Professional Documents
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Social Impact Assessment in India - Sage - Spectrum
Social Impact Assessment in India - Sage - Spectrum
Assessment in
India
Le
t
Edi
A.K. Sinha
Ratika Thakur
Avanee Khatri
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Edited by
A.K. Sinha
Ratika Thakur
Avanee Khatri
Copyright © Dr. A. K. Sinha, Dr. Ratika Thakur, Dr. Avanee Khatri, 2023
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Typeset in 9.5/13 pt Century Schoolbook by Zaza Eunice, Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/978-93-5479-550-3
List of Abbreviationsxi
List of Figuresxv
List of Tablesxvii
Acknowledgementsxix
Introductionxxi
Contents vii
7 Towards Effective Mitigation Measures for Land
Acquisition through Participatory Social Impact
Assessment111
Sumit Mukherjee
8 Ethical Considerations in Social Impact Assessment
Studies of Land Acquisitions: Anthropological
Perspectives130
J. S. Sehrawat
Contents ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
List of Abbreviations xi
FGD focus group discussions
GMADA Greater Mohali Development Authority
GIS Geographic Information System
GPS Global Positioning System
HAL Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
HCWRD Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters
HFRS Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
IAIA International Association for Impact Assessment
ICSSR Indian Council of Social Science Research
IFC International Finance Corporation
INCAA Indian Confederation and Academy of
Anthropologists
IOCPGSIA Inter-organizational Committee on Principles and
Guidelines for Social Impact Assessment
ISIA Initial Social Impact Assessment
ISODATA Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique
KMML Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd
LAA Land Acquisition Act
LAR&R Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Act
LCA life cycle assessment
LIDAR light detection and ranging
LU livestock units
MBPY Madhu Babu Pension Yojana
MFP minor forest produce
MNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act
MPCE Monthly Per Capita Expenditure
MUAC mid-upper-arm circumference
MZI management zone index
NAD Naval Armament Depot
NCAD non-command areas development
NCDS Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development
Studies
List of Figures xv
LIST OF TABLES
Acknowledgements xix
the right questions guided us on coherence and content presenta-
tion of chapters and helped us improve quality and close research
gaps, where existed.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to each
individual, who put their sincere effort and spared precious time,
for every minute and big task, from the beginning till final stages
of compilation of this book.
Last but never least, we would like to thank the Almighty
with whose blessings everything is always possible.
Introduction xxi
Yale University, to understand social and environmental aspects
of investment projects and to highlight ethical responsibilities of
investors in infrastructural development. A year later, in 1969, the
US environmental policy Act, National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), introduced SIA as a legal requirement to capture posi-
tive and negative impacts of development, shifting its focus from
financial concerns to environmental challenges. While developed
countries (e.g., Canada, New Zealand, Australia and European
nations) swiftly accepted SIA legally in their administrative ruling,
developing countries followed the suit in the 1990s.
Since then, it has not only emerged as an important research
tool to analyse the impact of a development project on the lives
of people, but it is also viewed as a social method that attempts
to reduce conflicts by analysing concerns of affected population.
Legally, SIA is a mandate for various developmental sectors that
deal with the acquisition of land which includes hydropower plants,
mining and highways. It safeguards the rights of the project-
affected people and ensures equal representation from all, from
government to landowners to farmers and villagers, and minimal
rifts during land acquisition.
The vision to incorporate SIA in development projects was
intended to bring ecological, socio-cultural and economical sustain-
ability to promote community development and contribute to adap-
tive policies, programmes, plan and projects. A good SIA analyses
socio-cultural, economic and bio-physical impacts and involves a
wide range of subfields such as legal, political, psychological and
economical, with special attention to the vulnerable gender aspects
and economically weaker sections. In addition, one of the under-
lying facts is that the success and effectiveness of an SIA largely
depend upon its practitioners.
When we talk of practitioners, the role of a researcher
conducting an SIA remains highly significant. Though each SIA
study is area and case specific, there are common grounds such as
knowledge of effective research tools, sensitivity and ethics which
are expected to be followed in principle by any SIA practitioner
for a transparent study. SIA studies like most socio-cultural and
anthropological studies are people-centric, typically sensitive in
nature, involving intensive field-based exercise. SIA is built on local
Introduction xxiii
inclusive development, legal rights, etc. There was a special focus
on vulnerable groups, especially children, women, the elderly and
the ‘specially abled’, to give a holistic view on the current scenario of
SIA. The workshop enriched scholars and students on a new arena
that anthropology was being applied to and seemed to promise a
greater scope for the discipline in future.
Nevertheless, SIA remains an interdisciplinary practice,
and keeping in view the multidisciplinary approach to conduct SIA
and its implementation on the field, the book intends to address
SIA in India, holistically, with an interdisciplinary stance, with
majority contributions from experts in anthropology, development
studies, law and other eminent social sciences.
The objective of the book is to understand impacts of a devel-
opment project on a community, while also focusing on developing
skills and knowledge of researchers, students, academicians and
practitioners interested in development studies, by bringing forth
different field-based evidences across India. For readers’ conveni-
ence, the book is divided into three different parts as described in
the following.
Introduction xxv
unique challenges faced by Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
in environment-sensitive biospheres. Case studies form a mosaic
of experiences that collectively emerge as a wide picture of imple-
mentation of SIA in India. This part is one of the most important
sections highlighting ground realities and experiences of SIA.
This edited book intends to provide cultural, economic,
social, political and legal outlook to provide a holistic view on devel-
opment and land acquisition. The book will enrich the understand-
ing of important aspects of SIA such as methodological approaches
to conduct SIA, displacement and relocation of project-affected
families, and direct and indirect impacts on them, the role (moral
and financial) of funding agencies, methods of inclusive develop-
ment and legal rights, to give a holistic view of SIA.
ANTHROPOLOGY
IN SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT:
METHODOLOGICAL
AND THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVES
CHAPTER 1
IS SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT A
PANACEA?
R. Siva Prasad and Alok Kumar Pandey
INTRODUCTION
In the first place, why do we need SIA? SIA is used when any state
wants to take over the land of the people for the purposes of mining,
I
The concept of SIA was originated in the USA following the 1966
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (Freudenburg, 1986).
The NEPA established that all major land-use projects undertaken
by the US government were required to submit SIA on environmen-
tal, social and economic concerns; these were called Environmental
Impact Statements (EISs). These EISs evolved and expanded into
II
It is important to note that many new enactments were brought
in India, especially after 1991, to facilitate the ease of doing busi-
ness of development. The government felt that the new Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LAR&R) Act, 2013
also known as the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency
in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013
(RFCTLARRA) was needed to coax the poor tribal communities as
well as the rural poor to give up their control over their resources
and give consent to the authorities so that the ‘development conun-
drum’ can go on unhindered.
In India, we hardly had any national-level rehabilitation
and resettlement (R&R) policy or any Act until almost as late
as 2007. The LAR&R Act was amended only after the old Land
The proposed changes to the Act were more in favour of the parties
who were interested in exploiting the resources of the people for
the ‘economic growth’ of the nation. After all, it was in the ‘national
interest’. People living in the resource areas were a hindrance to
the ‘economic growth’. If anyone opposed, s/he was branded anti-
development and even anti-national. Many of the protestors were
labelled as such because the State had become intolerant to the
criticism. It was never interested to make the development more
human and inclusive.
The 2007 R&R policy, the 2013 LAR&R Act and 2006 Forest
Rights Act (The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006) were a result of
the resistance and agitations of the project affected people, indig-
enous communities and the civil society organisations (Prasad,
2014). The classical example is that of the World Bank refusing to
fund the Dam (Damn!) projects until the R&R process was com-
pleted ‘satisfactorily’ and the concurrence of the people impacted
by the development projects was obtained. This happened in the
case of Narmada Valley and later the other projects. Initially, for all
the dam projects that affected large sections of people, some kinds
of benchmark studies were carried out so that the ‘impact’ of the
project can be measured. We have many of the studies conducted
in India by anthropologists, economists and others, including the
country planners. All these studies are some kinds of impact assess-
ments, some being critical and pro-people and the others being
pro-project. Whatever may be the processes, the results are the
same that left the people to fend for themselves, even the courts
were on the side of ‘development’ using the principle of ‘eminent
domain’. The only exception to this is the Niyamgiri judgment of the
Supreme Court of India. This happened because of the continuous
protests of the people, supported by civil society organisations. In
other cases, such a positive outcome had never occurred, be they
in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, Sompeta in Andhra Pradesh or
anywhere else. The strong arm of the State always prevailed over
the meek power of the poor (Prasad, 2014). In a majority of cases,
the State and all its machinery turned against people who came in
III
Dominique Égré and Pierre Senécal rightly observed that whether
or not SIA will be effective hinges on a variety of factors ‘… such as
NGO pressures, the ability of local populations to voice their con-
cerns, the willingness of the developer and of government agencies
to support the measures proposed in the SIA, and the institutional
The benefits of development have been little for the tribal people.
In this regard, both the Xaxa Committee (2014) and Prasad (2015)
point out the impact of lopsided development on the tribal people
(Prasad, 2015; Xaxa, 2014):
REFERENCES
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Ecological Knowledge, Biodiversity, Resilience and Sustainability.
In Biodiversity Conservation, edited by C. A. Perrings et al., 269–
287. Dordrecht: Springer.
Burdge, Rabel J. 2003. Benefiting from the Practice of Social Impact
Assessment. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 21 (3):
225–229. https://doi.org/10.3152/147154603781766284.
Burdge, Rabel J. and Robert A. Robertson. 1990. Social Impact
Assessment and the Public Involvement Process. Environmental
Impact Assessment Review 10:81–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/
0195-9255(90)90008-N.
Cernea, Michael M. 1996. The Risks and Reconstruction Model for
Resettling Displaced Populations. Oxford: University Refugee
Studies Programme. University of Oxford.
Cernea, Michael M. 2003. For a New Economics of Resettlement: A
Sociological Critique of the Compensation Principle. International
Social Science Journal, no. 175, 1–27. https://cis.mit.edu/sites/
default/files/documents/Cernea_New_Economics-of_Resettlement_
ISSJ_2003.pdf
Cernea, Michael M. 2006. Re-examining ‘Displacement’: A Redefinition
of Concepts in Development and Conservation Policies. Social
Change 36 (1): 8–35.
Dwivedi, Ranjit. 1999. Displacement, Risks and Resistance: Local
Perceptions and Actions in the Sardar Sarovar. Development and
Change 30 (1): 43–78.
THE PRACTICE IN
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
An Anthropological Appraisal
P. Venkata Rao
The terms social and cultural are the key terms for social anthro-
pologists. When an anthropologist uses the word social, importance
is given to networks of relations between groups and individu-
als. Anthropological engagement with development followed two
distinct approaches, that is, Development Anthropology and
Anthropology of Development (Escobar, 1997). However, anthropo-
logical works on development in India have been carried out more
following the approach of ‘Development Anthropology’. Not many
studies could be found following the approach of ‘Anthropology of
Development’. There has been a conspicuous project bias in the
development studies by applied anthropologists in India. Though
Social Impact Assessment (SIA) has been an important part of the
subdiscipline of Development Anthropology, the present chapter
looks at SIA from the perspective of Anthropology of Development
of Escobar (1991) who pointed out that anthropological research
on developmental aspects is shaped up according to governmental
needs and official demands, at the expense of academic rigour and
self-critical awareness. In the context of SIA, identity, dignity and
status of people become essential considerations from an anthro-
pological perspective.
22 P. Venkata Rao
VARIED ARENAS OF SIA
In applied and development anthropology, SIA is the most common
form of research. Anthropology followed its characteristic approach
of holistic perspective in SIA. SIA is undertaken by generations of
anthropologists under various labels, diverse settings, and differ-
ent contexts. It is carried out not only in the context of develop-
ment projects but in many other circumstances of change. The
traditional anthropological interest to understand social change
and culture change can be seen in the assessment of the impact
of various external and internal factors on people. Thus, starting
from culture contact studies, the studies of anthropologists focused
on the consequences of various forces and processes on the social
institutions. SIA is carried out to study the impact of culture con-
tact, government policies, occupational shift, urbanization, formal
education, mass media like television, gadgets like computers and
mobile phones, etc. The study of impact of forest policies, problems
related to poverty and exploitation leading to land alienation among
tribal populations has been another area where anthropologists
have made significant contribution. Anthropologists also brought
out the positive impacts of improvements in the areas of literacy
and health, growing awareness about rights, etc. among tribal
populations.
SIA studies have also been carried out in areas such as the
study of impact of drought, floods and other climatic changes. Such
studies highlighted the breakdown of social organization, decline of
traditional systems of sharing and caring, and neglect of values by
taking recourse to the flexibility provided in the social institutions
under adverse conditions (Rao, 1974). In the area of health, social
impact of reproductive/medical technologies on poor and marginal-
ized sections of populations is receiving attention. The technologies
offered choice and freedom for rich in childbearing, gender selection
of babies and so on. Specialized medical care in the corporate sector
is available for the rich, whereas free healthcare and insurance are
the options available for the poor. The availability of medical tech-
nologies afforded best possibilities for rich, whereas we see organ
donors mostly belong to poorer sections and females. The drawing
and redrawing of national and regional administrative bounda-
ries have adverse impact on vulnerable population separated by
PRESENT-DAY SIA
As part of policy studies, applied anthropologists have been
involved in different types of studies such as needs assessment,
social/cultural feasibility studies, evaluation studies, advocacy
and cultural resource appraisal (Willigen, 1986). In the recent
decades, there has been the rising importance of SIA as it is man-
datory for government projects, especially where land acquisition,
displacement, rehabilitation and resettlement are involved. The
mandatory SIA done for governmental agencies, as prescribed
by policies and legislations, is different from SIA done for a long
time in academic anthropology. The focus on planned development
brought back SIA in the sharp focus in order to reduce adverse
impacts on project-affected people and to minimize resistance for
programmes. SIA mandated by the government’s rehabilitation
24 P. Venkata Rao
and resettlement (R&R) policy is meant for ensuring the rights
and participation of the people and facilitating the co-opting of
people for the smooth implementation of the project. The purpose
is to prepare the people for displacement and resettlement, to
obtaining their consent and to minimize opposition. Previously, it
was important to satisfy the requirements of international fund-
ing agencies. However, later it became mandatory under national
legislations. In this process, the establishment of the industry/
project is considered as development priority, and the mitigation
of the plight of the project-affected people is a prerequisite for
that. When a project is established in a given area, some people
are real gainers and others may be losers. It is crucial here to
understand how the loss, that is, physical, social or psychologi-
cal, is calculated for the affected people. SIA followed by R&R
assessments appears as a supporting measure for the affected.
For a concerned anthropologist, the issues involved in SIA are as
follows: How to ensure the participation of the people? How to
undertake capacity building for people to withstand the adverse
impacts? Who are going to use the findings of SIA? Most of the
time, the research institutes, non-governmental organizations
and consultants who conduct the SIA studies work on a project
mode. They have no role in monitoring the implementation of their
recommendations. Generally, their role ends once they submit
their report to the authorities.
26 P. Venkata Rao
In this context, it is pertinent to see the contents of the
module (draft) on carrying out SIA, prepared by a team of anthro-
pologists of Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), Kolkata. The
AnSI module on SIA listed out the following activities: identify
the stakeholders; expedite and organize their involvement; give a
vivid account of the local cultural milieu and develop an apprecia-
tion of the important values of the people, particularly how they
are relevant to the proposed intervention; assist in evaluating and
selecting alternatives (including a no development option); provide
recommendations about compensation; develop coping strategies
for dealing with remaining or non-mitigatable impacts; contribute
to capacity building in the community; and advise on appropriate
management arrangements for all stakeholders.
The draft manual also elaborately discussed the principles
and guidelines for SIA along with the steps and stages of SIA. Based
on the suggestions of the international funding agencies, the R&R
costs are worked out to be between 3% and 10% of the total project
costs. A question arises here: Why the R&R costs cannot be calcu-
lated from the project benefits? This could have been a pro-people
measure from an anthropological perspective, resulting in better
benefits to the people.
The draft manual of AnSI (a module prepared by the AnSI,
Kolkata) identifies two phases in an SIA as outlined below:
These advantages listed by the AnSI draft are drawn more from the
point of view of administrators. The CSIA appears to be focusing
more on economic aspects. For an anthropologist, the collection of
28 P. Venkata Rao
the rehabilitation package without any dissatisfaction. The policy
discussed in detail about those who are going to be affected and
the administrative machinery to deal with them. Suggested relief
and rehabilitation measures included the allotment of house site,
construction grant, allotment of government land, grant for cattle
shed, funding for transporting material, wages for different cat-
egories of displaced for different periods and provision for transit
accommodation (Government of Andhra Pradesh, 2005).
The AP government policy (2005) provides for dispute and
grievance redressal mechanisms in the form of a committee with
various representatives. The members of the Resettlement &
Rehabilitation Committee include representatives from various
walks of public life, administration, peoples representatives, etc.
There is also a provision for monitoring committees at the state
level with all government secretaries and other lower-level officers.
Under – 6-A 9 (2.2) of the policy of the AP government (2005), SIA
needs to be taken up as per the prescribed procedure and structure
considering various possible options. SIA has to be entrusted to
an accredited organization. Paragraph 6-A (2.2) also prescribes in
detail to take into account the impact of the project on all public
assets, infrastructure, amenities, facilities, transport and commu-
nication means, traditionally important places, etc. (Government
of Andhra Pradesh, 2005).
The AP government R&R policy elaborately spells out the
specific measures to be taken up in the course of SIA. The policy is a
well-drafted document, keeping in mind the requirements of people
and the affected villages where land acquisition is undertaken.
