Dams and their Effects on Forests and Tribal People in India

Dams and their Effects on Forests and Tribal People in India

India is one of the largest dam-building nations in the world and  the fact is that dams are the single largest cause of human displacement in India and account for 75 per cent to 80 per cent of displacement of about four to five crore people.

The impact of large dams on forests and on the lifestyle and identity of tribal people is extremely high. Almost 40 per cent of those displaced by dams belong to scheduled tribes and 20 per cent to schedule castes. Only 25 per cent of the displaced people have been rehabilitated so far.

Of the 32 dams of a height of more than 50 m that were completed between 1951 and 1970, only nine (or less than 30 per cent) were in tribal areas. That figure doubled between 1971 and 1990, a period when another 85 dams of a height of more than 50 m were under construction. These were taller and more sophisticated than the earlier dams and about 60 per cent of these dams were in tribal areas. A recent government report based on a study of 110 projects stated that more than 50 per cent of the total 1.69 million people displaced by these projects were tribals. This means that the tribal communities which account for just 8 per cent of

India’s total population constitute about 40 per cent of the displaced persons. About 92 per cent of the tribal people in India live in rural areas which are dry, forested or hilly. Most of them depend on agriculture and minor forest produce for sustenance. These largely self-sufficient tribal communities live in close proximity to forests, rivers and mountains. Since these areas are rich in natural resources they are most likely to be developed for dams, mines, industries and so on.

Immediately after Independence, only a few dams were built in tribal areas. However, by the 1970s, when the resources in more accessible areas were exhausted, more dams were planned in tribal areas thereby displacing a large number of tribal people.

Tribals are socially, economically and politically the weakest and the most deprived community in India. They have been evicted from their ancestral homes and are either forced to migrate to urban slums in search of employment or become landless labourers in rural areas to pay the price of‘development’. Unfortunately, tribal people hardly get to share the benefits of development projects that cause their displacement. They are always forced to live without the basic amenities like roads, electricity, transport, communication, healthcare, drinking water or sanitation. On the contrary, a majority of them end up with less income than before, less work opportunities, inferior houses, less access to the resources of the common people such as fuel wood and fodder, poor nutrition and poor physical and mental health. Developmental projects have invariably led to the dispersal of communities, the breakdown of traditional support systems and the devaluation of their cultural identity. Therefore, the government should devise a strategy to minimize tribal displacement. It must ensure 100 per cent rehabilitation and make sure that the fruits of development are shared with the dispersed people as well. It must augment the rehabilitation of the displaced persons of previous projects, protect the customary rights of the tribal people over natural resources and take their opinions into consideration for future projects.