DISPLACEMENT OF SANTHALS Mining Project in Bihar

In developing countries about 80 to 90 million people have been displaced and resettled during the last decade as a result of large scale development projects such as dams, mining, urban and  transportation networks and other infrastructure programmes.  Deprivation and loss of livelihoods faced by displaced people are a common feature of all these projects.  The trauma and hardships of these people has time and again been the central theme of much of the published literature, films, popular movements and public debates.

In development circles increasing emphasis is being laid on planned displacement, participatory resettlement and restoration of the incomes and livelihoods of displaced communities.  Although a national policy on rehabilitation is still a faraway dream, a detailed review of the socio-economic environment of local populations prior to displacement is being stressed upon by regulatory and funding agencies especially in relation to large-scale development projects.  Such a review should ideally serve as the framework for designing rehabilitation and poverty reduction programmes.

On these lines, Development Alternatives was commissioned by MetChem Canada Inc. to review the social economy of Boarijore block of district Godda in Bihar where the Rajmahal Project will displace about 6000 people over the next 20 years.  The project is one of the largest open cast coal mining projects of Eastern Coal Fields Limited (ECL.).  Coal production is being carried out in collaboration with Met-Chem Canada Inc.  with the provision to supply coal to Farakka and Kahalgaon thermal power stations.

About 32 kilometers from Pripainti station, a bumpy drive brings you to Boarijore which is home to Santhal tribals settled here from time immemorial and subsisting on paddy cultivation and the produce from the adjacent deciduous forest.  We give a brief account of the visit by the project team of Development Alternatives to the Rajmahal project site in February this year.  It presents the views and sentiments of the local people against the mining operations which threatens to disrupt their natural habitat, local economy and social fabric.

Our primary task was to elicit the views of the local people on the proposed resettlement envisaged by the implementing agency.  It may not sound true but we were expected to talk to people about a matter which they were not aware of.  Over a series of meeting was explained with the help of mining plans and village maps that mining which was scheduled to commence sometime this year would encroach upon all the seven villages would entail resettlement of people in other parts of the district.

But then who were we?  Had we been sent by the government or the implementing agency (ECL)?  It was only when we established our neutrality and our mission to give wider publicity to their concerns, that the local people agreed to listen to us and express their views on the proposed displacement.

To begin with, they posed a number of questions to us: Is this the last  harvest we have gaken from our land?  What about the Special Status accorded to us a tribal block?  What will happen to our toal (settlement)?  Who does the land belong to?  Will our land be returned to us after mining?  What will we do without our paddy fields and forests?  How will we feed ourselves and our animals?

We had to get hold of documents regarding land compensation, house compensation, employment opportunities and the rehabilitation process and explain these to the people in a series of village meetings.

What is being offered to them
The compensation for agricultural land has been valued at 15 years capitalised value of one half of the agricultural produce.  It is based on the productivity as per 1987 rates and varies for different types of land.  A Land Losers Scheme initiated by ECL gives one job for every two acres of land acquired from the owners.  Only one job is given, irrespective of the number of families within a household which depend on a particular plot of land.  Most of these jobs are in the unskilled category.  While allocating house plots, every adult male child is considered for a separate plot and compensation for houses is in accordance with the materials used in their present residence.

Do the people find the compensation adequate or rational
No.  It is not rational at all.  A survey of the seven villages revealed that about 55 percent of the households own less than two acres of land.  Therefore ECL is taking into account less than half of the affected population.  Even in households with more than two acres of land, employment is not given to more than two persons.  This does not take into account the number of members eligible for jobs, and especially the female members.  In most cases, the actual number of eligible members out number the jobs offered.

Only 57 of the 576 vacancies are reserved for local people.  This assessment if at all based on any rational assumption, is far removed from the reality on the ground.  Even if we consider only one job for each household owning more than two acres of land, the number of jobs required will exceed 400.

The people felt that apart from creating unemployment within a household, this would also accentuate tensions and feuds within a family.

It was pointed out that land compensation takes into account crop production and not land prices.  Since they will not get back their land after mining, should they not be paid the current price of land?

What about the income derived from agricultural labour and secondary sources of livelihood based on local natural resources and indigenous skills?  In every village, we came across households making sal leaf-plates, baskets from bamboo, rope and macrame items from jute, storage bins for grain from straw, and palm leaf mats.  Does their natural habitat not extend beyond the paddy fields?  The adjacent forests are a source of fuelwood, fruits, medicinal herbs and wild animals.

These are an important source of livelihood for the local people and especially for those with little or no land and those who make a living from the traditional skills they possess like the Mohalis who are basket markers and Pahariya tribals subsisting on fuelwood collection and sale.

“What will happen to our young boys and girls?“
Land gives the people greater security than jobs.  It can be inherited by their children.  “Now what will our children do?”  They are not trained in  any activity other than agriculture.  This group the youth - will constitute the most agitated and socially restless group in the next three to four years when they become eligible for employment and face joblessness.

Near the waste dumps, we met young boys and girls who have dropped out from schools and make their living by collecting coal - this even under the constant threat of getting beaten up.

Will displacement trigger social tensions

The local people have before them the case of the village Bara Simra which has been rehabilitated recently by ECL.  They report that prior to mining, ECL orders a land survey for the entire village but subsequently negotiates with individual households or specific communities.  In Bara Simra, ECL offered one job against one acre of land initially but later changed to one job for every two acres.  Thus within the village people got different compensation.  There were rumours that people of certain religious groups/communities from different villages will be segregated and settled on one site.  Such divisions can disrupt village cohension based on years of close social and economic ties.

An illegal market for coal-picking and selling has already established its networks and is being controlled by a coal lobby which is insensitive to local ethos.  In the face of deprivation it employs local people to bring coal from the mines at very low wages.

What do the people propose
The people in these villages have no local spokesman to express their views and negotiate with the implementing agency.  They do not have any previous experience in dealing with formal institutions and are also not familiar with the written rules or directives for resettlement.  Nor are they in a position to approach a tribunal to express their grievances and bring their viewpoint or decisions to its attention.  However, they are rational and are ready to face the situation together.  At the panchayat level, meetings were organised, all the issues discussed so far were debated upon and the schemes of ECL reviewed.

The people wanted the land back in spite of knowing that it might not be suitable for cultivation after mining.  In case this was not possible, people wanted fair land compensation, training opportunities for the youth and options for enterprise development based on local resources and skills.  A set of four options were formulated.  (Please see Figure above entitled Options).

Parting Note : Development for whom and what cost
While ECL continues with its plan for expansion of mining operations and implementation of rehabilitation schemes and the local people prepare themselves, involuntarily, for adjustment to physical relocation and alteration in their immediate humanscape, the coal being mined is in excess to what is required.  The Kahalgaon thermal station is not operational yet and the Farakka plant cannot consume more than its capacity.  So the huge dumps of coal spell danger not only because they can lead to fire butr also because after some time the coal’s calorific value reduces.  Is it not time that this project and many similar ones are viewed in a proper perspective?

Prema Gera

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