Asmita Kabra - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Books by Asmita Kabra

Country Frameworks for Development Displacement and Resettlement : Reducing Risk, Building Resilience, 2019

While international safeguard standards against forced displacement are being diluted globally, I... more While international safeguard standards against forced displacement are being diluted globally, India has transitioned recently to a more stringent legal framework for compensation and rehabilitation of those displaced by involuntary land acquisition. The new Indian land acquisition law enacted in 2013 replaces a colonial-era law. It has strong legally actionable safeguards for social impact assessment, prior consent, fair compensation, public participation and transparency in land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation. We document the transition to the new legal regime and highlight the subnational scale as an important determinant of resettlement outcomes for vulnerable groups. Through lessons learned from the first ever Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for an urban infrastructure project in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, we debate the merits of global versus local safeguard regimes. We argue that strong, legally actionable national safeguards and robust global safeguard standards are mutually complementary. Global standards can lay down widely acceptable normative standards based on universal principles of human rights and justice. National standards are more likely to successfully trigger short and long-term political processes through which the gap between rhetoric and reality can be bridged, so that resettlement outcomes on the ground move closer to the normative.

Papers by Asmita Kabra

Oxford Development Studies

Country Frameworks for Development Displacement and Resettlement, 2019

Routledge Handbook of Development Ethics

CHAPTER 6 IMPACT OF INVOLUNTARY DISPLACEMENT ON A TRIBAL COMMUNITY (A CASE STUDY OF THE SAHARIYA ... more CHAPTER 6 IMPACT OF INVOLUNTARY DISPLACEMENT ON A TRIBAL COMMUNITY (A CASE STUDY OF THE SAHARIYA ADIVASI DISPLACED FROM KUNO WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, MADHYA PRADESH) ASMITA KABRA POVERTY, ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES ...

Challenging the Prevailing Paradigm of Displacement and Resettlement

Social Change

The right to compensation and rehabilitation for those displaced by projects is a generally recog... more The right to compensation and rehabilitation for those displaced by projects is a generally recognised principle of multilateral development institutions and, increasingly, of national governments. There is no such consensus of the concept of benefit-sharing—neither its definition nor realisation. This paper advances this discussion: reviewing past performance of benefit-sharing and anticipating its future rationale, timing and delivery. Drawing upon country laws and project reviews for hydropower, it also briefly examines prospects for another revenue generating sector: mining and non-revenue generating urban projects. It addresses the question: should benefit-sharing be limited to monetary benefits derived only from projects generating revenue during the project operations phase or should a broader concept of benefit-sharing prevail? The authors compare both financial and resettlement logics of each form. In anticipating an uncertain future, they conclude that centralising partner...

Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different ... more The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea-something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to.

Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal

The conservation-versus-human rights debate typically positions ecologists and conservationists a... more The conservation-versus-human rights debate typically positions ecologists and conservationists against social scientists and human rights activists (Rangarajan and Shahabuddin 2010). I argue that recent research in the natural and social sciences invites us to revisit entrenched mythologies, canons, and dogmas on both sides. The moral imperative of biodiversity conservation and protection of endangered species resonates with most people, as does the importance of protecting the rights of vulnerable people. To understand the spaces of agreement and dissent, it is important to disentangle the twin moral imperatives of conservation and social justice from the canons and dogmas informing conservation, actual conservation strategies, and the outcomes for humans and non-human species. The core premise of protected areas-based conservation is that human presence in 'pristine' or 'wilderness' areas is detrimental to biodiversity (Karanth 2018). This canon of human disturbance has underpinned the creation of 'inviolate' protected areas as the preferred strategy for biodiversity conservation worldwide, and also underlies optional strategies like participatory conservation, 'sustainable landscapes' (Karanth 2018), as well as the 'land-sparing' arguments of more recent vintage (Phalan et al. 2011). The rate of creation of protected areas has accelerated in the twentyfirst century as part of a global consensus under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).

Journal of Contemporary Asia

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

This paper sets out a qualitative rapid research framework for designing and conducting field-bas... more This paper sets out a qualitative rapid research framework for designing and conducting field-based studies of the livelihood risks and opportunities (LRO) arising from involuntary displacement and resettlement. The 'livelihood risks and opportunities' framework combines insights from the 'impoverishment risks and returns' framework and the 'sustainable livelihoods' approach. This paper discusses the advantages of the LRO framework over other currently used qualitative and rapid research methods, and demonstrates its application through case studies of conservation-induced displacement in India.

