HOUSING AND LAND RIGHTS NETWORK FORCED EVICTIONS IN INDIA IN 2018 An Unabating National Crisis Forced Evictions in India in 2018: An Unabating National Crisis 01 Suggested Citation: Forced Evictions in India in 2018: An Unabating National Crisis, Housing and Land Rights Network, New Delhi, 2019 Report Prepared by: Shivani Chaudhry, Deepak Kumar, Anagha Jaipal, and Aishwarya Ayushmaan [with contributions from Saba Ahmed, Shanta Devi, and Dev Pal] Cover Photograph: Anuradha Report Published by: Housing and Land Rights Network G-18/1 Nizamuddin West Lower Ground Floor New Delhi – 110 013, INDIA +91-11-4054-1680 [email protected] www.hlrn.org.in New Delhi, April 2019 ISBN: 978-8-935672-3-4 This publication is printed on CyclusPrint based on 100% recycled fibres FORCED EVICTIONS IN INDIA IN 2018 An Unabating National Crisis HOUSING AND LAND RIGHTS NETWORK ii Housing and Land Rights Network Acknowledgments Documenting forced evictions in India is a challenging task, especially as there is not much information available in the public domain. The Government of India—at the central and state levels—does not maintain data on evictions and displacement, and media reporting on the issue is limited. Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) thus established the ‘National Eviction and Displacement Observatory’ to document, draw attention to, and monitor forced evictions and displacement across India. We believe that without accurate data on the issue, policy response cannot be framed adequately. In the absence of official data, the Observatory also depends on the inputs of partner organizations working on issues of housing and land rights across India. We are grateful to the following individuals for their contributions to this report and for their time, effort, and willingness to assist us in this ambitious but important endeavour: Miloon Kothari, Vanessa Peter, Beena Jadav, Anuradha, Anand Lakhan, Brijesh Arya, Br Varghese Theckanath, Sanjeev Kumar, Isaac Arul Selva, Ashok Pandey, and Mansoor Khan. We would also like to thank, among others, Ankur Paliwal, Ashfaq Khan, Dhirendra Panda, Ganga Dileep, Gyatso Lepcha, Jessica Mayberry, Jiten Yumnam, Lakhi Das, Lobsang Gyatso, Medha Patkar, Moushumi Sharma, Mrinali Karthick, Nihar Gokhale, Nikhil Gupta, Pragnya Saha, Shweta Damle, and Srinivasu Pragada. Housing and Land Rights Network would like to acknowledge the following organizations for their assistance with data collection and verification: • Adarsh Seva Sansthan • Affected Citizens of Teesta • Association of Urban and Tribal Development • Beghar Adhikar Abhiyan • Campaign for Housing and Tenurial Rights (CHATRI) • Centre for Research and Advocacy • Centre for the Sustainable Use of Natural and Social Resources • Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGBA) • Habitat and Livelihood Welfare Association • Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) • Land Conflict Watch • Madhya Pradesh Nav Nirman Manch (MPNNM) • Montfort Social Institute • Nagrik Sangharsh Morcha • Narmada Bachao Andolan • NIDAN • Paryavaran Mitra • Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti Forced Evictions in India in 2018: An Unabating National Crisis iii • Pehchaan • Prakriti • Rahethan Adhikar Manch (Housing Rights and Human Rights Group) • Save Mon Region Federation • Shahri Gareeb Sangharsh Morcha • Slum Jagatthu • Video Volunteers • Vigyan Foundation We would like to dedicate this report to all those who have suffered from forced evictions and the loss of their homes/lands. We hope that our efforts at documenting and highlighting this unrelenting national crisis will help, in some way, to bring justice to the affected persons and will contribute towards the cessation of the unconstitutional and undemocratic practice of forced evictions, which results in multiple human rights violations and detrimental long-term consequences, not just for the affected population but also for the entire nation. Any state that is serious about meeting its national and international legal and moral commitments, must work to prevent the occurrence of forced evictions. Shivani Chaudhry Executive Director, Housing and Land Rights Network New Delhi, April 2019 iv Housing and Land Rights Network Contents I. Introduction 1 II. Major Findings 3 1. Geography of Forced Evictions in 2018 3 2. Reasons for Forced Evictions in 2018 4 3. Lack of Due Process 15 4. Low Rate of Resettlement and Inadequate Resettlement 18 5. Multiple Human Rights Violations 22 6. Violation of National and International Laws, Policies, and Standards 26 7. Limited Access to Remedy and Justice 26 8. Extensive Threat of Eviction and Displacement 29 9. Loss of Housing from Fires 30 III. Recommendations 32 IV. Conclusion 35 Annexures 37 I. Table1: Forced Evictions