Displacements triggered by development-Some issues for reflection

Development certainly involves a transformation, progress and a better future. It stands for planned, directed, stimulated upward movement of the entire social system. precise, Development is a structural change meaning both growth and change. The process of change world wide in the wake of globalization is quite unprecedented. The resources world wide, are harnessed to make production a global activity. The multinational corporations are spreading their tentacles all over the globe in an attempt to enforce their hegemony. In this scale of production process, a rapid transformation ushers in the existing conditions of existence. In this process of emergence and transformation, dislocation of the established life results in pain, anguish and displacement of livelihood for many. While the displacements are justified as the price for development, the chaos and the pain it inflicts is terrible to bear.

The infrastructural development in the form of laying and expanding roads keeping in view, futuristic state of communication and the building of dams to generate electricity to meet the future requirements, the creation of Industrial corridors and SEZ for providing employment to the youth all sound well on papers but put to practice these ambitious projects do not seem to keep in view the poor and the needy in mind. The recent protest at Singur in West Bengal against the acquisition of huge tracts well irrigated land for setting up of Tata's Nano car factory. The acquisition of huge tracts of lands, forcibly at Sompeta in Srikakulam district, which was resisted by people was that the precious lands were taken away for a paltry sum with political connivance for some private power project. The exploitation of the land sharks is on the rise. The pressure they could exert with those in office is what people protest. In the name of development, the deprivation of the poor of their only way of livelihood is what is to be resisted. There is the criticism that development would certainly involve displacement. There cannot be development without tears. The argument which was once put forth for industrialization was rationalization without tears. The multinational companies which keep their eyes on third world economies try to exploit the poor conditions and plunder their resources and convert them into goods and squeeze profits by showing paltry employment to the locals. Their design is to assume commercial and economic hegemony and the latent agenda of neo colonialism. There is bound to be strong reactions from the people's movements against this kind of global exploitation with the local connivance. The civil society needs to be more cautious against these selfish forces.

This paper seeks to deliberate upon the recent movements against the setting up of multinational SEZ in the cities and tries argue for following the Gandhian ideal of ‘ Sarvodaya’ to keep everybody's development and welfare in mind while planning for any development plan.

This paper draws the conclusion that the planners in the Nation are to be cautious not to be ensnared by the multinationals, who only aim to plunder the nations’ precious natural resources. The development strategy needs to follow Gandhian Sarvodaya model, which aimed to wipe away tears from every eye vis-à-vis the capitalists action, causing tears in every eye.