However, it did not seriously address the widespread consequences
of the project for the people in hinterlands. In the context of poli-
cies and legislations, one needs to keep in mind that the polices are
guidelines that need operationalization through framing relevant
rules. To what extent they are binding on implementing authori-
ties is the question to be examined. The functioning of monitoring
mechanisms becomes crucial for the proper implementation of poli-
cies. As we can see later, the SIA reports are adopted as per conveni-
ence, the public hearings are politicized, and consent is obtained
through various means. Compensation has been a bone of conten-
tion in many displacement projects. Compensation is invariably
30 P. Venkata Rao
agricultural implements. Later, in the case of the Tungabhadra
dam project, executed in 1947 by the then administration of Madras
Presidency, resettlement was taken up prior to the commencement
of the dam project. All cultivators and renters were allotted land
in the command region. The professed dictum of the project is that
living conditions are to be better for the displaced. According to
N. S. Reddy (2016), while previous projects had a reasonably good
rehabilitation package for the affected persons, dilution started
from the Nagarjuna Sagar project (1957–1969) onwards, where
landowners were compensated with lands in diminishing ratios.
Later, for the Sri Rama Sagar project, the compensation provided
came down to 2 acres of irrigated land and 4 acres of un-irrigated
land, but in the second phase, under the Government Order No.
59 (19 March 1980), only cash compensation was provided. This
compensation pattern was followed in the later Srisailam project.
Here, the actual compensation received by big farmers was 65%,
whereas the landless could get only 5.6% of the entitled compen-
sation, showing the disparities between rich and poor. Later, in
the Manair dam project, no compensation was paid to landless
persons. A study conducted in 1988–1989 showed that 61% of the
entitled did not get the compensation, whereas 39% received partial
compensation. The Telugu Ganga project (1980) was said to be an
exception. Reddy (2006) pointed out the negative attitude of the
AP state government as late as in 1990, in response to the norms
of the 1995 approach paper on resettling project-affected persons
and circulated from the union rural development ministry. The
response of the AP state government was as follows: (a) they do
not accept the recommendation to provide land for land taken away
for the project, (b) they will not be part of purchase of lands by the
displaced people, (c) they will be able to pay subsistence allowance
for six months only and (d) the government does not favour prefer-
ential treatment to displaced persons in providing jobs or assigning
shops and contracts (Reddy, 2006: 1432).
The paper published by Reddy (2006) also presented several
revealing insights with respect to the implementation of reports
submitted by the experts. In the Polavaram project, initially the
rehabilitation and compensation package was promised to be
decided in consultation with concerned people. The Environmental
Impact Statement was to be prepared by an independent agency
32 P. Venkata Rao
cultivation. Substandard houses were constructed to the displaced
persons due to the greedy contractors. People displaced were again
shifted due to further submergence, leading to resentment among
people. The recommendation to count youth aged above 18 years
as an independent unit for the determination of compensation
was not implemented. Male preference was observed in payment
of compensation. Compensation was given to patta land only, and
no compensation was given for forest land under cultivation or
government waste lands under cultivation. This was a major loss
to tribals. Land given was not promptly handed over or shown to
the recipients. On the other hand, huge compensation was given
to non-tribals, who were not rightfully supposed to be cultivating
land in the scheduled area. An enquiry has been instituted in this
matter. Though model colonies were constructed with all amenities,
the conditions in colonies remained pathetic due to the lack of live-
lihood opportunities. As a result, people went back to the original
place. It is reported that dead bodies were taken back 18 km for
cremation in old villages. The ration depot which supplied essential
requirements was situated at a distance of 20 km. Only one tap was
found working in the colony for providing drinking water. These
descriptions provided by Trinatha Rao (2012) reveal several lacunas
in the implementation of the rehabilitation programme.
After giving the national status to the Polavaram project,
the Union Cabinet approved the establishment of the Polavaram
Project Authority, where the central government would provide
financial allocations and facilitate forest and environmental
clearances. In this context, it is also pertinent to observe a com-
prehensive report on tribal issues, the Report of the High Level
Committee on Socio-economic, Health and Educational Status
of Tribal Communities of India (popularly known as the Xaxa
Committee Report) (Xaxa, 2014.). The report made the following
observations with regard to the same Polavaram project: (a) there
were variations between census records, environmental impact
assessments and other reports with regard to the number of villages
and people expected to be affected and (b) the resolutions passed
by local bodies of different villages against the dam were ignored,
along with the resolutions of villagers rejecting the rehabilitation
package. They documented instances of officials ignoring, sup-
pressing and manipulating the resolutions of the Grama Sabhas.
CONCLUSION
Applied and development anthropologists played a significant role
in understanding the social impact of developmental programmes in
tribal areas. They highlighted how the non-tribal encroachment in
tribal areas in pursuit of natural resources like forest produce and
minerals resulted in far-reaching social impacts on tribal popula-
tions. The quest for national development resulted in the establish-
ment of hydroelectric projects, mining complexes and industrial
centres, biodiversity parks, etc., putting pressure on forest and
tribal lands. Roads and railway tracks have been laid in these areas
for transporting the mineral resources. Hydroelectric projects and
industrial complexes displaced a large number of tribals. Land
acquisition made by the government for developmental projects
is the single largest instrument of alienation of tribal lands. It is
easier to shift tribal people than non-tribal peasants as the latter
have more awareness about rights and they possess legal docu-
ments. Many tribals who are original inhabitants of forest areas
have been labelled as ‘illegal cultivators’ and encroachers in forest
and government lands without any rights or pattas. Land records
are a problem in tribal areas for claiming and paying compensation.
34 P. Venkata Rao
Rehabilitation of displaced populations has always been remained
as a problematic area for administrators. The development of
project sites attracts migrants in search of opportunities, leading
to further displacement of tribals. Economic, psycho-social and
cultural issues are involved in the displacement and rehabilitation
of tribal population.
In the wake of development projects, experience suggests
that the local tribals derived negligible benefits from the significant
economic activity generated by such projects. The process of set-
tling those who have lost their lands under irrigation and power
projects presents a daunting task. Until the enactment of recent
legislations, the ousted were paid inadequate compensation, and
alternate cultivable lands were not provided to them. It is common
knowledge that the compensation paid to poor people generally goes
towards unproductive expenditure. Many of the SIA studies do not
reflect the magnitude of the predicament of the tribals under the
impact of these projects. The people in the hinterland are equally
affected due to pressure on existing resources and with large-scale
in-migration of non-tribals coming in search of opportunities.
SIA has been the mainstay in applied anthropological
research. Considering these observations and experiences, an
attempt has to be made to provide more relevant training to the
students to effectively participate in SIA studies. There is an urgent
need to have a reconciliation of indigenous interests, especially in
the areas of protection of indigenous land and other resources and
empowerment of indigenous communities. Anthropology needs to
continue its focus on the study of tribal communities, the victims of
liberalization, that is, the poor cultivators, landless, the marginal-
ized and so on. There is a need to highlight the plight of the victims
such as people who have lost their resources due to displacement,
deforestation and ecological deterioration. As observed by Escobar
(1997: 2) ‘in the context of development, we should contribute
towards a better future of the people, at the same time to a pro-
gressive politics of cultural affirmation in the midst of globalizing
tendencies’. Anthropology should work towards a need to bring
back a people-centric SIA. This necessitates a re-examination of
government-mandated SIA and the role being played by anthro-
pology in it.
36 P. Venkata Rao
CHAPTER 3
AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL
CRITIQUE OF SOCIAL
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Moving Beyond Current Models of
Development
Abhik Ghosh
INTRODUCTION
Social impact assessment (SIA) may be defined as a form of
analysis used to strategically measure impacts on social conditions
and social outcomes for any new development as well as existing
development. This is done to better understand the effects of the
social group who will be affected by such development. In other
words, it is conducted where social change is likely to be caused
by development.
In 1999, Vanclay defined SIA as
38 Abhik Ghosh
of a current or proposed actions, which are related to individuals,
organisations and social macro-systems’ (Becker, 2001: 312).
In 1993–1994, a document on Guidelines and Principles for
Social Impact Assessment was presented. However, in 2003, two
major documents were published. The first was the International
Principles for Social Impact Assessment and the second was the
Principles and Guidelines for Social Impact Assessment in the
USA. In the second case, it was Vanclay who was responsible for
the preparation of the entire document.
Initially, SIA was meant to protect individual rights in
the face of development. However, it was to develop into a system
to ensure that it upholds ethical values such as the protection of
human rights, improvement in social equity, institutional capacity
building, empowerment and social inclusion. Most developed coun-
tries took it up after institutions for funding such as the World Bank
and the Asian Development Bank made it mandatory. However,
these countries used it as a kind of ‘window dressing’ to satisfy
funding agencies rather than making it an integral part of policy
and planning processes. Experiences from China show that the
process of SIA itself and its implementation need not necessarily
lead to a more inclusive or democratic process (Tang et al., 2008).
In the 1980s, the environmental movements in the United
States and other developed countries ensured the proper function-
ing and improvement of the environmental impact assessment
(EIA), SIA and other assessments, including health, gender, educa-
tion and inequality. This ensured that assessments became a part
of policy, planning and sustainable development. These issues were
specifically linked to environmental justice. What has become clear
from such assessments is that SIA and its process regarding the
clarification of inequalities need not necessarily stop them. Rather,
they may form a medium for perpetuating them and creating or
sustaining groups or cliques that support such inequalities or create
them (Walker, 2010).
Most governments even today do not comprehend that
SIA may be used to understand, say, a new health system to be
introduced to the Maoris (or other indigenous communities), and
the effect it would have on their indigenous systems as well as
general aspects of social change in the community (Burdge and
40 Abhik Ghosh
abeyance or are forgotten, and I feel that they should be brought
back. This is why perhaps LCA has made a resurgence, using the
Preston pathway to assess not only multi-country data but also
data from a single country.
LCA eventually specialised in a form called environmental
LCA or Environmental Life Cycle Assessment. To account for
the other community aspects left out due to this specialisation, a
number of discussions were happening which called for a social
LCA (SLCA) to be conducted, and many such assessments were
conducted. Jorgensen et al. (2008) put together these discussions in
a review paper in 2008, where the methodology for such an assess-
ment was also laid out (Jorgensen et al., 2008).
O’Faircheallaigh (2009) had worked on SIA for develop-
ment programmes among the aborigines in Australia. According
to the author, ‘effective SIA’, a contentious term, was only possible
when all the actors and beneficiaries were brought to the same set
of conclusions as a ‘good’ outcome. This was often not possible in
many cases, something seen in the SIA even today. It was also a
fact that for different actors, different outcomes seemed to be the
right solution, and the SIA workers were often seen to be working
their way to the conclusion which had already been thought out
by some actors.
In 2001, Burnett had put together an SIA on joint junior
sports between Australia and South Africa which should bring
the benefits of the programme with respect to poverty, nutrition,
development issues and other aspects of sports (Burnett, 2001).
Again, in 2001, Mittelmark had started a new kind of
discussion where he had proposed that a separate health impact
assessment with deep inputs from the community was required
urgently (Mittelmark, 2001). This was, to a large extent, a part of
the community and cultural issue covered under the SIA as envis-
aged by Vanclay.
Some of the things that need to be studied were clarified
by Vanclay and colleagues in a large list in 2000 (Vanclay et al.,
2000). Vanclay (1999a) had by then already put together a more
exhaustive list of possible impacts on the ‘soft’ sectors of society like
community and culture. Vanclay not only created the definitions
and objectives for the development of SIA which are still being
42 Abhik Ghosh
but also to show how it was historically inducted into India and
managed to develop within the country.
44 Abhik Ghosh
pressure to write a minimal report that satisfies all without going
into too much detail. There is much politics behind all these issues.
The trouble is that the government itself is seemingly
unethical about the conducting of SIA. In India, SIA is conducted
through the contractor/agency of the development programme
(whether public or private) who funds the programme. The fund-
ing agency, development contractor/agency and the carrying out of
the SIA are not separated. There were no ‘double blind’ reviewers.
Everything was public.
This creates pressure from vested interests. Our personal
experiences have shown that they impinge upon our carrying out
our work ethically and without interference. Performance, time
and other issues intrude, as if they are more important than the
SIA report itself.
Some of the stakeholders are also extremely suspicious of
the kind of development proposed. Some feel that other kinds of
development should have been thought about or more compen-
sation be given to counter this kind of development. In fact, for
some people, any form of development should not be hurried but
be carefully thought through. Forced acquisition would be like a
red rag to such people. Others felt that their own interests and
income were being permanently lost as a result of the acquisition.
Sadly, this last issue was sometimes true, leading people to look
for alternative sources of income, something not envisaged by the
SIA. These problems are compounded by the fact that the develop-
ment programmes are not thought out well, in a holistic manner.
Governments often think only of the ‘project’ in the business sense
as something from which benefits are to accrue only after comple-
tion. Such benefits would include employment, utilisation of funds,
creation of infrastructure and some fuzzier future benefits.
For political parties, this activity translates into votes.
Under this proposed scenario, then, development is divorced from
those whose lands are being taken, except in the most peripheral
manner.
Development is not internal. It happens from outside. The
benefits are of the ‘take it or leave it’ variety. According to the pre-
sent Act, any other input by the project-affected people is fed into
a large calculator to see if the compensation amount increases or
46 Abhik Ghosh
It must be noted that there are essentially two kinds of
ways by which an SIA may be conducted. In one method, the expert
assesses things and then proceeds to show how they are linked to
the conditions in the area through the collection of systematic data.
This means that in this system, the expert is the sole person whose
objectivity, methodology and data are to be trusted. Another method
is to create a set of tools through which the data are collected and
analysed to clearly show what is happening. The problem here is
that, in each case, a new set of tools would have to be redesigned
in consultation with the people. Then these indicators would need
to be validated by experts, using a kind of web Delphi system
(Cloquell-Ballester et al., 2006).
Hence, we should know that: we should not buckle under
pressure from financial vested interests. We must insist on our
anthropological ethical standards in dealing with the funding
agency. We should not compromise in the essence of what we are
recommending.
This is now being called social learning. Some authors
are claiming a new paradigm based on this which is called coop-
erative discourse, group learning or social learning. According
to this process, this is a process to involve public participation
in democratic processes like SIA. To this are added the aspects
of fairness and competence, where expert opinion is assessed or
argued in public through their participation. It is also in tandem
with democratic processes since fairness in choices or decision-
making is involved in the final outcome of the project. A coopera-
tive discourse is only possible with an openness about looking
at the problem through the idea that others can give valid sug-
gestions relating to it. Such a situation may only develop with
a building up of trust between the various actors as well as the
experts (Webler et al., 1995).
Planning theories and other methodological issues need to
be added to SIA work for a better assessment of future impacts.
This is especially true in the context of composite theories which
are not being used in SIA. This includes theories such as ration-
alism, pragmatism, socio-ecological idealism, political–economic
mobilisation and communications and collaborations, among others
(Lawrence, 2000).
48 Abhik Ghosh
and which point would be right for a negotiation. Since concessions
would need to be escalated in different contexts, flexibility needs
to be an important factor. SIA cannot be compared with public
participation, since the emphasis is on management and mitigation
of impacts rather than on consultations. The mass media has to be
included as a major stakeholder in all such situations, for obvious
reasons (Prenzel and Vanclay, 2014).
For many SIA is like a model law and nothing is wrong
with it (Jain Das, 2019). However, it cannot be denied that in the
Indian context, SIA is something that is seen as ‘an impediment
to development’ and irritatingly has to be completed before ‘the
real work can begin’. Many of those who conducted SIA said these
things to the researchers and kept harassing them about ‘the delay
to their real work’. SIA was considered as a fraction of the real
work to be undertaken, and since multiple agencies vied for such
projects, contracts were soon given to those agencies ‘that could be
trusted to spend less money and time in giving a favourable report’.
Vanclay (1999b, 1999c) has also suggested that one should avoid
cash payments, something that is universal in the Indian context.
Hence, suggestions from an SIA are seen in a very nega-
tive light by the local administration and the developing/funding
agency. They are seen as not being part of major plans and policy.
The people are seen as being ‘led’ or having a wrong impression of
the entire process which was beyond their ability to correct through
giving correct information. This was seen to be the attitude of many
on whose lands development was going to take place, regarding the
local administrators. So, information from the public was almost
never added on to plans and policies which were mostly seen to be
top-down or aided by regional business interests. Instead of look-
ing at local impacts, the stress is often to look beyond to ‘a larger
picture’ and ‘a national interest’. This often misses out genuine
personal or community concerns. Sustainability has definitely
never been a major concern for most of the projects seen so far. In
fact, Brouwer and van Ek (2004) have asserted that the weightages
placed on the various factors that may have an impact are based
on a series of negotiations and political actions.
Pollnac et al. (2006) took up the issue of SIA for fisheries.
They put together the basic concepts to be studied in any standard
50 Abhik Ghosh
We are often accompanied in the field by other ‘observers’ in
an SIA. Maybe some of us should shake off these observers and talk
to people without having them around. We should not deviate from
our ambit as anthropologists and attempt to collect as complete a
data record as is advised by the AnSI document on SIA.
We should push to get a certification so that fly-by-night
operators and incompetent people do not get to do SIA. A lot of SIA
reports consist of a few pages of description without any detailed
data. This is what is often accepted by funding agencies and vested
interests.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the facilities extended to me through the
Department of Anthropology, Panjab University during the writ-
ing of this chapter. This includes the Department of Science &
Technology’s Promotion of University Research and Scientific
Excellence grant and the University Grant Commission’s
Centre of Advanced Studay-2 grant for the development of the
department.
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54 Abhik Ghosh
CHAPTER 4
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT OF
DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS IN ODISHA
A Humanistic Approach
Prasanna K. Nayak
OVERVIEW
The role of social scientists, especially social anthropologists and
sociologists has been acknowledged significantly for conducting
social impact assessments (SIAs). This chapter attempts to situate
social anthropology in the context of development and discusses
its specialized role in conducting SIAs. It covers two empirically
studied cases, namely (a) impact of government-sponsored Dongria
Kondh Development Agency (DKDA) on the Dongria particularly
vulnerable tribal group and (b) impact of the Rengali Dam Project
on resettlers. The author reiterates the prospect of enriching SIA
(both pre- and post-settlement) by making it more effective and
people-centric in the tribal, rural and even urban spheres by empha-
sizing the anthropological approach.