in Urban and Rural India in 2018 38 II. Table 2: Threat of Forced Eviction/Displacement in India 50 III. Map 1: Forced Evictions in India in 2018 54 IV. Map 2: People Affected by Evictions in Different States of India in 2018 55 V. Map 3: Threat of Forced Eviction/Displacement in India 56 Forced Evictions in India in 2018: An Unabating National Crisis v vi Housing and Land Rights Network I. Introduction Housing and Land Rights Network India (HLRN), through its ‘National Eviction and Displacement Observatory’ has been documenting forced evictions across India since 2015. The Observatory compiles data on incidents of forced eviction and displacement in urban and rural areas—through primary and secondary research—and also aims to assist affected communities with relief, redress, restitution, and access to justice, where possible. In the absence of official data on displacement in India, HLRN established the Observatory to document, highlight, and seek solutions to the serious but largely unacknowledged and unaddressed national crisis of forced evictions and home demolitions of the urban and rural poor. Definition of ‘Forced Eviction’ This report uses the definition of ‘forced eviction’ provided by General Comment 7 (1997)1 of the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: “The permanent or temporary removal against the will of individuals, families or communities from their homes or land, which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.” In the year 2018, data collected by HLRN, with the assistance of partner organizations, reveals that government authorities, at both the central and state levels, demolished more than 41,700 homes, thereby forcefully evicting at least 202,200 (over 2 lakh) people across urban and rural India (see Annexure I for details). This is in addition to the over 260,000 people evicted in 2017, the majority of whom were not resettled by the state and thus continue to live in extremely inadequate conditions characterized by high insecurity, lack of access to basic services, precarity, and fear. Furthermore, data compiled by HLRN also reveals that at least 11.3 million people across India live under the threat of eviction and potential displacement (see Annexure II for details). It is important to note that while these figures are extremely alarming, they are a conservative estimate and present only part of the real picture and scale of forced evictions in the country, as they only reflect cases known to HLRN. The actual number of people evicted and displaced in India in 2018 as well as those facing the risk of eviction, therefore, is likely to be much higher. Also, though the incidence of forced evictions in 2018 is disturbingly high, it is likely to have been greater if the rate of investment in the country had been higher. As a result of a drop in industrial activity and projects, many land acquisition, real estate, and infrastructure projects were delayed or stalled in the calendar year of 2018.2 As more projects get sanctioned and implemented, it is feared that a large number of people living at or near sites marked for various projects, including mining, ports, dams, and road and highway construction, will be evicted and displaced. The total number of evictions would also have been higher had it not been for the strategic intervention and active resistance of local communities to save their homes in many parts of the country. Housing and Land Rights Network has documented that a large number of evictions have been prevented through advocacy by local communities with the support of civil society organizations, as well as through stay orders from courts. In the year 2018, proactive action in Delhi by local communities and supporting organizations, including Forced Evictions in India in 2018: An Unabating National Crisis 1 HLRN, resulted in stay orders from the High Court of Delhi that prevented more than 2,500 homes from being demolished by various government authorities, including the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Indian Railways. Similarly in Chennai, advocacy and resistance by local communities threatened with eviction has resulted in four settlements or over 1,200 homes being saved from demolition. In Mumbai, effective legal advocacy and intervention by civil society organizations resulted in a stay order from the Bombay High Court (W.P. (lodging) 3246/2004) on the demolition of 800 homes in Bheemchhaya, Vikhroli, a settlement of mostly Dalits and Muslims.3 Across the country, including in rural areas, a large number of local communities are struggling against projects that threaten to displace them from their homes and habitats. Without their sustained and strategic action, thousands more would have lost their homes in 2018. However,