Land Use Policy, 2014

ABSTRACT Studies of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) and conservation-ind... more ABSTRACT Studies of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) and conservation-induced displacement argue that when displaced people are resettled at a new location, their ‘hosts’ suffer impoverishment risks due to loss of common property resources to resettlers. Compensation for host communities, though acknowledged increasingly in policy, is rare in practice. This paper unpackages ‘host community impacts’ by investigating intra-household variations in livelihood impacts in a central Indian host village in a case of conservation-induced displacement. The ability of host households to cope with risks and gain from new opportunities is distributed unevenly along lines of power encoded in caste, class and gender. However, we show that site-specific historical and ecological factors can create contingent and multi-directional livelihood outcomes. Moreover, the overall human development impact on host households varies depending on how old vulnerabilities like low cash income give way to new vulnerabilities related to stronger integration with the market and the developmental state.

Conservation and Society, 2009

Attempts at 'preservation via displacement' are an extreme manifestation of the 'fortress' or an ... more Attempts at 'preservation via displacement' are an extreme manifestation of the 'fortress' or an exclusionary conservation paradigm, support for which has increased lately due to escalating conservation threats. While the policies and processes emanating from this paradigm have produced positive conservation outcomes for some Protected Areas, livelihood outcomes for the displaced people have seldom been as positive. This article examines whether the impoverishment risks arising from conservation-induced displacement tend to vary with the degree of marginalisation of the displaced community. In this light, this article examines in detail the impact on livelihood of conservation-induced displacement in two Protected Areas (PAs) of India. The article posits that understanding the dynamic livelihood context of displaced communities, especially the ecological base of their livelihoods, is critical to any assessment of their pre-and post-displacement livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes (such as income, poverty, food security and health). A variety of livelihood parameters, including compensation received, consumption fl ows, agricultural production, monetary income, food security, headcount ratio of poverty and overall poverty indices have been studied, to understand the extent to which key livelihood risks arising out of displacement are addressed by the rehabilitation package and process in the two PAs. The Sahariya is a forest-dependent Adivasi community living in and around the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in the semi-arid tropical region of Madhya Pradesh. The Sahariya Adivasis of the Kuno Sanctuary were a socially, politically and economically marginalised community, whose lives and livelihoods were intricately linked to their ecological base. We found that inadequate attention was paid to this factor while designing and implementing a suitable rehabilitation package for the 1650 Sahariya households displaced from this PA. As a result, their material condition deteriorated after displacement, due to loss of livelihood diversifi cation opportunities and alienation from their natural resource base. Displacement thus resulted in rapid proletarianisation and pauperisation of these households, and their 'integration' into the national 'mainstream' occurred at highly disadvantageous terms. The 430 odd households displaced from the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats (a biodiversity hotspot in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka) consisted of relatively less marginalised social groups like the Gowdas and the Shettys, both of whom occupy a prominent place in the local politics and economy of this state. The share of agriculture in the pre-displacement livelihood of these households was relatively higher, and dependence on forest-based livelihoods was relatively lower than in the case of the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. I argue that this was an important factor that enabled these households to negotiate a better post-displacement deal for themselves. Consequently, the relocation package and process was far more effective in mitigating the potential impoverishment risks of these households. It appears, then, that the livelihood outcomes of conservation-induced displacement are generally biased against the poor. Further, the more marginalised a displaced community (or household) is, the less likely it is to obtain benign or positive livelihood outcomes after displacement. This has important implications for poverty and social justice, especially for Adivasi communities, which constitute a large proportion of those threatened with conservation-induced displacement, in India, in the coming years.

Economic and Political Weekly, 2003

This paper describes the process of relocation and rehabilitation of villages populated primarily... more This paper describes the process of relocation and rehabilitation of villages populated primarily by sahariya tribals in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. It examines the rehabilitation package offered, the process followed for relocation and resettlement and ...

… conservation work: Towards innovative strategies for …, 2007

ABSTRACT Wildlife today is competing with some of India’s most underprivileged people for surviva... more ABSTRACT Wildlife today is competing with some of India’s most underprivileged people for survival. This apart, commercial and industrial pressures from far outside park boundaries reverberate within these fragile ecological oases, making them vulnerable in a way they never have been before. Reconciling the question of preserving what little wildlife remains with the needs of humans has never seemed as tangled. Shahabuddin and Rangarajan's new book, which is about to be released, brings together the thoughts of many new scholars on this urgent issue--is this a battle in which either nature or humans will survive? Must it be a battle?