INTRODUCTION
Technological progress and development have impacted the
lifestyles of the global population in several ways. The change
56 Prasanna K. Nayak
advocacy on behalf of the displaced groups and the development
planning of resettlement projects (Cernea, 1985; Scudder, 1985).
From this perspective, the author has studied involuntary reset-
tlement process and development attributed to the Rengali Dam
Project. Keeping in view the adaptability of anthropological prob-
lems of contemporary societies and cultures, emphasis is placed
on ‘tradition and development’ and ‘anthropology of the displaced’,
which involves the study of organizational behaviour of communi-
ties under conditions of forcible displacement and the emerging
patterns of their relations and interactions. Achieving goals of
sustainable development requires designing the research inroads
focusing on humane values that a scientist applies in a general,
prescriptive approach. Such a humanistic approach is closely
connected, methodologically, with prominent socio-cultural con-
cerns. It focuses the researcher’s attention on the socio-economic
and ecological translators of prosperity through an appropriately
designed tool kit of observation. It would include parameters and
indicators such as ecological conditions, the natural environment,
opportunities for personal and professional development, levels
of education, interesting and socially significant jobs, health and
treatment-seeking behaviours, collaborative social atmosphere
and provision or access to housing. In view of the above, this sec-
tion is devoted to examining the research studies conducted by the
author on the DKDA (1975–1987) and on involuntary resettlement
and development conducted by the author (Nayak, 1986) with the
help of three researchers (two anthropologists and one economist)
and his students. His field experiences and empirical knowledge
gathered during the 1970s and 1980s will be highlighted.
58 Prasanna K. Nayak
A CASE STUDY OF THE DKDA
In 1964, the Odisha Government started the DKDA for launching
development programmes among the Dongria Kondh, a primitive
tribe of the state. Curbing exploitation by local traders and the
Domb (the Scheduled Caste neighbours of the Dongria Kondh)
and checking liquor vending in the hills were considered the car-
dinal measures for undertaking development activities among the
Dongria Kondh. It began with the setting up of the purchase and
sale fair price shops (PSFS) scheme through which the indigenous
produce of the Dongria Kondh (e.g., pineapples, oranges, bananas
and turmeric) was purchased by the Agency at a reasonable rate,
and daily necessities such as salt, kerosene, tobacco, match-
boxes and cheap garments were sold at a fair price. To make the
scheme more effective, 23 hill-top villages were selected by the
Development Agency and one PSFS shop was opened in the heart
of the Dongria Kondh area to cater to the needs of the people. One
senior, state-level officer was put in charge of the Agency as its
special officer. The officer himself evinced much interest in the
people, first, by being deeply impressed by the natural surround-
ings of the habitation (the picturesque Niyamgiri hills at 4,500 feet
with beautiful perennial streams) and the proud cultural heritage
of the people (the officer is a Gyanapitha awardee in Oriya litera-
ture). Second, he was genuinely impelled by the human pathors
and desired promoting their welfare sincerely. In four years
(1964–1968), the PSKS scheme had a positive impact. It promoted
awareness of the metric system of weights and measures among
the Dongria Kondh through the frequent direct transactions with
the government shop. The negative impacts, however, were mani-
fold. During the implementation of the scheme, the local traders
and Domb neighbours were not allowed to deal with the produce
of the Dongria Kondh. This condition was strictly imposed. All
types of family loans of the Dongria Kondh taken from the Domb
neighbours were repaid by the Agency. As a consequence, the Domb
felt estranged. The Agency singled out only the Dongria Kondh
for all the development activities and ignored the Domb. There
were rumours in the plains that the Domb would be removed from
the Niyamgiri hills. They were provoked to go on the path of dis-
sent against the Agency. They created chaos and dissatisfaction
60 Prasanna K. Nayak
reinstated in 1968. This increased the Domb population consider-
ably. Gradually, they captured the Dongria Kondh market. With the
emergence of the subplan concept, the DKDA was revived in 1975.
It functioned as a micro-project covering 52 villages, and a senior
research officer from the Harijan and Tribal Welfare Department
was deputed as the special officer of the Agency. He attempted to
pursue the plantation programmes in a few villages but failed to
win the confidence of the Dongria Kondh. Consequently, becoming
indifferent to their development, he continued on the job for three
years only. When the plantation target could not be achieved in
1978, the government deputed an agricultural scientist as a special
officer of the Agency to vigorously pursue the plantations growth.
The agriculture scientist, however, did not consider the people’s
involvement necessary and indiscriminately prepared plantation
plots in the areas adjoining the road to facilitate ease of monitor-
ing when he travelled on jeep and motorcycle (a bullet motorcycle
was purchased for supervising the work in the fields). The roadside
areas were located far away from the Dongria Kondh villages but
were preferred for plantation as higher officers could visit them
easily. Though his tenure lasted till 1982, the development activity
was unsuccessful.
During this period, the Domb traders became very active
because the officer used them instead of the Dongria Kondh and
therefore hindered their development. Working as an officer rather
than a development agent, he set a dangerous precedent. The
Dongria Kondh became scared of the officer and his Domb agents.
This unhealthy trend severely impacted the semblance of progress
made already. Their desperation is gauged from the fact that when
a house caught fire, the entire village of prosperous Dongria Kondh
tribals wanted to shift to another location. The intervention of a
Gandhian social worker working in the area since 1965 persuaded
them to stay.
In 1982, an enthusiastic young anthropologist of the Tribal
and Harijan Welfare Development was deputed to the area as the
special officer. Having worked in Bihar and the Andaman Islands
earlier, he set to work among the Dongria Kondh. However, higher
level government echelons intervened to transfer him to the state
headquarters in 1987. The techniques and methods adopted by
62 Prasanna K. Nayak
vital to the pursuit of development activities (Nayak, 1984). He
helped people get loans from the bank for paying bride price as
it facilitated the acquiring of their desired women. This measure
helped curb the traditional practice of the groom working in his
father-in-law’s house for 2–3 years when he could not pay the bride
price. This ploy benefitted both the landed and landless individu-
als among the Kondh. He observed that the Kondh continued to
be victims of the Domb. He decided to allow the Domb to procure
the products of the Kondh at a rate fixed by him. They could sell to
the society at a marketable price after keeping their own margin
of profit. This checked the monopolized, traditional yet exploitative
business transactions of the Domb with the Kondh. The village
schoolteachers, the welfare extension officer and the Agency were
instructed to be vigilant about surreptitious transactions between
the Kondh and the Domb. Any deviations were reported from time
to time to the special officer who put them to the village council
meeting, and the culprits were reprimanded publicly. This method
helped provide better solutions suitable to both the Kondh and the
Domb alike, and they were aware of the stringent consequences.
The delineation of the activities of the Development Agency,
its failures and successes conceptualize the pathways of develop-
ment with and without the incisive involvement of the primitive
tribal communities. The basic propositions are as follows:
The facts delineated and observations made so far are based on the
author’s sustained field experiences (1975–1987) among the Dogria
Kondh. He visited 42 Dongria villages of the Niyamgiri hills for
his doctoral research and learnt about the impact of development
measures taken up by the DKDA.
64 Prasanna K. Nayak
was given with no rehabilitation facilities. Some important public
institutions that were submerged were as follows:
1. High schools: 6
2. M.E. schools: 20
3. Primary schools: 88
4. Public health centres: 2
5. Recognized temples: 11
6. Police station: 1.
The balance 2,499 families opted for cash in lieu of land (Office of
the Superintending Engineer, 1986). The displaced persons who
were resettled in villages were provided 0.5 acres of homestead
1. Inadequate land.
2. Inavailability of skilled or semi-skilled labour and adoption of
variant cultivation practices.
66 Prasanna K. Nayak
some of the plots, big trees had been cut down, but the stumps have
not been removed. Removing stumps, stones and morrums (debris)
from the fields was an exhaustive, time-consuming exercise. Large
part of the land had not been levelled and properly reclaimed. Lands
allotted in the foothills had large trees and undergrown and could
not be used. This is the reason why most households had not cul-
tivated the land. In the six villages under an intensive household
survey, it was found that only 59.3% of the allotted land was made
cultivable by the people. The quality of soil was poor having low
fertility. The per acre yield was abysmally low, with 1.84 quintals
against 5.72 quintals in the old villages. The geographical condi-
tions were not congenial to growing cereals like pulses. Except for
a small number of villages, adequate irrigation was not effective till
August 1986. In such conditions, farmers could ill afford to adopt
high-yielding variety seeds to say nothing of scientific cultivation.
The once self-sufficient farmers were poverty-stricken. Multiple
cropping was common in the old villages. In the newly allotted
land, the disadvantages were insurmountable. The land could not
be ploughed because of untamed forest growth, prohibitive reclama-
tion costs, improper irrigation and the persistent threat of torrential
rains in the rainy season which caused unmitigated soil erosion.
An important change was observed in the cultivation of
paddy. Currently, Guda Dhan (short-term paddy of the upland
variety) having a yield of less than 50% is being adopted which
was not cultivated commonly in the old villages. Many families
were now living below the poverty line (Acharya and Das, 1986).
Earlier the people cultivated major cereals and pulses, many types
of vegetables, oil seeds, tobacco and other cash crops for their own
consumption. In the new settlements, they attempted to resume
their old cropping patterns, but these failed to comply with the
changed geographical conditions. The varieties of crops earlier
were mostly for their own consumption as also for some commercial
purposes, but these varieties could not be grown to supplement the
economy of the resettlers. The landholders and the landless, the
rich and poor had all been equalized in terms of the allotment of
land. In the old village system, the labour was being employed on
annual, biennial and triennial contracts and were paid in kind. This
practice was no longer viable in the new settlements. Employing
68 Prasanna K. Nayak
from the submerged area’. It is this low estimation of the social
status of the oustees by the neighbours that makes getting brides
for their boys a large problem. They are also distressed that getting
grooms for their daughters is costing them much more because of
the onset of a new trend of heavy demand for dowry, earlier the
fathers of brides used to demand the bride price from the grooms
to allow the marriage.
A trend of village endogamy confined to the resettlement
villages only has developed now. The earlier inhabitants have been
dispersed far and wide and are living in small groups in hamlet-
like structures. These villages form the nucleus of a host of other
villages. Thus, the ‘unity and extension’ that permeated to the
inter-village level was lost post resettlement. They could not foster
a spirit of welfare and development for the ‘whole’ and hence led
to the inaction.
The village leadership has also become defunct now. Earlier,
it was a prominent part of village life, especially for taking major
decisions and supervising cultural and religious ceremonies.
70 Prasanna K. Nayak
renovating their land. Only 59.3% of the land has been brought
under single crop cultivation, while the rest remains untouched.
This land has comparatively low fertility value and is still being
developed. Agricultural work has not been resumed yet. Without
understanding their socio-cultural constraints, the settler families
are being castigated as being lethargic and indolent. It would have
been appropriate to impart expertise of a team of agricultural
scientists, soil analysts and environmental scientists (anthropolo-
gists included) for some hand holding till the resumption of normal
agricultural activities by the new settlements.
EPILOGUE
It may be reiterated that limited employment of anthropologists in
development planning and programmes has been a major lacuna.
The inputs of anthropologists are essential to planned develop-
ment and change. From being ‘students of change’ to being ‘agents
of change’ vested interests have little consideration for preserving
traditional structures of tribal societies. The onus of responsibility
rests on the anthropologist committed to ‘gradualism’ for introduc-
ing change, especially among indigenous societies. This fallacy of
non-functionality needs to be dispelled (Mathur, 1977: 12). This
has been made clear in the case study of the DKDA. An academic
discourse on traditions and development is not only held to be
beneficial for development agencies but it is also determined to
pursue development activities positively to establish the relevance
of anthropology in national development.
S. C. Dube (1981) is hopeful that development can be
achieved along the traditions of societies and cultures and warns
about the utilization of traditions carefully. Bad performance on
the development front cannot be blamed on tradition alone. Poor
planning and indifferent implementation are often the real causes
of failure. The trained development anthropologist has much to
contribute as tradition and development must be borne in mind
while pursuing development in the action field (Dube, 1981: 299).
Finally, it may be said that for successful implementation of
development projects in any sphere in any form and for achieving
the goals of development, SIAs are absolutely essential. Assessment
of the social, cultural, economic and environmental situations in
the project area is essential prior to undertaking development
programmes. It needs to be accorded priority when considering
the pros and cons of development measures and their impact on
people and their life while dealing with unexpected consequences.
The anthropologists’ engagement in SIA processes is, therefore, an
essential aspect of nation-building programmes being implemented
on a mega scale. But it must be tempered by indigenous wisdom at
the micro level of genesis and evaluation.
72 Prasanna K. Nayak
SUGGESTED READINGS
Acharyaa P. K. and M. Das. “Rehabilitation of people displaced due to
conduction of Rengali dam.” Proceedings of 53rd Annual Research
and Development, No. 148, New Delhi, 1986.
Behura, N. K. and P. K. Nayak. “Involuntary Displacement and the
Changing Frontiers of Kinship: A Study of Resettlement if Orissa,”
in Anthropological Approaches to Resettlement: Policy, Practice,
Theory, edited by Michael M. Cernea and S. Guggenheim. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 1993.
Cernea, Michael M. “Sociological Knowledge for Development
Projects,” in Putting People First: Sociological Variables in Rural
Development, edited by Michael M. Cernea. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press, 1985.
Dube, S. C., “Traditional Views of Change and Development,” in
Absolute Values and the Search for the Peace of Mankind, Vol. 1:
Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on the Unity of
Sciences. New York, NY: The International Cultural Foundation
Press, 1981.
Eddy, Elizabeth M. and William L. Partridge. Applied Anthropology in
America. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1978.
Government of Orissa, “Rengali Multipurpose Project: Revised
Estimate.” Bhubaneswar: Irrigation and Power Department,
Government of Odisha, 1977.
Madan, T. N. Culture and Development. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1983.
Mahapatra, L. K. “Testing the Risks and Reconstruction Model on
India’s Resettlement Experiences,” in The Economics of Involuntary
Resettlement: Questions and Challenges, edited by Michael
M. Cernea. Geneva: World Bank, 1985.
Mathur, H. M. (ed). Anthropology in the Development Process.
New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1977.
Mead, M. “The Evolving Ethics of Applied Anthropology,” in Applied
Anthropology in America, edited by Elizabeth M. Eddy and William
L. Patridge. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1978.
Nayak, P. K., “Foreseeable Problems of Displacement: A Study of the
Denizens of Indravati Dam Project,” in Proceedings of the Research
Seminar, Department of Anthropology, Utkal University, 1982.
Nayak, P. K., “Structure and Function of Clan Feud among the Dongria
Kondh,” PhD Dissertation, Utkal University, 1984.
Nayak, P. K., “Displaced Denizens of Rengali Dam Project: A Study
of Their Socio-Economic Conditions, Resettlement Problems
74 Prasanna K. Nayak
CHAPTER 5
SITUATING
ANTHROPOLOGY
IN SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
Methodological Considerations
Avanee Khatri, Ratika Thakur and A. K. Sinha
INTRODUCTION
Anthropology has emerged as a strong research discipline with
varied applications in all sectors and with its applied potential
being realised more than ever. Anthropologists all around the
globe have upgraded their research and skills to suit the needs
of contemporary times. In recent times, Business Anthropology
and Development Anthropology have been making their space in
academics and application.
Anthropology of development informally emerged in the
1960s with Clifford Geertz’s work on understanding changes in
agriculture in relation to technical challenges and land use in
Indonesia. Later, anthropology of development was applied and
expanded to the areas of ‘social development’ such as impact
evaluation and impact assessment (Lewis, 2005). In the evolution
of practical application of anthropology of development, social
impact assessment (SIA) emerged as one of the important methods
in applied anthropology (Figure 5.1).
Social Anthropology
Applied Anthropology/
Practice Anthropology
SIA
DEFINING SIA
Before any attempt is made to define SIA, it is best to acknowledge
the confusion which presently exists over attempts to classify any
‘type’ of applied anthropology. This confusion is the result of the
Public Policy
Applied work, by its very nature, reflects contemporary societal
concerns. Anthropologists were originally shown to have been
concerned with racial determinism, problems of British colonial
administration and the problems facing government during World
War II. Anthropology’s present involvement in policy-making is no
different—but for one exception: society (in the form of democratic
government) has institutionalised a role for social scientists in the
form of legislation requiring social science knowledge. In response,
social scientists are re-examining this role.
Anthropologists, on their part, recently have begun to exam-
ine the nature of ‘public policy’ (e.g., Chambers, 1985; Cochrane,
(Continued)
Policy imple- Measure what now are actual Same methods as step V.
mentation and impacts against established
monitoring set of evaluative criteria;
provide feedback to policy
makers; re-evaluate public
preferences; determine
needed revisions.
Land Culture
Housing
Risk/Hazard Assessment
CONCLUSION
SIA is being viewed as an integral part of development midst
the assumed hurdle it is perceived as. It is intended to max-
imise potential benefit with all stakeholders associated in the
process, the community and the government involved. The Right
to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, Section 4 clearly defines steps
to prepare SIA study and vigilantly defines the procedure to conduct
it. It includes and ensures maximum involvement of stakeholders,
importantly the gram panchayat and community for consultation
and consent. These steps intend to provide cost effectiveness in
the implementation of the project or, to put in other words, benefit
both sides of the coin, the community as well as the project devel-
opmental authorities.
While SIA is an effective step, the role of the practioner is a
catalyst in successful implementation of the same. SIA can reach its
full potential when it is conducted with ethics coupled with knowl-
edge and training of the practioner. Having established that, the
potential of SIA in developmental projects, especially in developing
countries, has just begun to unfold. Overcoming initial resistances
that regard SIA as an obstacle, it is evolving into a framework likely
to be accepted and even expanding with environmental and health
factors taken into consideration.
The challenge ahead is to make sure that the field of SIA
can deliver what it promises, and at the same time present a real-
istic picture of what the field of SIA can provide in the planning/
decision-making process (Burdge and Vanclay, 1994).
