Building of Large Dams and the Rights of Tribes in India
P. Karunakar
Volume 11, Number 1 (2012) 11 (1): 27-41
Keywords Water Resources Development, Large Dams, Tribal Communities, Dam Construction, Displacement, Environmental Degradation, Economic Impact, Human Rights, Land Acquisition Act, Infrastructure Development, Impact of Dams on Tribal People, Distributional Implications of Public Policies, Impact on Tribal Livelihood, Compensation Challenges, Impact of Dams on Indigenous People, Rehabilitation Policies in India, Large-scale Displacement, Human Rights Violations, Policy Interventions for Tribal Rights
Abstract
India's equating of national development with economic growth has driven large dam construction, causing severe environmental degradation and disproportionate tribal displacement. This analysis reveals how projects like Sardar Sarovar, Polavaram, and Nagarjunsagar dismantle tribal livelihoods, community structures, and cultural practices while offering inadequate compensation. Distributional inequities highlight how public policies favor economic gains for some at extreme costs to marginalized communities. Human rights violations—contravening international laws—stem from flawed resettlement measures and rehabilitation failures. The Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill's limitations are scrutinized, including problematic beneficiary criteria and insufficient social impact assessments. Emphasizing case studies, the work advocates prioritizing human rights over political-economic interests, demanding rigorous impact evaluations and rights-based frameworks that honor tribal sovereignty in water resource development.
P. Karunakar
Published June 1, 2012
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 P. Karunakar (Author)
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