Lose to Gain Is Involuntary Resettlement a Development Opportunity? A crucial issue that confronts development in South Asia is how to build a better life for people displaced by infrastructure development projects. This book comprises recent displacement and resettlement case studies conducted by eight anthropologists in South Asia. Each contributor wrote around the key theme of the book: Is involuntary resettlement Lose to Gain: a development opportunity for those displaced by development interventions? In this book, ”resettlement” carries a broader meaning to include physical and economic displacement, restricted access to public land such as forests and parks, relocation, income rehabilitation, and self-relocation. Is Involuntary Resettlement a Development Opportunity? The book demonstrates that despite significant progress in national policies, laws, and regulations, their application still requires more Lose to Gain commitment, adequate resources, and better supervision. About the Asian Development Bank Is Involuntary Resettlement ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is a Development Opportunity? to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region’s many successes, it remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor: 1.7 billion people who Edited by Jayantha Perera live on less than $2 a day, with 828 million struggling on less than $1.25 a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines www.adb.org Printed on recycled paper Printed in the Philippines Lose to Gain Is Involuntary Resettlement a Development Opportunity? Edited by Jayantha Perera © 2014 Asian Development Bank All rights reserved. Published in 2014. Printed in the Philippines. ISBN 978-92-9254-355-6 (Print), 978-92-9254-356-3 (PDF) Publication Stock No. BKK135930 Cataloging-In-Publication Data Asian Development Bank. Lose to gain: Is involuntary resettlement a development opportunity? Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2014. 1. Involuntary resettlement. 2. South Asia. I. Asian Development Bank. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. ADB encourages printing or copying information exclusively for personal and noncommercial use with proper acknowledgment of ADB. Users are restricted from reselling, redistributing, or creating derivative works for commercial purposes without the express, written consent of ADB. Note: In this publication, “$” refers to US dollars. Cover photo: Sherin Qadir 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines Tel +63 2 632 4444 Fax +63 2 636 2444 www.adb.org For orders, please contact: Public Information Center Fax +63 2 636 2584 [email protected] Printed on recycled paper Contents Foreword iv Acknowledgments vi Abbreviations vii Contributors ix 1. Introduction 1 by Jayantha Perera 2. Negotiating Impoverishment Risks through Informal Social Structures and Practices 15 by Tulsi C. Bisht 3. Displacement through Limiting Access to Forests: A Socio-Legal Analysis 36 by Jayantha Perera 4. Living Displaced: Post-Displacement Livelihood Strategies of Displaced Muslims in Sri Lanka 58 by Razaak M. Ghani 5. Resettlement Planning and Pre-Displacement Impoverishment 82 by Jayantha Perera 6. Why Compensation Is Not Enough to Make Resettlement a Development Opportunity? 105 by Chiara Mariotti 7. Reconstructing and Improving Livelihoods among the Urban Displaced: Lessons from Mumbai, India 126 by Dolores Koenig 8. Income Restoration and Livelihood Development: Impoverishment Risk or a Development Opportunity? 151 by Amarasena Gamaathige 9. Compensation, Replacement Cost, and Post-Resettlement Impoverishment 170 by Biswanath Debnath 10. Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement: Experiences of the People’s Republic of China and India 187 by Hari Mohan Mathur Index 210 iii Foreword nvoluntary displacement of persons occurs when a state agency acquires private property or limits access to public land. Such displacement affects I not only the physically displaced, but also those who lost their livelihoods and the host population that eventually accommodates them. Loss of property and access to common land, community disintegration, and loss of income sources and livelihood are the common outcomes of involuntary displacement. Involuntary resettlement is a process that assists the displaced persons to replace their lost land, housing, and access to resources and services to restore and improve their socioeconomic and cultural conditions. In the past 25 years, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has developed policies and methodologies to help its borrowers minimize displacement and restore sources of incomes and livelihoods of those affected by development projects. In 1990, the then President of ADB directed the staff to follow the World Bank’s Operations Directive 4.30 on Involuntary Resettlement in planning, implementing, and monitoring all projects. In June 1991, ADB issued guidelines for social analysis of development projects and for the formulation of involuntary resettlement plans and their implementation. ADB issued Staff Instructions on Certain Policy/Administrative Issues—Involuntary Resettlement in February 1994 emphasizing that staff should adhere to the principles and approaches in Operations Directive 4.30 to deal with involuntary resettlement in ADB operations until a formal adoption of a bank policy on involuntary resettlement. ADB’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy was approved in 1995 and became effective in 1996. The Safeguard Policy Update of 2009 incorporated the post-1995 involuntary resettlement policy developments and broadened the scope of involuntary resettlement policy to include the imposition of limits on access to public land such as forests and parks. ADB’s involuntary resettlement policy shares several international best practices with the involuntary resettlement policies of several international and regional development agencies. Among these best practices are: (i) involuntary displacement should be avoided or minimized; (ii) where displacement of persons is inevitable in the context of a specific project, they will be compensated for their losses at full replacement cost; (iii) assistance should be given to displaced persons to move and support them during the transition period; and (iv) assistance should be provided to displaced persons to restore their former living standards, and improve their income-earning capacity and production levels. As the book points out, during the past several decades, developing member countries (DMCs) in South Asia have adopted these international best iv Foreword v practices on involuntary displacement and resettlement on their own initiative and with the help of international development agencies such as ADB. A key challenge to both ADB and borrowers has been how to ensure that displaced persons recover from their physical and economic displacement. This book examines this key development issue in the South Asian context using several case studies from India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The enactment of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013 replacing the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 in India shows the willingness of DMCs to embrace good practices and to apply them, enabling displaced persons to regain their livelihoods and benefit from development processes. In South Asia, however, the level of incorporation of involuntary resettlement good practices varies widely. In the past decade, ADB’s South Asia Department has worked with several DMCs to improve or formulate national involuntary resettlement policies, laws, and regulations with varying levels of success. The application of such policies, laws, and regulations has also been improved especially at the project level, benefiting the displaced persons. As the book points out, more commitment, legal reforms, and adequate resources are needed to ensure that involuntary resettlement becomes a development opportunity for all project- affected persons. I thank the contributors to this important and timely book for presenting their analyses of the outcomes of diverse project experiences and for providing insights into how development processes might better accommodate development needs and aspirations of displaced persons and their communities. Each chapter has identified risks and vulnerabilities that are generated by displacement, specific actions needed to avoid or at least minimize them, and how to create opportunities for the displaced to improve their socioeconomic conditions.