REFERENCES
Almy, Susan W. 1979. Anthropologist and development agencies.
American Anthropologist 79 (2): 280–292.
Andah, Bassey W. 1988. African Anthropology. Ibadan: Shaneson C.I.
Ltd.
SPATIAL ANALYSIS
IN GEOSPATIAL
TECHNOLOGY
FOR APPLIED
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
Kunal Kumar Das
OVERVIEW
Geospatial technology has developed over the past five decades to
form an important foundation for the multidisciplinary approach.
Throughout the preceding decades, the technology innovation has
constantly developed into a key solution provider. In future, robust
growth in geospatial technology for a range of different applica-
tions and services such as marketing applications, rapid transport
development and conservation planning, will bring in better safety
standards, natural hazard assessment and streamlining manage-
ment prioritization. Technology offers unprecedented opportunities
for a better understanding of the patterns of socio-economic change
over a long period of time. Data once gathered in various forms can
be combined suitably in the geographic information system domain
to provide quantitative and qualitative information to develop a
INTRODUCTION
Significant advances in the use of geospatial technology have been
made in both anthropology and archaeology. This versatile tool
comprising remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS)
and satellite navigation system creates maps, documents, analyses
and visualises present and past events in the geospatial domain,
thereby bringing together vast data from various sources and visu-
alising various Earth cultural features in the form of multimedia
interactive maps. GIS and spatial analysis are becoming increas-
ingly important in both academic and contract anthropology as tools
for organising and understanding diverse datasets.
There are many emerging areas in applied anthropology
where technologies such as GIS and spatial analysis can be used
judiciously and successfully by integrating methods adopted for
anthropological research purely for quantitative assessment and
spatial research design.
Geospatial Modelling
Grazing and browsing pressure assessment was carried out with
the input baseline information, namely the biotic index (forest
vegetation type map, village location, cow units and mobility of live-
stock), management zone index (MZI) (management map showing
core and buffer zones and village location) and topographic index
(drainage, road network, village location and slope map), taken
into account. Each thematic layer was partitioned into a buffer
using field observations and socio-economic survey. These layers
were indexed on a scale between 1 and 5 to be integrated in GIS.
An unbiased approach for assigning weight was adopted using the
Analytic Hierarchy Process for assigning Relative Importance of
Weight (RIW) developed by Saaty (1977, 1980) and knowledge of
experts for a structural yet relatively simple solution to decision-
making. After getting the resultant layers by assigning RIW, the
area was classified into four pressure zones, namely high, medium,
low and nil using the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis
Technique (ISODATA) clustering method.
Biotic Index
According to field observations, grasses and leaves of fodder spe-
cies are the sources for grazing. All domestic animals, namely cow,
buffalo, sheep, goats and camels graze inside the buffer zone as
well as in surrounding areas. One important observation is that
the grazing pressure is more critical in the monsoon period, that
is, from July to October. Based on interviews and the information
from the park staff, weights were assigned for favourable vegeta-
tion types for palatability. High RIW represents highly preferred
and low RIW mean less preferred by grazers.
Taking weights for buffering around villages for the proper
representation of the influence of the grazers, the total grazing
index was generated. A distance interval from minimum 1 km up
to 3 km was considered. According to the values of the index, the
villages were grouped and there upon buffering distances were
TGI was calculated for all villages, and the value of TGI shows the
relative importance of grazing. These values were grouped in the
five classes, and values from 1 to 3 km were assigned from the vil-
lages, where the maximum mobility of cattle was 3 km. Using this
method, a buffer map was generated.
Topographic Index
Apart from the slope, distances from road and water availability
that are important in the grazing paradigm, the layers are also
given the proper weights. The slope layer is prepared with the
help of the digital elevation model, and five classes were formed
according to the terrain complexity. Highest weight was assigned
to the slope class 0%–5% because of the high mobility of grazing
animals. Similarly, the road buffer index (RBI) and the drainage
buffer index (DBI) for five buffer classes were created with an
interval of 200 m up to a maximum distance of 1 km, and suitable
weights were assigned.
All six layers were prepared in the grid format having the
grid size 30 m in the GIS domain. The following equation was used
RESULTS
Cattle Grazing Pressure from Transect Survey
The results of cattle grazing pressure have been presented in
Table 6.1. It is observed that the frequency of occurrence of dung
piles was highest on the western side of the buffer zone (26%; n =
106), followed by east (24%; n = 160), north (15%; n = 110) and south
(12%; n = 140). The density of the cattle dung pile varied in all the
four areas. The frequency of occurrence of forest trails was maximum
in the western zone (65%) and least in the southern zone (29%). The
frequency of occurrence of cattle grazing signs was almost equal in
all four areas. Grass cover was again similar on all four sides, but
average grass height was maximum in the case of southern portion
(9.20 ± 1.64 cm) and least on the western side (6.08 ± l.20 cm).
Frequency of occur- 15 12 24 26
rence of dung pile
(%)
Density of dung 9.14 ± 1.20 8.70 ± 0.54 9.75 ± 0.51 10.26 ± 0.32
pile (no/m2) ± SD
Frequency of occur- 57 29 64 65
rence of trails (%)
Frequency of occur- 55 53 55 54
rence of grazing
signs
Average grass 6.68 ± 1.31 9.20 ± 1.64 7.31 ± 1.82 6.08 ± 1.20
height (cm) ± SD
Average grass 32 35 36 37
cover (%)
North 2 8 6 9 12 10 4 0
South 3 5 7 8 16 12 3 0
East 12 10 11 17 20 15 4 1
West 4 6 12 22 16 16 2 2
REFERENCES
Bao, C., Liu, W., Zhu, Y., Liu, W., Hu, J., Liang, Q., Cheng, Y., Wu, Y.,
Yu, R., Zhou, M., Shen, H., Chen, F., Tang, F., and Peng, Z., 2014,
The spatial analysis on hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in
Jiangsu Province, China based on Geographic Information System.
PLoS ONE, 9, e83848.
Berkmuller, K., and Mukherjee, S., 1989, Buffer zones in the service of
eco-development. Tiger Paper, July–September, pp. 12–19.
Berkmuller, K., Mukherjee, S.K., and Mishra, B.K., 1990, Grazing and
cutting pressures on Ranthambhore National Park, Rajasthan,
India. Environmental Conservation, 17, 135–140.
Dixon, J.A., and Sherman, P.B. (Eds.), 1991, Economics of Protected
Areas. A New Look at Benefits and Costs. London: Earthscan
Publications Ltd.
TOWARDS EFFECTIVE
MITIGATION
MEASURES FOR
LAND ACQUISITION
THROUGH
PARTICIPATORY SOCIAL
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Sumit Mukherjee*
Any policy, project, scheme, etc., meant for the development of the
people at large, in most cases in India, tend to exclude the landown-
ers and residents of the site from its benefits and fair compensation.
Hence, even the rehabilitation packages, if any, usually generate
more grievances and conflicts than amicable mitigation environ-
ment among the affected people.
Now after the final legislation of the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARRA, 2013) and making SIA
mandatory for all such projects, the most vital challenge for the
implementing authorities is to properly understand and assess the
* Formerly a member of the Committee for developing a manual for social impact
assessment by the Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata.
INTRODUCTION
It took more than a century (1894–2013) to bring ‘affected people’
at the centre of India’s Land Acquisition Act by pushing the gov-
ernment’s absolute power and discretion to the fringe by making
SIA mandatory. Much awaited RFCTLARRA (2013) has, at least
legally, narrowed down the scope of indiscriminate and aggressive
grabbing of land using the draconian ‘urgency’ clause. In fact the
five structurally strong pillars, holding up the interests and stake
of the landowners, in this new Act are consent, compensation, reset-
tlement, rehabilitation and downsizing the ‘eminent domain’, the
Governments’ power for land acquitting, are in favour of Indian
citizens holding and using land. Moreover, by putting the words
‘Right to’ and ‘Transparency’ in the title of the Act a vital initiative
is thought of to avoid controversies and doubts in accepting the SIA
vis-à-vis the new land acquisition process.
The phase of increasing doldrums in Indian land acquisition
history since turn of the new millennium, with a chain of violent
mass protests occurring all over India, stimulated the adminis-
trators, intellectuals and activists to address the issue in proper
perspectives. The Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) took its
For that matter, PRA provides scope for all involved to learn from
each other and stimulates self-propelled initiatives. This method-
ology permits the application of a set of tools and techniques that
allow the transformation of knowledge and shared experiences into
actions that are oriented towards economically justifiable, socially
acceptable and environmentally sound production system(s).
Visual PRA tools such as transects and maps provide a
sound qualitative picture of the situation relatively quickly. John
R. Campbell (Campbell, 2001, 383) has mentioned that PRA uses
visual techniques in-group interviews to explore aspects of the
social world that are amenable to diagramming or mapping. Thus,
EXPERIENCES IN AABR
AnSI of India accepted the request from the Bilaspur Forest
Division to undertake the SIA study on Resettlement of 24 core
villages of Achnakmar Amarkantak Biosphere Reserves (AABR),
Chhattisgarh in the buffer area forests during 2008–2009
(Figure 7.1). This involved developing an action plan for displace-
ment of forest villages within the buffer zone protected forest
areas outside the Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary, inhabited by
tribal communities like the Baiga, Gond, Oraon, Kawar, Kol and
Dhanwar along with several caste groups in the Bilaspur district.
There were a few Yadav/Ahir families currently residing in the vil-
lages not included as PAP in the list compiled by the forest depart-
ment for whom decision may be taken in a sympathetic manner in
fixing a cut-off year of in-migration. A group of research personnel,
trained in SIA study, completed the job utilising the facility of well-
equipped GIS application laboratory in the Survey.
were occupying the two parallel high lands along with two main
paths running northwest–southeast. The only Gond family, the
appointed teacher, stays west of the main road beyond the village
area. Similarly, Jadav houses are located on the southern border
[Figure 7.4(a)].
Mapping was also done to delineate the new site using
Google Earth base map to understand the terrain condition, amount
and direction of slope, drainage, density of vegetation cover, etc.
(Figure 7.5). This site map was an important and useful database
meant for developing the new village layout or in fact the socio-
economic and cultural landscape which resembles the original
village in agreement with the PAFs.
After the comprehensive database was created incorporat-
ing, overlaying and merging the information gathered using GIS,
PRA and other village- and household-level structured instru-
ments, as well as the opinions of the PAFs, a detailed RRAP was
formulated. The RRAP, thus developed, was the combined result
of participatory approach with much transparency in executing the
SIA process. The following RRAP was submitted to the implement-
ing authority, that is, the Bilaspur Forest Division and the AABR
administration.
REFERENCES
Abbot, Joanne, Robert Chambers, Christine Dunn, Trevor Harris,
Emmanuel Merode, Gina Porter, Janet Townsend and Daniel
Weiner. 1998. Participatory GIS: Opportunity or Oxymoron?
Participatory Learning & Action, PLA Notes, 3, 1–9. Available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238293890
ETHICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
IN SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
STUDIES OF LAND
ACQUISITIONS
Anthropological Perspectives
J. S. Sehrawat
130 J. S. Sehrawat
objectivity, safety and fairness all of which are targeted to garner
public sanctity. Every human participation necessitates the ethical
considerations for the welfare and moralities of research partici-
pants, their anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, voluntary
participation and privacy, avoiding biasness and ameliorating
damage. It is very important for the social investigators to have
deep knowledge about the basic ethical principles and updated
information about the policies around ethics and research so that
the research participants’ safety is guaranteed to find themselves
on the correct side of the law and ethical guidelines.
Social impact assessment (SIA) presents a good opportu-
nity to have in-depth ideas about the cross-cultural encounters/
inferences drawn from project-oriented development efforts into
broader procedures of engagements and negotiations in an attempt
to maintain balance in relationships between local communities,
project proponents and the stakeholders. SIA is a methodology to
review the social effects of infrastructure projects and other devel-
opment interventions. Although SIA is usually applied to planned
interventions, the same techniques can be used to evaluate the
social impact of unplanned events, for example, disasters, demo-
graphic change and epidemics. Social assessment studies demand
critical scrutiny of ethical considerations from social researchers for
sustainable outcomes of such studies while negotiating financial or
social agreements with the stakeholders. Ethical considerations in
SIA literature have paid lesser attention, merely emphasising the
outcomes of deliberated agreements and financial and employment
implications (Howitt, 2005).
All interested researchers must follow ethical practices, and
nobody should be immune to such unethical exercises. However, one
can hear about moral dilemmas and unethical behaviour by profes-
sionals on daily basis via print or mass media. Unethical practices
naturally draw much attention from the public and their confidence
in the profession is downsized with each such report. The ethical
considerations in social research are aimed at safeguarding against
the researcher encroaching on freedom of speech and the outcome
of the research (Lahman, 2017). Ethics guidelines remind the
social scientist about their obligation while conducting their work.
According to British Sociological Association (2017), ‘the guarantees
1 https://www.ukessays.com/essays/social-policy/ethical-considerations.
php?vref=1
132 J. S. Sehrawat
3. Delineate the time period within which the acquisition has to be
completed in order to make the entire process more expeditious.
134 J. S. Sehrawat
assessments. The professional anthropologists should be engaged
in entire consultancy process as participant observers to critically
examine the impact assessments as their non-engagement is con-
sidered intrinsically and inevitably unethical which can potentially
undermine an honest SIA process (Fisher, 2008). The government
agencies vying for land acquisitions often have their own choices for
projects to go ahead and there would be pressure to make recom-
mendations according to their preferences. Thus, transparency in
each and every step of SIA is of fundamental importance, and there
should be scope for public scrutiny and negotiation of outcomes
with the stakeholders, particularly the local people likely to be
displaced from such land acquisitions. Participatory approaches in
SIA studies have been advocated and tried in various contexts and
are sometimes explicitly built into the SIA process (Fisher, 2008).
Howitt (2005) strongly argued for the need of public scrutiny of
SIA reports and negotiations-based approaches. The opportunities
for negotiation are built into impact-assessment processes before
contracts are signed.
Vanclay et al. (2013) identified full observance of the 18
ethical research principles in SIA studies; the respect for research
participants (i.e., people) and ‘informed consent’ are now the
primary ethical principles. These principles of ethical research
involving humans are consistent with the values and best practice
expectations of SIA, but they are not widely known or observed in
the SIA studies field (Baines et al., 2013). The ethical principles
emancipated by Vanclay et al. (2013) need to be observed by SIA
professionals (anthropologists or other social scientists), and the
International Principles for Social Impact assessment should be
relevantly practised.
Social research ethics are deemed to apply to all research
that is about or with human beings. The ethical principles and
procedures should be applied in both government and private sector
research works (Vanclay et al., 2013). Ethical issues in professional
practice can be rarely answered simply as right or wrong (Guillemin
and Gillam, 2004). The recent rise in the recognition of human
rights issues in impact assessment, the increasing acknowledge-
ment of the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the concept of free,
prior and informed consent are definitely likely to influence the
136 J. S. Sehrawat
2. A high degree of trust should be cultivated without influenc-
ing the behaviours of participants, rather than being coerced,
bribed or misled. We know that rapport establishment is the
most crucial step in fieldwork studies in anthropology.
3. Investigator should provide a full disclosure of all important
information to the prospective participants which, in turn, are
necessary for informed decision to participate in an SIA project.
4. It should be considered whether the information provider
wishes to remain anonymous or receive recognition for his/her
inputs about benefits or ill-effects of proposed land acquisi-
tion as the same may add up to biasness in responses of other
respondents.
5. Greater emphasis should be given to the SIA processes and
procedures and their implications for sustainable outcomes in
SIA research.
6. Validity and credibility of information database so generated
should be shared with the participants to enable them dismiss
significant impairment of their lives and customary dangers to
their heritage status of landowners. There should be space for
dialogue and an exchange of experiences and ideas and fulfil-
ment of ethical responsibilities by all concerned and exemplary
conduct must be affirmed.
7. Practising ethics in assessment work should be taken as a
very significant goal of the organisations/agencies for ensuring
trust in their assessment tasks. Deliberations of good and bad
practices in the realistic assessment contexts and discussions
of ethical practices are excellent ways of promoting ethically
approvable practices in assessment.
8. The investigators should provide complete explanation of
the requite information to the prospective participants for
delivering a well-communicated decision to be a part of social
assessment studies.
9. The reputation of the research community/university should
not be jeopardised or should not spoil the opportunities for
further SIA studies.
10. ‘Bureaucratised’ ethical procedures should be discouraged at
all costs in social assessment studies. Unethical behaviour
138 J. S. Sehrawat
of acquisition to ensure that affected families may not face
more socio-economic hardships in future than compared
to the hardships faced prior to their land acquisition. The
SIA report should be clear and concise, written in the lan-
guage understandable to them in attempt to make it easily
accessible and understandable to all the affected ones. The
expert group must scrupulously and assiduously scrutinise
all facets presented in the SIA report. The acquisition agen-
cies should devise a mechanism to minimise the ecological
impacts of said acquisitions, losses and damages done to the
affected families and other adverse effects of the acquisition
on the stakeholders as well as local flora and fauna.
CONCLUSION
SIA is an integral part of land acquisition policy by Government of
India and it should be followed ethically in letter and spirit to avoid
any confusions and litigations at terminal stages of land acquisi-
tions. Anthropologists have in-depth knowledge of fieldwork stud-
ies and data generation in an ethical and objective manner. Policy
makers and state authorities should candidly declare all aspects of
a land acquisition to the landowners and other stakeholders in an
attempt to build their trust and win their confidence in the acqui-
sition system by the government; otherwise, it may result into a
futile exercise in the end executed at the cost of public exchequer.
REFERENCES
Alcock P, May M, Wright S, Haux, T. 2016. The Student’s Companion
to Social Policy. 5th edn. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Baines JT, Taylor CN, Vanclay F. 2013. Social impact assessment and
ethical research principles: Ethical professional practice in impact
assessment Part II. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 31
(4): 254–260, DOI: 10.1080/14615517.2013.850306
British Sociological Association. 2017. Statement of Ethical Practice.
