Development without Empowerment: A Subaltern Perspective

This paper focuses on the state of displacement and it’s implications on the marginalised communities across the states of Rajasthan and Maharashtra in the West and Odisha and West Bengal in the Eastern parts of the Indian sub-continent. The present study has been conducted by the authors to assess the nature, type and extent of displacement that has occurred over the years using mixed methods so as to bring out the perils of development induced displacement.

Additionally, this paper brings to light the fact that more than sixty-five percent of the dispossessed are living in precarious conditions without any just alternative to their sustenance, thus consequently leading to extreme marginalisation. Since, the community relies extensively on the informal sector for livelihood hence any form of alienation of the Common Property Resource (CPR) dependants has led to an alienation from the economy, culture, social systems and political structures too. This study uses David Harvey’s theory of ‘Accumulation by Dispossession’ that argues the eminent domain of hegemonic concept of monopolization of community resources in the contemporary society.

Thus, in the light of this situation, the current study tries to understand this complexity from the dispossessed’s point of view while also searching for alternatives to minimise the issue of displacement that has gained precedence in the current academia. Though the country has witnessed an amendment of the Land Acquisition Act, yet the socio-economic deterioration of the displaced people continues to appear as a perennial issue. Hence, this paper tries to reveal a bird’s eye-view of the disempowerment of communities through displacement and inadequate rehabilitation that pose a challenge to the national conscience.