unavoidable, resettlement plans should be developed. All involuntary resettlement should be designed and implemented as development programmes, with resettlers provided with sufficient investment funds and opportunities to share the benefits of the project. Displaced persons must (i) be compensated for their losses at full replacement cost prior to actual removal; (ii) assisted in relocation and assisted at the resettlement site during the transition period; and (iii) assisted in their efforts to improve, or at least restore, their previous standards of living, earning capacity, and levels of production. Special attention must be paid to the needs of the poorest groups to be relocated.
• Community participation in resettlement planning and implementation should be encouraged. Appropriate patterns of social organization must be established, and the existing social and cultural facilities of resettlers and their hosts must be supported and utilized as much as possible.
• Resettlers must integrate socially and economically into host communities to minimize negative impacts on host communities. This integration can best be achieved through planned resettlement in areas favored by the project and through consultation with future hosts.
• Land, housing, infrastructure and other compensation must be made available to adversely affected populations, indigenous groups, ethnic minorities and pastoralists who may have beneficiary rights or customary rights to land or other resources used for the project. The lack of land titles by these groups should not be an obstacle to compensation.

Resettlement and major planners' schemes should be taken into account when preparing a resettlement plan. Depending on the magnitude of the displacement and other factors, the resettlement plan generally includes a statement of goals and guidelines, a summary, a budget, a schedule aligned with the physical works of the main investment project, and provisions for:

• organizational responsibilities;
• community participation and integration with the host population;
• socioeconomic survey;
• Legal framework;
• Alternative locations and options;
• Valuation and compensation for property losses;
• ownership, acquisition and transfer of real estate;
• access to education, employment and credit;
• housing, infrastructure and social services;
• protection and management of the environment; AND
• Schedule of execution, monitoring and evaluation.

The above is intended as an unauthorized, indicative discussion of the World Bank's involuntary resettlement policy. For more information, see the World Bank's Public Information Center or the Environmental Management for Energy Development site, supported by the World Bank and other sponsors.

Case studies:

The case study of a village affected by Indira Sagar Pariyojana

Indira Sagar Pariyojana (ISP) has been planned and built for decades. Work on the project has gained momentum in the past decade. Since then, construction has been turned on and off depending on the availability of funds. On April 24, 2002, an announcement was published in both Nai Duniya and Dainik Bhaskar1 stating that Jabgaon village would be inundated with water in the next monsoons due to the increased height of the dam. The town was told to evacuate the area by May 20, 2002. In March 2002, with the release of funds from the center to the Narmada Hydro Development Corporation, the decision was made to increase the height of the dam to 212m to June 2002. In fact, since October 2001, there has been a surge in Section 4 land acquisition ads in Hindi regional newspapers, which made it clear that the project would resume soon. Meanwhile, there were also reports in the press that the rehabilitation was lagging behind.

Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, who had been following the events in the history of the construction of this dam, decided to try to bring out the realities about the status of resettlement and rehabilitation of the villages affected by this project. It was assumed that the situation would be analyzed at 3 points in time: before the monsoon, the monsoon and after the monsoon. Consequently, 2 visits were made to this town: the first in the first week of May and the second in the third week of August. This year the monsoons were less than normal and therefore some farms were flooded, although the town was not flooded.

Uttaranchal Disaster Management

Uttaranchal's location and geographical features make it prone to minor changes. Therefore, any activity rejected by the mountain ecosystem triggers a disaster. You can't prevent disasters, but you can certainly take some steps to lessen their impact. When disasters cannot be avoided, the reduction of damage of any kind caused by disasters becomes the focus of disaster management policy. Development of the Uttaranchal Disaster Management Mechanism to reduce the impact of disasters, ie h Material damage and loss of life, as well as prompt and effective rescue, assistance and rehabilitation of victims.

The study shows that 83 villages in Uttaranchal need to be rehabilitated, but to date there is no resettlement and rehabilitation policy in Uttaranchal. In India, only three states, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, have a national resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy. Other states have issued government regulations or orders, sometimes for the entire industry, but more often for specific projects. The study is based on secondary data; However, sufficient care has been taken to consider all important factors in proposing the rehabilitation policy for the state of Uttaranchal. A disaster of rare magnitude requires a high level of government assistance for relocation and rehabilitation. A strong resettlement and rehabilitation policy helps the government to address the problem quickly and efficiently.