Available at https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/24310/bsa_state-
ment_of_ethical_practice.pdf
Fisher R. 2008. Anthropologists and social impact assessment:
Negotiating the ethical minefield. The Asia Pacific Journal of
Anthropology 9 (3): 231–242, DOI: 10.1080/14442210802251670
140 J. S. Sehrawat
PART II
ANTHROPOLOGY
IN SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT: LEGAL
ASPECT
CHAPTER 9
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
SURVEY OF INDIA
AND SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
A Review
Abhijit Guha
INTRODUCTION
India is a land of diversity in terms of geology, geography, flora,
fauna and her people. When the British Empire colonized India,
it set to explore and understand the lives of people in the villages
and tribal areas. The British administration meticulously and
elaborately recorded customs, going forward with diversities (bio-
logical and cultural) of the Indian populations. Even with all this
information on colonial India, the British lawmakers moved ahead
with the formulation of the Land Acquisition Act in 1894 (LAA
1894), a rather uniform and common law, based on the principle
of eminent domain, which gave government the power to acquire
private property, with or without formal consent of the landowner,
for public purpose, offering compensation in return. Despite all
kinds of humane criticisms (including anthropological), this law was
applicable and remained valid until 2013. A few criticisms of the
new land included ambiguous public purpose, forced acquisitions
and no public involvement. One of the anthropological critiques was
Appropriate Government
I will now come to the definition of the ‘Appropriate Government’
as enunciated in the LAA 1894 and RFCTLARR, 2013 Act. Under
Subsection 3(e) of the LAA 1894 and Subsection 3(e) of RFCTLARR,
2013 Act, the expression ‘Appropriate Government’ means only
the central and state governments. Ironically, both laws did not
take into consideration the 73rd and 74th Amendment Act of
the Constitution which empowered the local self-governments to
function as an independent government. The issue of ‘Appropriate
Government’ is vital to any discussion on SIA as enunciated in
the RFCTLARR, 2013 Act. In Chapter II under Section 4 and
Subsection (1) of the Act entitled ‘Determination of Social Impact
and Public Purpose’, we read
Curiously, the new law of 2013, like the LAA 1894, does not
define local self-governments as ‘appropriate governments’ unlike
the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution.
A BASIC QUESTION
Now given these alarming lacunae in the RFCTLARR, 2013 Act,
let us raise a basic question. The question is: Why are the politi-
cal parties and their think tanks not raising the issue of the non-
recognition of the local self-government in the new law? This can
be well explained by the Nandigram example, where the locals
portrayed enough strength to prevent the creation of the special
economic zone ultimately leading to the stoppage of the project. The
fact that any opposition at the local level has a great potential to
reach the highest level of political masters, which might threaten
political and corporate interests at large, avoids the inclusion of
panchayats in the new law, beyond consultation.
Incidentally, in Nandigram, the panchayats have been won
over by the Trinamool Congress. But they have not been empowered
to act legally against future acquisition. Now, since the panchayats
do not have a strong legal recognition in land acquisition, all of
the land in Nandigram, for instance, is liable to be acquired. The
constitutional body, which is empowered to prepare plans for eco-
nomic development and social justice, will have no role under the
RFCTLARR, 2013 Act.
CONCLUSION
A critical reading of the RFCTLARR, 2013 Act reveals its serious
shortcomings as regards the urgency clause and failure to include
the Constitutional local self-governments in decision-making on
land acquisition. It is high time that the anthropologists and sociolo-
gists of the country come out of their academic shells of ‘pure and
theoretical research’ and converge their research inputs in unison
to convince the government to revise and redraft this law, which is
no less important than space and atomic research for the greater
interest of those citizens of our country.
JUDICIAL FAILURE ON
LAND ACQUISITION
FOR CORPORATIONS
Colin Gonsalves
INTRODUCTION
The research paper evaluates the Land Acquisition (Amendment)
Act, 1984 (LAA 1984), critically, questioning the Supreme Court
referring to some of the judgments made by it. It takes a critical
stance on ‘public purpose’ for land acquisition and provides cases
and judgments on the conflicting stance of ‘public purpose’ in the
LAA 1984. It states that with the 1984 amendment of the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894, the judiciary continued to allow farmland
to be acquired freely, with ‘public purpose’ being given the widest
possible scope. It further criticizes this stance to have promoted
private corporate interests, the state, in turn, becoming an estate
agent of the companies. This chapter focuses on land acquisition
under Part II for the state and its instrumentalities and agen-
cies and compares this with Part VII of the Act, which relates to
acquisition for a company. The way forward is for the judiciary to
compel all acquisitions for companies to follow the Part VII route.
This chapter remains important as ‘public purpose’ under Section
2(1) of the Act still stands ambiguous.
No statute in colonial India or independent India has been
used against the interests of the poor in such a systematic and wide-
spread manner, causing misery, as the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Part VII of the Act lays down the procedure to be adopted when
it is sought to acquire land for companies. It indicates, though
1 Bombay Government Gazette, Part VI, and dated 1 February 1894, pp. 18–29:
The Court then dealt with the submission that the acquisition
would come under Part II as the company was producing goods that
were useful to the public and that therefore the acquisition was for
a public purpose. The Court held:
3 S 40. Previous enquiry: (1) such consent shall not be given unless the appropri-
ate government be satisfied, either on the report of the collector under Section
5A, Subsection (2), or by an enquiry held as hereinafter provided
(a) that the purpose of the acquisition is to obtain land for the erection of
dwelling houses for workmen employed by the Company or for the provision of
amenities directly connected therewith, or
(aa) that such acquisition is needed for the construction of some building or
work for a Company which is engaged or is taking steps for engaging itself in
any industry or work which is for a public purpose, or
(b) that such acquisition is needed for the construction of some work and
that such work is likely to prove useful to the public.
(2) Such enquiry shall be held by such an officer and at such a time and place
as the appropriate government shall appoint.
(3) Such officer may summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses and
compel the production of documents by the same means and, as far as possible,
in the same manner as is provided by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of
1908) in the case of Civil Court.
S 41 Agreement with appropriate government—if the appropriate govern-
ment is satisfied after considering the report, if any, of the collector under
Section 5A, Subsection (2), or on the report of the officer making an enquiry
under Section 40 that the proposed acquisition is for any of the purpose referred
to in Clause (a) or Clause (aa) or Clause (b) of Subsection (1) of Section 40, it
shall require the company to enter into an agreement with the appropriate
government, providing to the satisfaction of the appropriate government for
the following matters, namely:
1. the payment to the appropriate government of the cost of the acquisition;
2. the transfer, on such payment, of the land to the Company;
3. the term on which the land shall be held by the Company;
4. where the acquisition is for the purpose of erecting dwelling-houses or the
provision of amenities connected therewith, the time within which, the
conditions on which the manner in which the dwelling houses or amenities
shall be erected or provided;
4A. where the acquisition is for the construction of any building or work for
a Company which is engaged or is taking steps for engaging itself in any
industry or work which is for a public purpose, the time within which
and the conditions on which, the building or work shall be constructed or
executed; and
5. where the acquisition is for the construction of any other work the time
within which and the conditions on which the work shall be executed and
maintained, and the terms on which the public shall be entitled to use the
work.
He then concluded:
5 See Note 1.
What happened after this Arora case? After this Arora case
when the judgment was against those words, a similar case
arose in Punjab only last month or three or four months back,
in May. They had to acquire some land for air-conditioning.
I do not know out of the two, machinery for textile or air-
conditioning, which is a larger public purpose. According to
me the first is. The textile machinery is surely a larger public
purpose. Even then, I do not go into that but the government
saw that they were likely to be attacked if they acquired lands
under Chapter VII or Part VII. Therefore, they were wise
enough and they went to Part II. Part II puts no obligation on
the government of any type. Not only they could acquire but
they have got to pay some money. Therefore, do you know how
much they paid? They paid `100 for the land. Technically they
must pay some money. In the other Part, when it is acquired
for a company, the money is to be paid wholly by that company.
Therefore, in order to satisfy the requirement of law, they paid
`100 and acquired the land for themselves which they have
a right to do and then they gave it for the air-conditioning
plant, etc. The case went to the Court and this judgment of
Arora versus the UP Government was quoted in that court
also and the judgment of the five judges of the Supreme Court
said: ‘Whatever it might be, once the state government, in its
wisdom, acquires the land for a public purpose, its decision
is final and unchallengeable. We have no right to challenge
the decision of it because the wording of Section 4 of Chapter
II does give us any loophole that we might go through it and
change the meaning of it. They are competent and the com-
pensation is also not justiciable’. You can see. Therefore, we
are trying to prevent these, that hereafter the state governments
6 Lok Sabha Debates, 3rd Series, Vol. 7, and dated 30 August 1962, Cols 5129
and 5130.
The proposal to amend the Act did not materialise and S. K. Patil
told the Lok Sabha that a more comprehensive Bill would be placed
before the House. It took 22 years for the new amendment to be
placed before the Lok Sabha.
On 6 August 1984, Bill No. 63 of 1984 was introduced in
the Lok Sabha to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. In the
Statement of Objects and Reasons it was set out that the
Piloting the Bill through the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the
minister Mohsina Kidwai said:
7 Lok Sabha Debates, 7th Series, Vol. 51, No. 24, dated 25 August 1984. Rajya
8Bill No. 67 of 1982: Gazette of India (Ext), Part II, Sec. 2, dated 30 April 1982,
pp. 14–23; in the Bill No. 63 of 1984: Gazette of India (Ext), Part II, Sec. 2, No.
41, dated 6 August 1984, pp. 1–14; and also the Land Acquisition (Amendment)
Act, 1984: Gazette of India (Ext), Part II, Sec. 1, No. 86, pp. 1–11, dated
24 September 1984, pp. 1–14.
The last part of the definition, i.e., ‘it does not include acqui-
sition of land for companies’ is important and brings out the
obvious fact that even though a ‘public purpose’ may be served
by acquiring land for companies, the expression ‘public pur-
pose’ as used in the Act does not include such acquisition ….
But the use of exclusionary sentences as the end would make
the difference and indicate that except for acquisitions for
companies which cannot be treated as acquisition for public
purpose, all other purposes are included within it …. Under
the circumstances whatever may be the extent of purpose
included within the definition of ‘public purpose’ acquisition
for company is excluded from it. Clearly therefore, an acqui-
sition for a company is to be distinguished from acquisition
for a public purpose, and an acquisition for a company even
though serving public purpose, cannot, in the context of S3(f)
of the Act, be accepted as an application for a public purpose
…. Legal position was different before the amendment of the
definition in 1984 by Act No 68 of 1984. The definition of
‘public purpose’ in S3(f) of the Act before this amendment did
not have any exclusionary clause and was inclusive. Similarly
S4(l) of the Act permitted issue of notification only for a ‘public
purpose’. It was therefore possible to then submit that if ‘public
purpose’ is served by a company, there would be no illegality
in the acquisition for a company on the basis of notification
mentioning acquisition for a public purpose.
In State of Punjab vs Raja Ram,26 land was acquired for the con-
struction of godowns for the Food Corporation of India. The acquisi-
tion was set aside in the following terms:
CONCLUSIONS
The judiciary appears to have misread the mood in the country,
particularly after the 1984 amendment. Prior to that, the orienta-
tion of nation building probably made judges feel that development
was not possible unless acquisition was done freely and with public
purpose given the widest possible scope. But to continue with such
an approach in the period of globalisation where land acquisitions
were done to promote corporate interests with the state becom-
ing an estate agent of the companies is quite another thing. To
disregard, in the manner done, the intent of the 1984 amendment
indicates how powerful the urge was among industrialists to grab
the lands of farmers. As a result, large tracts of lands throughout
the country, mainly of small farmers, were forcibly acquired and
people were displaced. There were mass protests against displace-
ment everywhere, but the superior judiciary remained unmoved,
doggedly anchored to their notions of ‘development’ unresponsive
to the distress of farmers, tenants and agricultural labourers and
the decline of agriculture. During this period of globalisation,
from 1990 onwards, the union government withdrew credits from
agriculture and followed conscious anti-farmer policies rendering
agricultural production unremunerative. In this context, the com-
pulsory acquisition of lands using this draconian statute was the
cruelest blow of them all.
The way forward is for the judiciary to compel all acquisi-
tions for companies to follow the Part VII route and to reverse
the decision in Somawanti’s case and hold that irrespective of the
contribution by government, all acquisitions for companies must
follow Part VII. The reason for this approach is not difficult to
comprehend. State governments today have come under corporate
control so completely that they are only too eager to spend large
LAND ACQUISITION
IN INDIA
The Present Scenario
Ruchika Khitta
INTRODUCTION
Men will sooner forgive the death of their relative than
the confiscation of their property.1
HISTORICAL PROSPECTIVE
British commercial interests initiated land acquisition with the
Bengal Regulation Act I of 1824 when the land for construction
of railways was acquired under the said Regulation. Later, The
Bengal Regulation Act I of 1824 was replaced by Act I of 1850, and
the provision for land acquisition was extended to Calcutta town.
By 1857, various laws on land acquisition were consolidated as Act
VI of 1857 and were made applicable to the whole of British India.
The 1857 Act was replaced by the Land Acquisition Act (Act X of
1870), and later it was repealed by the Act of 1894 for the purpose
of facilitating the acquisition of private land by the government for
public purposes. The Act of 1894 was a colonial act and deprived
landowners/persons from any opportunity to raise objection against
www.manupatra.com.
7 State of West Bengal v. Bela Banergee, AIR 1954 SC 170.
manufacturing refrigerator machine parts was upheld on the ground that was
part of compensation that had come from public revenue).
10 P. Narayanappa Corporation v. Darius Shapun Chennai (2005) 7 SCC 627
228.
12 AIR 1975 SC 1083.
19 The LARR Act 2013 exempted 13 laws (such as the National Highways Act,
1956, and the Railways Act, 1989) from its purview. However, the LARR Act
2013 required that the compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement provisions
of these 13 laws be brought in consonance with the LARR Act 2013, within a year
42.
21 State Governments taken to Court for Land Acquisition Amendment, available
at https://www.newsclick.in/state-governments-taken-court-land-acquisition-
amendments
22 Gujarat clears amendments in Land Acquisition Law that does away with ‘con-
Simply put, Section 31 of the 1894 Act makes provision for pay-
ment of compensation or deposit of the same in the court. This
provision requires that the Collector should tender payment
of compensation as awarded by him to the persons interested
who are entitled to compensation. If due to happening of any
contingency as contemplated in Section 31(2), the compensa-
tion has not been paid, the Collector should deposit the amount
of compensation in the court.
Since the two benches had given opposing views on the interpre-
tation of Section 24, the matter was referred to a larger Bench
in Indore Development Authority v. Manohar Lal and Others26
to put to rest the controversy that arose in the interpretation
of Section 24 of the LARR Act of 2013. The Constitutional
bench has adopted the view in Indore Development Authority
v. Salindera. However, the interpretation given by the Court is
not in consonance with the objective of a beneficial legislation.
Firstly, the Court has concluded that the expression ‘paid’ under
Section 24(2) does not include the deposit of compensation in
the Court. Non-deposit of compensation in the Court would not
result in lapse of land acquisition proceedings. Thus, the Court
has adopted a selective approach towards the interpretation of
Section 31 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894, although it has
concluded that tendering of compensation to the landowner will
be as good as payment under Section 31(1) but has refused to
look into Section 31(2), i.e., what the state should do when the
• Person Interested:
In Burdwan Development Authority v. Arifa Khatun,28 the High
Court of Calcutta has held that the ‘person interested’ in land
acquisition proceeding includes not only the persons who have
interest in the acquisition proceeding but also those who have
interest in consequential compensation proceedings.
30 https://www.livelaw.in/subsequent-purchaserssuccessors-entitled-seek-
declaration-land-acquisition-proceedings-lapsed-sc/
• Forcible Dispossession:
A Bench of Justice Indu Malhotra and justice Ajay Rastogi in
Vidya Devi v. State of Himachal Pradesh31 has held that state
cannot invoke the doctrine of adverse possession to perfect the
title over land grabbed from private citizens. It has further been
held by the Court that:
To forcibly dispossess a person of his private property,
without following dueprocess of law, would be violative of
human right as also the constitutional right under article 300A
of the Constitution.
The land of the appellant in SC, Vidya Devi, had been
forcibly taken by the government in 1967–68 for road construc-
tion. Since she was illiterate, she was not aware of the legal
remedies. In 2004, some people whose lands had also been
similarly taken by the state approached the High Court. Three
years later, the HC directed the state to acquire their lands
under the LA Act 1894 and provide compensation as per the Act.
After knowing about this order, the appellant approached the
HC in 2010 by filing a writ petition claiming compensation for
the land in accordance with the process under the LA Act. The
state opposed the petition stating that it had perfected title by
42 years of ‘adverse possession’. It further submitted that the
road had been built over the land and that the appellant should
invoke the remedy of a civil suit. Referring to Article 300A of
the Constitution, the SC said ‘To forcibly dispossess a person
of his private property, without following due process of law,
would be violative of a human right, as also the constitutional
right under Article 300 A of the Constitution.’
CONCLUSION
The process of land acquisition in India under the Land Acquisition
Act 1894 increased imbalance. Moreover, the long pendency of court
cases, litigation under the law, did not prove to be effective and sat-
isfactory for land losers, resulting as a burden on the government
system as it saw many of its legitimate projects being stalled and
delayed with a huge cost implication. The LARR Act 2013 sought to
redress this imbalance and secure more equitable outcome through
litigation.35 However, the LARR Act 2013 is not a very good exam-
ple of legal drafting; thus, various provisions of the Act provide a
wide room for interpretation and hence judicial interpretation of
the provisions will be critical. As this chapter goes to print and in
the wake of the pandemic COVID-19, the struggle one sees being
faced by migrant laborers it becomes all the more essential that
more holistic legal and administrative measures related to land
acquisition are taken so as to mitigate the land conflicts and the
displacement of the vulnerable groups for their sustainability.
ANTHROPOLOGY
IN SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT: CASE
STUDIES
CHAPTER 12
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT AND THE
STANDARD OF LIVING
Amlan J. Biswas
INTRODUCTION
In any country, developmental activities are an integral part of life
thereon. They reflect the ambition, aspiration and capability to face
the future in terms of a nation which may naturally include some
big developmental projects also. These big projects are initiated and
taken up with the objective to increase production and create more
employment and income according to the demand of the country’s
economy. However, these big projects always have huge impacts,
both positive and negative. They have huge impacts on natural
resources, environment, health and well-being, employment,
income, property rights and local production system which in turn
may affect environmental safety, health condition, cultural heritage
and practice, community participation, way of life, political balance
and ethnic composition along with their fears and aspirations.
Naturally, the policy- and decision-makers of the country
generally have to consider all these factors of impacts or a combina-
tion of these before taking any decision of acceptance or rejection
of certain developmental projects. Apart from the estimation of
physical impacts, such as impact on natural resources, environment,
health, so on, the likely impacts on the community, society, differ-
ent rights, and so on, should be assessed. To estimate the probable
THE BACKDROP
The ‘conventional way of conceptualizing social impacts is … their
future and future of their children’ (AnSI Draft Module 2016) as
envisaged by the Inter-organizational Committee on Principles and
Guidelines for Social Impact Assessment (IOCPGSIA 2003). To con-
ceptualize the social impact, it is suggested to consider the change
of any of the factors such as people’s way of life, their culture,
community, political system, environment, health and well-being,
personal and property rights, and fears and aspirations of the area
of effect by a big project (AnSI Draft Module 2016).
To get a detailed picture of these changes, a thorough mul-
tidimensional study is essential. If this study is taken up at the
earlier stages, that is, before finalization of the decision-making
process of any development project, SIA can become an important
planning instrument to get an idea about the aforesaid possible
changes. Through this study, the information about the probable
consequences of undertaking the developmental activities may
be made available in such a way that it can very well be used to
design effective mitigation measures. If SIA is executed in its proper
method, it can significantly help improve the quality of the project
proposal with reduced negative effects.
We know that the demand for environmental goods and
services is being created by the prevailing social paradigm. The
perceived value of environment function has an accountable role in
determining the social values of that society, related culture, level
of technology, and so on. One can get an indication of the quality
of life of that society from different parameters such as its social
values, prevailing social context cultural background, and so on
(Becker and Vanclay).
Rural Rural
Item Group India CDBR India CDBR
CONCLUSION
Economic impact of any developmental project and material well-
being of a given society relates to the wealth and prosperity of
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
COMPLEXITIES IN
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
Need for Sharpening Orientation and
Redefining Methods
Vineetha Menon
DISCUSSION
The Act called the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency
in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013,
under reference here in this chapter stipulates a humane and
transparent process of land acquisition for industrialisation. This
has to be in consultation with institutions of local self-government
and Gram Sabhas.
Land acquisition suggests an implied loss of land. It can be
actual/material or experiential, for which compensation has to be
provided in terms of market value and or solatium and/ demurrage.
The procedure for acquiring land may directly touch upon only a few
or an entire community, or many culturally diverse communities
living and sharing an ecological space, but far reaching impacts may
be there that are not appreciable at the first instance.
In both the cases of the Keezhattur national highway and
the black sand mining in Sankaramangalam, it is evident that
deterioration of environment that creates consequences in health
and livelihoods and conflicts between people or different interest
groups is neglected. In both the cases, the different interest groups
perceive and experience different social impacts. In the Keezhattur
case, landowners, private water sellers who extracted water from
the Keezhattur paddy fields to sell, the people of Keezhattur region
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT OF
EXTREME EVENTS
Methodology, Methods and Tools
P.C. Joshi and Prashant Khattri
INTRODUCTION
It would not be hyperbolic to state that we are living in an ‘age of
disasters.’ Events that were once considered to be distant and less
in frequency have suddenly captured the imagination of people
with an effect that it has a reflection in the popular culture narra-
tives in the form of disaster movies visualizing an apocalyptic end
to the human civilization. If we really believe that we are living in
an Anthropocene epoch, then that implies that human beings are
influencing their environment in an unprecedented way. So much
so that it has reduced the distinction between the human-made
and natural disasters. Besides disasters that emerge out of an
interface between human beings and technology, ‘natural’ disasters,
more appropriately called ‘weather-related disasters’ are occurring
more frequently globally. In their report entitled Human Cost of
Weather Related Disasters (HCWRD),1 the Center for Research
in Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and the United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) have
reported the frequency of events and the loss associated with them
for a two-decade period beginning from 1995 up to 2015. Global
data suggest that extreme weather events such as floods, wind and
cyclonic storms show an upward trend. Floods accounted for nearly
half of all the weather-related disasters and impacted around 2.3
billion people globally, of which around 95 percent lived in Asia. The
data also showed 14 percent increase in extreme weather events
for the period between 2005 and 2014 in comparison to the decade
beginning from 1995. India stands next to China in terms of number
of people affected by extreme weather events. Globally Asia and
within Asia, India and China are the most impacted regions. This
calls for a concerted effort to reduce the vulnerabilities of people
and a better assessment of their needs in the post-disaster context.
Vulnerability reduction and disaster relief and rehabilitation are
3Evaluation_of_the_UNEP_Sub-programme_on_Disasters_and_Conflicts.pdf,
accessed on June 15, 2020.
1. Sociodemographic
2. Socioeconomic
3. Sociopolitical
4. Sociopsychological
5. Sociostructural
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Bolin, R.C. 1982. Long Term Family Recovery from Disaster. University
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Coleman, J. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Belknap Press:
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Coleman, J. 1993. The Rational Reconstruction of Society. American
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Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation.
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Dash, N., Peacock, W.G. and Morrow, B.H. 1997. And the Poor Get
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and Public Response to the September 1985 Earthquake in Mexico
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EXAMINING
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT USING
THE LENS OF SOCIAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Manas Ranjan Kar
OVERVIEW
The relationship between human beings and nature has been criti-
cal to the evolution of society and culture. Technological develop-
ment has aided this evolution whereby societies have advanced
through exploration and exploitation of natural resources and the
physical environment. However, many a time such development
has resulted in alienating a certain section of people from their
land and livelihoods base. Most such people belong to simple socie-
ties or indigenous communities who in the process become further
marginalised. Development projects like the construction of roads,
bridges, railway lines, and dams on the one hand, have been empha-
sised by national governments, while on the other hand, they have
alienated people from their land and environment undermining
their existence, culture, and economy. To ameliorate the condition
of such displaced and alienated communities worldwide, social
impact assessment (SIA) emerged as a risk management tool in
the late 1980s. Identification, analysis, and evaluation of the social
impacts resulting from a development project are considered an
1For discussion on risk in a risk society and its management, see Goldman and
Baum (2000, 10–12).
REFERENCES
Centre for Science and Environment. Social impact assess-
ment (SIA) and social impact management plan (SIMP): An
indicative structure. Retrieved from http://cdn.cseindia.org/
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Management-Plan-(SIMP).pdf, 2017.
Ervin, A. M. Applied anthropology: Tools and perspectives for contem-
porary practices. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Finsterbusch, K. Understanding social impacts. Beverly Hills, CA:
Sage Publications, 1980. Quoted in L. Goldman and S. Baum,
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applied anthropology manual. Oxford: Berg, 2000, 36.
Gallo, C. The storyteller’s secret. London: Macmillan, 2016.
Goldman, L. & Baum, S. Introduction. In L. R. Goldman (Eds.), Social
impact analysis: An applied anthropology manual. Oxford: Berg,
2000, 1–31.
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Mathur, H. M. Social impact assessment: A tool for planning better
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anthropology manual. Oxford: Berg, 2000, 35–59.
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT, AND
POVERTY AMONG
VULNERABLE TRIBAL
COMMUNITIES
A Case Study
Premananda Panda
INTRODUCTION
Conceptually, SIA is an important tool to assess the social, economic
and cultural impacts of state and/or corporate activities on indigenous
communities. This is particularly relevant for extractive industrial
activities that frequently encroach local resources like land, forest,
water to extract minerals and transport the raw materials to
manufacturing sites and construct corporate units that contribute
in reduction of biodiversity, increase in health hazards and decline
livelihood resources and weakening social solidarity and security of
the natives. Where state takes the responsibility for the well-being of
its citizens, the SIAs are considered to be good practice for managing
and mitigating the social impacts caused due to huge projects. Based
on the findings of SIA, the policies are expected to protect peoples’
interest and incorporate the priorities of the affected mass. For some,
the popular notion is that development without displacement is
unthinkable. Global data reveal that Asia has the highest number of
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A few studies on SIA and its implication would help us to understand
the theoretical dimensions of contextuality of events. Eccleston
(2011), Morgan (1998) and Willigen (2002) addressed a wide range
of problem-solving practices in both development action and applied
research in the areas of SIA. Becker (1997) discussed the state-
of-the-art techniques in SIA. Barrow’s (2000) work explained the
practical and theoretical approaches, tools and techniques used
to examine the relationships of SIA with forecasting corporate/
government planning and policy-making. Vanclay and Bronstein
(1995) addressed the major issues and controversies in the field of
METHODS ADOPTED
Data regarding the field area was collected both from primary as
well as secondary sources. Primary sources include data collection
AN INDIVIDUAL CASE
The total land is 2.00 acres owned by Late Mr. Brundaban Majhi
S/o. Late Mr. Sovran Majhi out of this 1.50 acres was proposed
to be acquired, the plot no: 983/2646, Khata no: 145/39 catego-
rized as ‘Goda-2’ land classification. Khata no: 145/39, plot no
983/2646 was owned by Late Mr. Brundaban Majhi, S/o Late
Mr. Sovran Majhi of Mouza – Chuabahal, Block/PS-Hemgir,
District, Sundargarh. The total area is 2 acres of land out of which
1.5 acres of land to be acquired. Late Brundaban Majhi had one
son Mr. Deabarchan Majhi aged around 60 years and four married
daughters namely Sushma Dhurua, Dusila Bhoi, Sukanti Bhue
and Sauki Majhi. Mr. Deabarchan Majhi’s wife Jayamani Majhi, a
house wife, had three married sons. All adult members of the family
work as labors in informal sector.
The monetary compensation for land shall be done as men-
tioned in the official sales statistics maintained as per registration
of sale deeds under Indian Stamp Act of 1899 or the market value
of land considered as per approved benchmark valuation whichever
is higher. The evaluating organization with a rider suggested that
the compensation of acquired land for around to be `6.00 lakhs per
acre. As per Section 26, the market value of the land, estimated by
the Chuabahal, Sanaghumuda Revenue Inspector (RI) Office under
the GSR Hemgir (4.5 lakhs). Further, it is said that in case of deter-
mination of the market value, the last three years of average selling
or acquiring price may be considered with a calculated additional
market value @12% per annum as per the provisions u/s 30(3) of the
act. The additional assets may be included in the compensation and
solarium shall be calculated as per the statute to derive the final
compensatory amount for each land looser. However, no evidence
was collected for the aforesaid market valuation for the said area.
Vocational or skill training has to be indoctrinated into
the affected family to help them sustain life and living. It is an
inseparable part of compensation as the land loser not only lost the
land but all identities and honor associated with land is also lost.
SUGGESTIONS
The people who sacrificed their age-old livelihood resources must
be treated on priority basis such that the government and the
corporate must keep track of the movement of the displaced and
their problems be expeditiously addressed. The displaced could
have been made as the shareholder of the corporate and the gov-
ernment should be the guarantee. The victims of development
need to be groomed in an environment where they will be capable
of availing opportunity of development process. The role of the
state should be justifiable and transparent in action. Enactment
of compensatory policies should not be delayed in providing a fair
environment, employment opportunities, access to education and
health-care facilities for the displaced in the new settlement. This
requires strong political will and concrete efforts. Michael Cernea
in responding to the concept of ‘financing for development’ opined
that a fraction of rent earned by the state could be shared with
the disposed for long-term reconstruction of their livelihood that
got damaged by development projects. Guha also tells in favor of
Michael Cernea’s concept of ‘financing for development’ and argued
in favor of profit sharing of resource exploiters and the displaced
people (2018). The SIA approach has shown favor to the state-
sponsored corporate rather than the displaced tribal households.
The voiceless tribal victims need to remain aware of the legal and
constitutional rights extended to their favor. The legal literacy mis-
sion must reach the people in their own understandable language.
They must have some legal control over the benefit-sharing accrued
REFERENCES
Abaza, H. R. Bisset and B. Sadler. 2004. Environmental Impact
Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment: Towards
an Integrated Approach. United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP).
Anthropological Survey of India. 2011. Module – Social Impact
Assessment. Journal of Anthropological Survey of India 60:
216–248.
Ashokvardhan, C. 2006. Tribal Land Right in India. Centre for Rural
Studies, Mussoorie: LBS National Academy of Administration.
Barrow, C. J. 2000. Social Impact Assessment: An Introduction.
University of Wales, Swansea: Hodder Arnold Publication.
Becker H. 1997. Social Impact Assessment. Netherlands: UCL Press.
Becker, H. A. and Vanclay, F. (eds). 2003. The International Handbook
of Social Impact Assessment. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Burdge, R. J. 2004. The Concepts, Process and Methods of Social Impact
Assessment. Middleton WI: Social Ecology Press.
Colombo A. G. (ed.). 1991. Environmental Impact Assessment, Vol. 1.
London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Cernea, Micheal. 2007. Financing for Development: Benefit Sharing
Mechanism in Population Resettlement. Economic and Political
Weekly (EPW) 42: 1033–1042.
Eccleston, C. H. 2011. Environmental Impact Assessment: A Guide to
Best Professional Practice. London: CRC Press.
Ekins, P. and Voituriez, T. (eds.). 2009. Trade, Globalization and
Sustainability Impact Assessment: A Critical Look at Methods and
Outcome. UK: Earthscan Publishers.
Erickson, P. A. 1994. A Practical Guide to Environmental Impact
Assessment. San Diego: Academic Press.
Gartner, W. C. and Lime, D. W. (eds.). 2000. Trends in Outdoor recrea-
tion, Leisure and Tourism. Wallingford: CABI.
Guha, A. 2018. Sociological Context of New Land Acquisition Law: A
Case Study. Resources energy and Development 15 (1&2): 39–52.
Jeffrey, B. Jacquet. 2014. A Short History of Social Impact Assessment.
PhD, Department of Sociology and Rural Studies, South Dakota
State University, November.
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT AND
EVALUATION WITH A
VULNERABLE TRIBE
R. P. Mitra
268 R. P. Mitra
how any intervention can impact the bio-physical environment. In
the beginning, SIA like its counterpart, emerged as an analytical
tool, as an aid to planners, implementers and policymakers so as
to take remedial measures to offset the negative consequences of
any external intervention. But over the course of years, it went on
to become a monitoring and more action-oriented tool, involved not
just in analyses of possible consequences but also managing these
outcomes. Thus, we can make a distinction between SIA as a tech-
nique and as a method. As a technique, it has a limited scope. It
is narrowly focused, restricted and regulated tool used as a part of
regulatory framework. As a method, it moves beyond the confines
of calculating potential cost with respect to perceived benefits of
project to a much wider consideration of the processes and design
of a project. The present chapter looks at SIA as a wider method
to evaluate the process as well as the objective of any development
programme in a relatively isolated what in administrative term are
called a Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
SIA in a relatively isolated community like the PVTG pos-
sesses a unique challenge to a researcher. Unlike in any other
SIA where the researcher begins with simple blueprint of a pro-
gramme and then try to see how its implementation would have
consequences. The situation is much more complex here. Studies
have shown that there is a wide gap between actual working of a
programme and its design on the paper (Mitra 2012). This gap is
both on account process as well as flawed objectives of programmes.
Therefore, SIA to be meaningful have to be a comprehensive exer-
cise which should include assessment of impact as well as goals
and processes also. Impact assessment can be carried out not only
prior to an implementation of a programme it is also carried out in
the middle of the programme so as to make possible mid-term cor-
rection to the implementation if the need be. SIA can also be done
when a project is closed down. With closing down, many people who
were dependent on the programme may lose their livelihood. Large
part of landscape may be transformed because of the project activi-
ties. It is needed to be restored back. All these are part of impact
assessment. The present chapter deals with SIA of centrally funded
Conservation-cum-Development (CCD) programme for Bharias of
Patalkot, Madhya Pradesh. It is divided into three sections. The first
section describes the community and the context. The second section,
I
Bharias are one of the three PVTG communities of Madhya Pradesh
(others are the Sahariyas and the Baigas). They live in a place
called Patalkot in the Tamia Block of Chhindwara district of the
state. The place is like a huge crater, shaped like a bowl. Its maxi-
mum depth reaches up to 1600 meters, and it is stretched across
an area of 70 square kilometres. The tall Satpura ranges and thick
forest surrounds the area, thereby making it nearly impregnable
to outsiders. The place is home to Bharias, who have been staying
here for many generations.
The area is a mix of dense forested areas, forested areas
with less than 70% crown cover with patches of barren land. The
surface has many undulations. Bharia settlements are located on
the patches of land which are relatively plain, with tall Satpura
ranges separating them from one another. There are 20 Bharia set-
tlements locally called as Dhana divided into 12 revenue villages.
Their total number is 2575 with 1303 males and 1272 females. Most
of the land is rocky and uncultivable. Cultivable land is sparse and
water resources are few. As a result, agricultural productivity is
low and only few local varieties were cultivated in the entire area
till recently. The conditions are difficult even for the animals to
survive because of absence of pasture land and scarcity of water.
As a result, pastoralism, even in a small scale, as an alternative,
is not possible. Till few years back Bharias used to grow maize,
millets and a local variety of lentil called Balhar. Wheat cultiva-
tion was introduced few years back and become widespread with
government subsidy and encouragement to cultivators. Other than
this people are completely dependent upon collection and sale of
minor forest produces place for them. Some Bharias in patalkot
have also been able to find government jobs as peons, primary
school teacher, Anganwari helpers. Whenever needed, Bharia also
supplement their income working as casual labourer, in nearby
towns like Tamia, Piparia and Parasia. The poor connectivity, the
uneven terrain and poor quality of soil unsuitable for cultivation
270 R. P. Mitra
and problem, unavailability of water for irrigation and other uses
are some the problems Bharias like the government to intervene. I
begin my assessment with whether these problems are addressed
through various programmes.
II
In 1974–1975, a group of communities within the scheduled tribes
were identified as ‘primitive’ tribes on the basis of three features,
viz. pre agricultural level of technology, low level of literacy and
declining and stagnant population. This sub-categorization within
the scheduled tribe list was done as it was felt that the gains of
development have failed to reach these smaller tribes and to accord
priority to their development to bring them at par with other tribal
communities. There are a total of 75 such communities who receive
special attention from the government. It has been more than 35
years since then and in spite of government taking efforts to resolve,
the results on the ground have not been very satisfactory. The par-
liamentary standing committee on labour and welfare 2002, in their
report on the status of development among the Primitive Tribal
Group (PTG) reported that the progress made in the development
of the PTG is negligible. The committee noted that benefits of tribal
development schemes have not been percolating to these smaller
tribes and called for a greater attention towards the plight of these
communities. In 2008, government initiated a new programme
called as conservation and development to bring about a holistic
socio-economic development through focusing on development of
their habitat, economy and culture simultaneously. It is a five-year
programme funded by the centre but managed by the respective
state governments. Under this, various development programmes
in the fields of education, health, livelihood, agriculture, housing,
conservation of culture and traditional knowledge have been initi-
ated among the Bharias, with a total outlay of `48.63 lakhs for
2007–2008 and `161.98 lakhs for 2008–2009. Presented below are
the details of the various programmes analysed in terms of the
text, context, act and its impact on the community. The impact
here is seen primarily in terms of Sen’s capability approach where
development is evaluated in terms of contributing to well-being of
people, measured in terms of enhancement of peoples’ capability,
272 R. P. Mitra
Analysis of data shows that bulk of students drop out after
the fifth grade. Therefore, intervention is required after this stage,
that is in the sixth grade and not earlier, to encourage parents to
continue with daughters’ education. There is a high dropout rate
after the fifth grade because it is at this stage, students for the first
time appear for an external examination. Before that there are only
in-house evaluations. The students find difficult to clear it and go
to higher standards. Secondly, most schools in Bharia villages are
up to fifth grade only. Bharia students have to change their school
after that, and in some cases, they have to travel a long distance.
This again causes many Bharia girls to dropout after the fifth grade.
My assessment shows that more than the dropout it is the
pullout which is the cause of concern for the continuity of girls’
education. On the basis of reasons for discontinuity of education,
we can differentiate between those cases where the girls have
to discontinue because she could not make to the higher grades,
from those where the education is discontinued because of social
reasons. The first we can refer to as ‘dropout’ and the second as
‘pullout’. An example of pullout is, not allowing girls from studying
beyond tenth standard, as parents do not favour higher education
for girls. In cases of pullouts, monetary compensation alone may
not suffice. It also requires change of mindset of parents through
counselling to create a positive environment for the education of
girl children. Under the second programme, coaching is to be organ-
ized for Bharia children in two hostels located in the town. Again,
here the place chosen for the programme is not very appropriate.
The Bharia students who stay in these hostels are among the best.
They attend regular schools like Bijori Ashram, well known in the
area for the good quality of their teachers. The coaching would have
made greater impact had it been organized in some other hostel
in Patalkot, or extended to those Bharia students from Patalkot
who are not staying in any hostel. They are the ones who are in
real need of coaching and should have been made part of the hostel
coaching study group.
It is the third programme which really benefited both the
students, as well as the Bharia youth who were able to find employ-
ment through this. Under this programme, twelfth qualified nine
Bharia youths have been appointed to teach in primary schools.
AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT
Under this scheme, Bharia families received high yielding varieties
of wheat, peas and grams along with fertilizers and insecticide. Of
all the programmes, this has been the most successful in terms of its
impact on the community. Although this is the programme where
we come across many anomalies but it is this programme which
directly benefited the community by building up the inner strength
of people and giving them confidence and belief in them. The impact
is not because of higher productivity. In fact, the productivity was
fairly in fact less than two quintals in 95% of the beneficiaries The
average production of peas and gram was around 1 to 2 quintals
and in the case of wheat slightly above 2 quintals. It is barely suf-
ficient to fulfil their requirements. There is no scope for selling it
in the market. Only eight Bharia families surveyed could produce
enough to sell it in the open market. Thus, in monetary terms, the
cultivation of wheat may not have added to their income directly
274 R. P. Mitra
but indirectly it has benefited the Bharias a great deal. Bharias
themselves feel it has contributed to improving their quality of life.
The cultivation of wheat along with the wheat supplied from the
Public Distribution System (PDS), have enabled the Bharia families
to avoid buying wheat from the open market. It has thus contrib-
uted to the food security and the Bharias do not have to go hungry
as they did earlier. It has also provided them with an additional
source of nutrition. This has a positive effect in terms of improving
their nutritional status. The study did not come across many cases
of malnutrition in the area. Few families were also able to save
some wheat seeds for the next year. Difference in the standard of
living between those who cultivated wheat and those who do not is
gradually becoming apparent. All those who cultivate wheat have
started spending in things like a water pumps, pipes, etc., what is
known as incremental investment, that is, in objects that can help
in increasing production later. This is a new development in Bharia
society. It shows that the Bharias are not only merely satisfied by
meeting their immediate needs but they have also started thinking
of future. This is an important change in the cognitive process of the
Patalkot Bharias. Cultivation of wheat has added a new impetus
to their agriculture. Before taking up cultivation of wheat, there
was no significant Rabi crop in the area except for the few local
varieties. The introduction of the high yielding variety has provided
them with a steady Rabi crop to depend upon.
HEALTH SECTOR
Under this heading, a special study was undertaken in CCD
2007–2008 to determine the (a) nutrition status, (b) monitoring of
schemes and (c) enhancing of access to government health facilities.
Based on the study report, an intervention programme was started
and four health workers visit different households and provide iron
supplements and basic treatment for skin diseases like scabies. The
study was mainly epidemiological contributing to the first objective.
276 R. P. Mitra
No attention was paid to the healthcare practices, availability of
health infrastructure and illness and disease management by the
people. No information was made available to the people regarding
availability of government schemes.
Of these five levels, the most popular are the last two, viz. the
ethno-medical practices and the quakes who provide door-to-door
services to the people. Because of its familiarity and accessibility,
these two systems are most commonly used by the people in manag-
ing any incidence of ill-health. Therefore, any health programme
which is devised for the Bharias should involve them.
278 R. P. Mitra
Bio-Medical Health Services at the Village
The bio-medical health services at the village level are very poor.
Doctor and the ANM seldom visit the PHC. Let us take the case of
Sumia Bai of the village Koria, she was suffering from a lesion (boil)
in the armpit. She was receiving treatment from a local quake. She
complained that there is a PHC in the village but the ANM and
the doctor never visits it. Mostly medicines are not available in the
PHC. Same was the story from other villages.
• The trainer did not pay any attention to them. He only cared
for the others, while they were just ignored.
• Women felt very uncomfortable as they have to stay in the same
room as men.
• They were not paid any money. What they were going to be paid
was also not made clear to them.
• People ridiculed for our slow pace. While we could make only 1
to 2 collars a day, the others were able to make 15 to 16 collars
in a day.
280 R. P. Mitra
as it is hemmed by its own constraints. The principles of bureau-
cracy, imposes many limitations on the ways the programmes are
implemented. Let us take the example of livelihood training to
illustrate this. The Bharias were trained in occupations like apparel
designing, cooking or adventure sports, which are far removed from
Bharia culture because these are areas where recognized training
institute exists. The training was organized not keeping in mind
the interest of Bharias, but it was administrative convenience that
decided the occupations where Bharias would receive training. But
what could have proved beneficial for the Bharias; if their skills in
those professions, which they are familiar with are upgraded. For
example, it would be immensely beneficial for the Bharias if their
skills in construction activities are upgraded. Many Bharias work in
construction sites during off seasons as unskilled labourers. If they
are made skilled this would benefit them a lot. Another area where
Bharias can excel is bamboo art. They can make beautiful baskets
and other objects using bamboo. If further value addition is done
that can be of great use to them. But they were not trained in these
occupations because that would have required lot of effort from
administration to organize it. The local administration chooses the
path of least effort and gives primacy to bureaucratically suitable
activities rather the interest of the people in the act of development.
CONCLUSION
The SIA and evaluation of five programmes relating to education,
livelihood, agriculture health and cultural promotion indicate that
wheat cultivation programme has been very successful and will ben-
efit Bharias the most in days to come. This was the programme that
really made a difference to the capability of Bharias by strengthen-
ing their belief in self and aiding in their quest for seeking a more
equal relationship with the Gonds. One of the conclusions of the
assessment was that the development approach of the govern-
ment focuses more towards benefit of the individual rather than
the group or the community. Those benefiting say from livelihood
approach or government job is most likely to settle outside the area.
This goes against the very idea of conservation. As the Bharia cul-
ture is closely linked to the social space, any out migration from the
area may also lead to disruption of culture. The CCD programme
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Appadurai, Arjuna. 2004. The Capacity to Aspire: Culture and the
Terms of Recognition. In Culture and Public Action: A Cross
Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, edited by V. Rao and
M. Walton. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Braidotti, R. et al. 2004. Women, the Environmental and Sustainable
Development. London: Zed Books and INSTRAW.
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Escobar, Arturo. 1985. Encountering Development. The Making and
Unmaking of the Third World. New Jersey: Princeton University
Press.
Illich, Ivan. 1981. Development: Its Three Dimensions. Bulletin of
Science Technology and Society 1: 339–349.
Mitra, R. P. 2012. On the Practice and Praxis of Development in a PTG
Community. A Case Study of Bharias. In Tribes in India: Concepts,
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Delhi: Serial Publications.
Nandy, Ashis. 1987. The Intimate Enemy. Bombay: Oxford University
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Rehanema, Majid and V. Bawtree. 1997. The Post-Development Reader.
New Jersey: Zed Books.
Sen, A. K. 1993. Capability and Well-Being. In Quality of Life, edited
by M. Nussbaum and A. K. Sen. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sen A. K. 2000. Development as Freedom. New York: Knopf.
Stern, N., J. J. Diethier and H. Roggers. 2005. Growth and
Empowerment: Making Development Happen. Cambridge: MIT
Press.
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE
TO PROJECT-AFFECTED
POPULATIONS AND
RFCTLARR ACT, 2013
M. Mohan and P. Sudhakara Reddy
Joblessness
Agriculture Health
► Market Forces
► Fragile Ecology ► Less Resources
► Host–Relocate Conflict ► Less Resources
► Changed Cropping
► Changed Cropping Pattern ► New Clientele
► Changed Social Relations
► Landlord–Tenant Relationships ► Requirement of Capacities
► Food Insecurity
► Decreased Land Holdings ► Host–Relocate Relationship
► Illiteracy
► Loss of Supporting Networks
CAD* NCAD*
S. No. of No. of
No. Factors Families % Families %
Source: Author.
* CAD, command areas development; NCAD, non-command areas development.
OCCUPATIONAL PATTERN
Changes in occupational patterns will mean the acquisition of new
skills and for which Dhagamwar (1989) says, the only solution
is education. The PAPs are beginning to realize that the scarce
natural resources are not going to be able to sustain them. They
will have to acquire new skills that would better equip them to
face the future.
Resettlement in NCAD led diminished agriculture, in case
of Somasila Project. There was occupational diversification in both
primary and secondary sources in NCAD due to displacement. Due
to area being rainfed and requirement of high investments for
irrigation facilities, resettlers were unable to continue with agricul-
ture alone. The displaced populations got major income from their
primary occupation. There were many changes in the patterns of
primary occupations due to decrease in size of land holdings, quality
of land, cropping pattern, employment, family size, exposure to new
opportunities, investment capability and occupational resources.
There was clear mobility from traditional to non-traditional and
other income generating occupations.
Table 18.2 shows that around one-fourth of families left
agriculture as their primary sources of income. This indicates that,
these families lost their land and did not invest their compensation
on land in the new environment due to lack of cultivable land, high
costs of land and availability of new opportunities.
It was also observed that there was a clear decrease in
the number of tenants, share and lease croppers. Lack of suffi-
cient land, irrigation and other sources of agriculture forced the
displaced to adopt new opportunities in new environment. There
was a significant increase in business and other self-employment
opportunities like shop keeping, tailoring, auto-driving, cycle shops,
civil construction contractors, animal husbandry and cart hiring as
they have resettled adjacent to the National Highway. One family
depended on the income, which was being earned in one of the Gulf
countries as its family member went to that country in search of
Before
Displacement After Displacement
Source: Author.
Occupational Changes
Due to displacement, considerable changes have been occurred in
occupational patterns of the PAPs. The decrease in number and size
of land holdings made the displaced to seek new occupations in the
new environment. The cost of cultivation has also been increased
due to the decreased family labour. Many affected families also
sold away bullocks and other livestock at the time of eviction.
Hence, lack of bullocks and livestock resulted in incurring addi-
tional expenditure in agriculture at the new place. Mechanization,
increased usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides resulted in the
CAD* NCAD*
S. No Primary Occupation BD+ % AD+ % BD+ % AD+ %
Source: Author.
* CAD, command area development; NCAD, non-command area development.
+ BD, before displacement; AD, after displacement.
Table 18.4 Distribution of Secondary Occupations among the PAPS
CAD* NCAD*
S. Secondary
No. Occupation BD+ % AD+ % BD+ % AD+ %
Source: Author.
CAD, command area development; NCAD, non-command area development.
+ BD, before displacement; AD, after displacement.
SIA and SIMP teams have to look with caution. As the Act provides
an opportunity, it is imperative to deliver at the field level.
Section 5 explains that there is an open discussion with
the project-affected families and the personnel involved have to be
PATTERNS OF EXPENDITURE
When compared with expenditure levels (Table 18.4), these also
registered rise with income levels due to inflation. Dynamics in
livelihood options, cropping pattern, income levels, social net-
works affected more expenditure levels even though the family
size decreased from 6.24 to 4.99. Expenditure on essentials, viz.
food, clothing, education, health and other such items increased
tremendously. It was due to purchase of food stuffs, changed food
habits, dependency on market instead of own farm yields, cultivat-
ing cash crops instead of subsistence crops, decreased extent under
cultivation led to rise in expenditure for food. Changes in dressing
pattern, especially younger generation, with increased literacy and
expenditure on clothing increased.
BUTTERFLY EFFECT
The human capital gains, the increase in physical assets and
the acquisition of bargaining strength in the form of collective
Rehabilitation Allowances
The Somasila Project considers all married males as separate
family and provides rehabilitation allowance to them. The first-
phase evictees did not have any rehabilitation allowance except
an amount of `250 and 12 kilograms of rice per family with free
transport to their selected destination through lorries/trucks. This
was to the selected destination within the reach and it should not
be far away, that is, below 200 kilometres. In the second phase,
`5,000 has been paid as rehabilitation allowance to each undivided
Hindu family or married male, treated as a separate family before
eviction.
Transport Allowance
In the first phase, free transport by lorry or truck, an amount of
`250 and 12 kilograms of rice have been provided and the PAPs
were left to their choice of already existing villages in command
area. Under free transport facilities, the PIA has provided transport
to their cattle, fodder, various housing material and furniture to
the destination. Free food has also been provided to the PAPs at
the time of transportation.
As in case of the second-phase eviction, because of heavy
rains and mis-calculation of contour levels, it forced people to run
literally in the night. It has occurred in the affected villages, viz.
Madhavaram and Boyanapalli. With the intervention of the then
district collector, various sites with probable extent to accommo-
date large number of people were selected and transportation was
provided to the PAPs with free food on the way.
Thus, it is much needed that the small support at the time
of displacement is of great help to the PAPs. However, most of the
regular departments are not sensitized and properly understood
the effects of displacement and they treat it as common ‘migration’.
CONCLUSIONS
SIA is widely used by international development agencies in their
development projects being implemented in various countries.
Developmental workers and anthropologists in many international
development agencies are already in the practice of application of
SIA in development projects in various countries.
With the personal experience during my fieldwork among
the PAPs of Somasila Irrigation Project and the existing relevant
literature, it is felt that the RFCTLARR Act of 2013 with SIA as a
prerequisite in the process of displacement and rehabilitation. The
key success factors in rehabilitation of PAPs lie in proper under-
standing of social-cultural milieu before their actual displacement.
The socio-economic loss and other problems that would happen due
to the displacement have to be properly assessed and addressed
with an effective action plan, probably in SIMP. In the absence of
such plans, the PAPs would face a lot of hardships and it requires
another development plan for uplifting those PAPs. SIA is to be
conducted with the trained professional research teams as a part
of the process of displacement and rehabilitation.
The following guide points are suggested for better
implementation of the Act in the process of displacement and
rehabilitation.
REFERENCES
Alagh, Y. K. 1998. Rehabilitation and Relocation Analysis: Comments
from an Indian Perspective. Sociological Bulletin 47(2).
HEALTH AND
NUTRITIONAL STATUS
FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
Study of Achanakmar-Amarkantak
Biosphere Reserve
Ramesh Sahani
INTRODUCTION
Good health is essential for human well-being and happiness.
Health is an asset which enables human to develop and strengthen
their potential for their whole lives. Healthy people have a good
lifespan and work more productively. Good health cut produc-
tion losses due to worker illness, it increases the productivity of a
person of working age due to better nutrition. Better health also
decreased absenteeism rates and improves learning among stu-
dents. Therefore, it makes an important contribution to economic
progress. Improvement of the health of citizen of any country
directly related with economic growth. This is because more people
will be able to perform better effective activities in the workforce.
It is believed that better health has an impact on poverty
reduction. Illness hampers people to use natural resources to some
extent, due to ailments, whereas better health improves the access
to the resources and its utilizations. On the other hand, the financial
SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS
Ecology is the major determinant of economy among the subsist-
ence society. The Baigas were the gatherer population traditionally,
and, they practiced it to a great extent. Depletion of forest resources
badly shattered their gathering activities. It is worth to say that the
DISCUSSION
Number of studies whether earlier or recent (Ferro-Luzzi et al. 1992,
Khongsdier 1997, Adak et al. 2006) show very alarming and grim
figure of the tribal people in terms of their nutritional and health
status (Sahani and Nandy 2013). It is observed that the burden of
undernutrition appears particularly high among rural and indig-
enous tribal populations (Nandy et al. 2005, Kuklina et al. 2006).
The present study shows that only 36.99% females were
normal, that is, without the indication of malnutrition, while the
remaining were under the category of severe to mild thinness or
chronic energy deficient category. The situation was almost worse
as the 13.56% people fell under the category of severe chronic
energy deficiency, that is, their BMI is below 16 kg/m2 (Sahani
2016). Arm muscle circumference is of greater significance in clini-
cal studies, since it is directly related to the severity of diseases.
Heymsfield et al. (1984) showed, if bone corrected arm muscle area
is reduced to 10 cm2 death invariably occurs. The Baiga women
show the minimum value of triceps (2.4 mm), arm muscle area
(20.99 cm2), the bone corrected arm muscle area is almost close to
10 cm2, conforming their critical undernutrition situations.
The present study showed the highest age at menarche
(16.27) and it is worth to mention here that all the subject were
CONCLUSION
Human migration is taking place since their evolution. Major factor
for migration was food, and food is the integral and basic component
of nutrition. The great famine of Europe (commonly known as potato
famine) was the major determinant of American colonization, that
is, Europeans forced to migrate to America. Nutrition and health
are intimately related to each other and moreover, we can say these
are complementary for each other. The past epidemic also forced
people to migrate. Though the present COVID-19 pandemic restrict
our movement, but it is the impact of modern scientific medical
knowledge about the etiology of the disease. Still, hunter-gatherer
people move from one place to another and we had witnessed the
abandonment of camp by the Jarawas in Andaman Islands during
any health emergency. Besides, so many factors are responsible for
human migration such as warfare, political unrest and ecological
condition. In other words, we can say that migration is also one
of the components of life. The main aim of social impact is lawful
resettlement and rehabilitation and sometimes the situations are
favorable and sometimes very much resistant.
The core area of AABR villages has unique favorable con-
dition for resettlement as their health and nutritional condition
is not good. Health facility is not available in their vicinity. The
nutritional status is also facing the same condition due to forest
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author acknowledges anthropological Survey of India and all
the members of SIA project. The present author is one of the mem-
bers of the team and conducted work in AABR.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Amatkantak Biosphere Reserve. Project Report. Kolkata:
Anthropological Survey of India.
Adak, D. K., R. K. Gautam, S. Bharati, A. K. Gharami, M. Pal and
P. Bharati. 2006. Body Mass Index and Chronic Energy Deficiency
of Adult Males of Central Indian Populations. Human Biology 78:
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REHABILITATION
AND RESETTLEMENT
IN CONTEXT OF
THE ACHANAKMAR-
AMARKANTAK
BIOSPHERE RESERVE
Umesh Kumar
INTRODUCTION
Biosphere reserves (BRs) are areas comprising terrestrial, marine
and coastal ecosystems. It strives for context-specific conservation
and sustainable development. The UNESCO’s framework stipulates
that BRs should have an appropriate zoning system, namely core,
buffer and transition. Ideally, the core zone should be undisturbed
and must contain suitable habitats for plant and animal species,
including higher order predators. It is to be kept free from all
human pressure external to the system.
Government of India launched the Biosphere Reserve
Programme in the year 1986. In the present day, there are 18
notified BRs in India. The human population living within BRs
has always been a matter of conflicting interests and debate,
particularly in the Indian context. To facilitate the conservation
of biodiversity, in some of the BRs, the human settlements have
VILLAGE PROFILE
All the six villages, namely Bankal, Samardhasan, Bokrakachhar,
Bahaud, Jalda and Kuba, are forest villages established by the
colonial administrators and were notified between 1893 and 1938.
As such, these villages were primarily uni-ethnic and inhabited
by the Baiga. The Baiga tribesmen, presently listed as one of the
Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, were brought from their
original homeland in central Madhya Pradesh and were resettled
in this hilly and densely forested area as labour force. The location
analysis of these villages showed that these villages were located
2. Samardhasan NA 72 73 55 45 55
6. Kuba 71 70 38 51 49 90
Source: Census of India from 1961 to 2001, 2008 and present study.
B. No. of houses 20 9 27 39 49 17
C. No. of wells 1 0 2 2 2 2
D. No. of ponds 0 2 1 2 2 0
F. No. of schools 1 0 1 1 1 0
G. Solar power 14 2 11 18 26 6
the new R&R sites were suitable for them, while 45.45 per cent
households found it somehow suitable for them. More importantly,
one-fifth of households (21.82 per cent) did not consider the pro-
posed sites suitable. The uneven undulating nature of lands and
encroachments at proposed R&R sites were the two prime reasons
which made the villagers reluctant to accept it. One major point of
concern for the villagers was the effect on social networking. About
11.54 per cent households of Bahaud, Samardhasan, Bokrakachhar
and Bankal villages considered the proposed site to be quite far
from those villages where their kith and kin reside. While settling
the villages, the social networking of people of the village should
also be considered as one of the important parameters.
On being queried as to whether they had any alternative
sites in mind, 57.27 per cent households of five villages except
Jalda responded affirmatively and gave the information related to
alternative sites.
Perceived Benefit
As regards the most important benefit perceived by the villagers,
it was found that nearly all households (97.28%) considered the
land offered by the Forest Department to be the most benefit.
They apparently looked very much interested in pursuing inten-
sive agriculture at new sites. However, few households considered
infrastructure and houses to be important benefits accruing from
the compensation package. Surprisingly, none of the households
considered cash in lieu of land to be a better option.
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IFC. 2012a. Performance standard 5 land acquisition and involuntary
resettlement. Available at http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/
SOCIAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT OF LAND
ACQUISITION
Three Projects in Punjab
Mehar Singh and Sukhvinder Singh
INTRODUCTION
At present, land acquisition for any infrastructural project, new
township, industrial estate, etc. is done under the new land
acquisition Act which is called the Right to Fair Compensation
and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act, 2013. This Act ensures fair compensation to
landowners for the acquired land and transparency in the pro-
cess of land acquisition. The rehabilitation and resettlement of
uprooted/displaced persons, if any, is also ensured under this Act.
It is also mandatory to conduct a social impact assessment (SIA) of
the affected population within six months of the publication of the
land acquisition notification. The purpose of conducting SIA is: to
know how the life of the people in the project area will be affected
positively and negatively by the project in the short and long terms.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this chapter is to share the methodology used
and findings of three SIA studies from Punjab state. These studies
were conducted by Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial
METHODOLOGY
The SIA studies of the affected population in the project areas have
been done as per the guidelines provided in the Land Acquisition
Act of 2013. Primary and secondary data have been used in these
studies. In addition to that, regular meetings were organised with
the project implementing authorities and SDMs of the project areas
for understanding certain aspects of the project or for clarification
on certain issues as well as for seeking their help for conducting
public meetings in the affected villages/towns. To assess the socio-
economic status of the affected families and to know the size of
land notified for the acquisition of each family, a household survey
of affected families in each village/town, using a pre-structured
questionnaire, was carried out. The survey teams were able to cover
more than 80% of the affected households in the two rail project
areas, and only about 19% in the road project area. The low cover-
age in the road project area was due to the fact that most affected
persons were not residents of the project area. These persons were
outsiders who had invested money in the real estate business in the
project area. The numbers of households surveyed in each project
area were as follows:
In the second part, the social impact of these three projects on the
affected landowners, general public and the project areas has been
assessed at three different stages, that is,
Project 1
The total area of the notified land in the Bhanupali–Bilaspur–Beri
new rail line project area in the seven villages of Punjab was 1,068
Kanal and 15 Marla. The village-wise break-up of this land is as
follows: Bhanupali 2K–17M, Behlu 7K–16M, Daroli 15K–14M,
Jindwari 16K–6M, Nangali 77K–1M, Samlah 221K–1M and
Paharpur 725K–0M. The total Khasra numbers of the notified land
are 231. The exact number of affected families in this project area
could not be determined. It was estimated to be between 225 and 250.
Out of these, 211 families were interviewed personally. Table 21.1
shows the size of their land notified for acquisition. It shows that in
about 27.5% of the cases, the size of the notified land was less than
5 Marla. In another, about 16.1% of the cases, this size of the noti-
fied land was in the range of 5–19 Marla. This shows that in about
43.6% of the cases, the size of the notified land was less than 1 Kanal.
Social Impact Assessment of Land Acquisition 335
Table 21.1 Distribution of Affected Farmers as Per the Size of Their Land Notified for Acquisition
Behlu 11 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 15
Bhanupali 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
Daroli 6 2 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 13
Jindwari 27 5 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 36
Nangali 8 2 4 6 1 0 0 0 0 21
Paharpur 3 2 4 9 6 17 19 5 11 76
Samloh 1 1 3 6 13 7 14 0 0 45
Total 58 15 19 22 21 25 35 5 11 211
27.49% 7.11% 9.00% 10.43% 9.95% 11.85% 16.59% 2.37% 5.21% 100.0%
Project 2
The total number of affected families in the Rajpura–Bathinda rail
line doubling project area was between 120 and 150. In some of the
villages, where the number of affected families was in a single digit,
CRRID team was able to identify all. But in other villages/towns,
where their numbers were comparatively large, some affected
households could not be identified. CRRID team interviewed 98
households from this project area.
The total area of the notified land for this project at six
locations, falling in the territory of three towns and seven villages
is 42.775 acres or about 17.31 hectares. The station (location)- and
village-wise distribution of this land is provided in Table 21.2.
The magnitude of landlessness at the level of individual
farmers in this project area is relatively large. In more than four-
fifths of the cases, this size is above 1 Kanal; in fact, in nearly one-
third of the cases this size is 5 Kanal or above. Table 21.3 shows
that out of 98 surveyed households, the size of the notified land for
acquisition in 18 (18.37%) cases is less than 1 Kanal. In 19 cases
(19.39%), it is between 1 and 2.9 Kanals and in 29 (29.59%) cases,
it is between 3 and 4.9 Kanals. The highest number 32 (32.65%)
is recorded in the 5 Kanals and above category. The table shows
that there is a linear correlation between the size of the notified
land and its frequency. However, at the station level, there is no
such correlation in the size of the notified land and its frequency.
Project 3
In the Landran junction road project area, the size of the notified
land is only about 7.338 acres or about 35,516 sq. yards.
As per the notification for land acquisition, the total affected
landowners were 421. Since most of the affected landowners in this
project area were outsiders, only 72 households, who resided in
Harchandpur 3.6875
Dhuri 0 9 10 7 26
Handiaya 6 1 2 3 12
Tapa 2 5 2 4 13
Rampura Phul 9 4 2 11 26
Lehra Mohabat 1 0 7 0 8
Bhucho 0 0 6 7 13
Total 18 19 29 32 98
Total 72 100.00
Project 2
In the Rajpura–Bathinda rail line project area, the entire notified
land at Rampura Phul was Government/MC land, while at other
locations, it was a private land. Most of the private land was a fertile
irrigated agricultural land. Wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane were
the main crops cultivated on this land. Some uncultivable land in the
form of watercourses, roads, etc. was also notified at some places.
Project 3
In the Landran junction road project area, some part of this land
was under cultivation, some under shops or other commercial activ-
ity and substantial part of it was lying vacant.
Project 1
The Bhanupali–Beri rail line has been planned mainly to provide
BG rail line connectivity to Himachal Pradesh. This region of
Himachal Pradesh is going to benefit from this line immensely.
Some other benefits of this project will be as follows:
This project however may hit the business interests of some trans-
porters who operate between Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The
transport hub at Kiratpur Sahib may shift to Bhanupali.
Project 2
Doubling of the rail line between Rajpura and Bathinda and
shifting of the loading/unloading activity of goods trains from the
Project 3
The road project at Landran has been undertaken to improve the
flow of traffic at this junction. Road users have to spend a lot of time
to cross this junction. The project at present is near completion. It
is likely to become operational very soon. The impact of this project
on the road users and the surrounding area will be as follows:
CONCLUSION
From the discussion above, the following conclusions can be drawn:
SUGGESTED READINGS
Government of India. “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency
in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.”
New Delhi: Ministry of Law, Government of India. Available at
http://www.legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A2013-30.pdf
Milat, Andrew J., Adrian E. Bauman and Sally Redman. “A Narrative
Review of Research Impact Assessment Models and Methods.”
Health Research Policy and Systems 13, No. 1 (2015): 1–7.
EDITORS
A. K. Sinha (Anil Kishore Sinha) is a professor of social anthro-
pology in the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University,
Chandigarh. His research interests include social anthropology,
tribal studies, Gender Studies, anthropology of food, medical
anthropology and impact assessment studies. He has over 35 years
of experience in academics and research with over 140 research
articles (published in national and international journals, including
chapters in edited books), 14 books (co-authored and edited) and has
contributed in different areas of research with two major research
projects funded by organizations like UGC and alike. Intrigued by
the influx of anthropology in development, he took special interest
in SIA studies in the north Indian region and conducted four SIA
studies as a PI and was appointed as a team member for two more
projects. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in states/union
territories of undivided Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. He has
supervised over 25 PhDs and has been a mentor of 4 post-doctoral
fellows.
CONTRIBUTORS
Amlan Biswas studied in the University of Kalyani, West Bengal,
Kolkata. She has the working experience of the National Sample
Survey Office and the Anthropological Survey of India. She took
part in various national projects, namely Man in Biosphere Reserve;
Development and Sustainability; and Anthropological Study on
Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities. Presently
Dr Biswas is in charge of the study of standard of living of the
communities under the national project ‘Anthropological Study on
Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities’.
Index 363
International Association for Life Cycle Assessment, 40
Impact Assessment (IAIA), Locke, John
38 on right to property, 173
Involuntary Resettlement and
Development, 57 Machiavelli, Nicco, 173
irrigations dams, major source of mental mapping, 115
displacement, 285 MICRODIS project, 215
monitoring-management pro-
Keezattoor village, agitations cess, 83
against cutting of wetland monthly per capita expenditure
paddy fields and black sand (MPCE), 193, 194, 197–200
mining, 203–210 methods adopted by National
Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. Sample Survey, 194–197
(KMML), 210 results of the survey, 197–200
Kerala Sasthra Sahitya
Parishad (Peoples’ Science National Environmental
Movement), 205–206 Engineering Research
Kerala State Pollution Control Institute, 212
Board, 212 National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA), 6, 40,
Land Acquisition (Amendment) 82
Act, 1962, 161 National Green Tribunal, 212
Land Acquisition Act (LAA) of National Rehabilitation and
1894, 154, 257 Resettlement Policy, 2007,
Land Acquisition Act of 1894, 26, 114
149 natural disasters
Land Acquisition Act of 1894 defined, 217
(LAA 1894), 143 impacts, measurement of,
land acquisition for three pro- 217–219
jects in Punjab, SIA study social impact assessment of,
of, 330–333, 336 219–230
affected families and magni- weather related disasters, 216
tude of landless, 334–339 Niyamgiri hills bauxite project of
at land acquisition stage, Vedanta, 6, 14
343–345 non timber forest products
at operation stage, 346–348 (NTFPs), 97
displacement of families and nutrition, defined, 304
shopkeepers, 340–341
during construction stage, 345 Odisha
nature of notified land, 340 Chikapar village, case study,
serve public purpose, 333–334 260–264
serving bare minimum neces- individual case study of land
sity, 341–342 acquisition, 258–260
land acquisition in India mining of minerals, 251–258
doldrums in, 112 Odisha Right to Fair
history of, 174–177 Compensation and
Index 365
social anthropologists, impor- issues and obligations to carry
tance in conducting SIA, studies on, 136–139
237–240 legal dimensions of, 248–249
social impact assessment (SIA), methods adopted to collect
22, 75, 80, 83, 112, 144, field data, 249–251
189–191, 191–193, 203, need for, 3–5
247–248 objective of, 3
aim of, 236 origin of, 3, 5, 6–9
and enactment of compensa- plan of action, 84–87
tory policies, 265 practioner role in, 90
and land acquisition policy of present scenario of, 25
government, 139 process of, 76–77
anthropological approaches in purpose of, 26–28
conducting, 237–240 role of social scientists, 234
applied and development social scientists role in, 55
anthropologists role in, spatial dimensions of,
34–36 116–117
as public welfare, 51 use of, 245
case study of irrigation project various areanas of, 23–24
in Andhra Pradesh, 28–34 vs NGO, 5
challenges for, 90 social impact management plan
components of, 88 (SIMP), 236, 239
contemporary professionals, social impacts of extreme events,
contributions of, 134–136 216
defined, 5, 38, 80–81, 236 social learning, 47
effectiveness of, factors for, Social Life Cycle Assessment
15–18 (SLCA), 50
ethical dimensions of, 26 Somasila Irrigation Project in
for indigenous communities, Andhra Pradesh, displace-
15 ment due to, 285, 299–300
future of, 46–50 and expenditure patterns, 296
geographic information and occupational pattern,
system role in study of, 290–291
117–119 butterfly effect, 297
history of, 38–43 conflict resolution mechanism,
importance of, 87–90, 246 299
in India, assessment of, occupational changes,
43–46, 246–247 290–295
in Odisha, implementation of, rehabilitation and transport
240–242 allowances, 298
Interorganizational sensitivity of personnel doing
Committee on Principles SIA and SIMP, 298
and Guidelines for Social trauma and consequences,
Impact Assessment 286–290
(IOCGP), 8–9 Supreme Court of India
Index 367