EXCLUSIONIST policies of forest conservation, of which preservation via dislocation is an extreme... more EXCLUSIONIST policies of forest conservation, of which preservation via dislocation is an extreme manifestation, need to be situated within the broad canvas of the conservation-poverty-rural livelihood interface. Prima facie, a clear correlation seems to exist between ...

Country Frameworks for Development Displacement and Resettlement : Reducing Risk, Building Resilience, 2019

While international safeguard standards against forced displacement are being diluted globally, I... more While international safeguard standards against forced displacement are being diluted globally, India has transitioned recently to a more stringent legal framework for compensation and rehabilitation of those displaced by involuntary land acquisition. The new Indian land acquisition law enacted in 2013 replaces a colonial-era law. It has strong legally actionable safeguards for social impact assessment, prior consent, fair compensation, public participation and transparency in land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation. We document the transition to the new legal regime and highlight the subnational scale as an important determinant of resettlement outcomes for vulnerable groups. Through lessons learned from the first ever Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for an urban infrastructure project in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, we debate the merits of global versus local safeguard regimes. We argue that strong, legally actionable national safeguards and robust global safeguard standards are mutually complementary. Global standards can lay down widely acceptable normative standards based on universal principles of human rights and justice. National standards are more likely to successfully trigger short and long-term political processes through which the gap between rhetoric and reality can be bridged, so that resettlement outcomes on the ground move closer to the normative.

Oxford Development Studies

Country Frameworks for Development Displacement and Resettlement, 2019

Routledge Handbook of Development Ethics

CHAPTER 6 IMPACT OF INVOLUNTARY DISPLACEMENT ON A TRIBAL COMMUNITY (A CASE STUDY OF THE SAHARIYA ... more CHAPTER 6 IMPACT OF INVOLUNTARY DISPLACEMENT ON A TRIBAL COMMUNITY (A CASE STUDY OF THE SAHARIYA ADIVASI DISPLACED FROM KUNO WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, MADHYA PRADESH) ASMITA KABRA POVERTY, ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES ...

Challenging the Prevailing Paradigm of Displacement and Resettlement

Social Change

The right to compensation and rehabilitation for those displaced by projects is a generally recog... more The right to compensation and rehabilitation for those displaced by projects is a generally recognised principle of multilateral development institutions and, increasingly, of national governments. There is no such consensus of the concept of benefit-sharing—neither its definition nor realisation. This paper advances this discussion: reviewing past performance of benefit-sharing and anticipating its future rationale, timing and delivery. Drawing upon country laws and project reviews for hydropower, it also briefly examines prospects for another revenue generating sector: mining and non-revenue generating urban projects. It addresses the question: should benefit-sharing be limited to monetary benefits derived only from projects generating revenue during the project operations phase or should a broader concept of benefit-sharing prevail? The authors compare both financial and resettlement logics of each form. In anticipating an uncertain future, they conclude that centralising partner...

Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different ... more The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea-something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to.

Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal

The conservation-versus-human rights debate typically positions ecologists and conservationists a... more The conservation-versus-human rights debate typically positions ecologists and conservationists against social scientists and human rights activists (Rangarajan and Shahabuddin 2010). I argue that recent research in the natural and social sciences invites us to revisit entrenched mythologies, canons, and dogmas on both sides. The moral imperative of biodiversity conservation and protection of endangered species resonates with most people, as does the importance of protecting the rights of vulnerable people. To understand the spaces of agreement and dissent, it is important to disentangle the twin moral imperatives of conservation and social justice from the canons and dogmas informing conservation, actual conservation strategies, and the outcomes for humans and non-human species. The core premise of protected areas-based conservation is that human presence in 'pristine' or 'wilderness' areas is detrimental to biodiversity (Karanth 2018). This canon of human disturbance has underpinned the creation of 'inviolate' protected areas as the preferred strategy for biodiversity conservation worldwide, and also underlies optional strategies like participatory conservation, 'sustainable landscapes' (Karanth 2018), as well as the 'land-sparing' arguments of more recent vintage (Phalan et al. 2011). The rate of creation of protected areas has accelerated in the twentyfirst century as part of a global consensus under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).

Journal of Contemporary Asia

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

This paper sets out a qualitative rapid research framework for designing and conducting field-bas... more This paper sets out a qualitative rapid research framework for designing and conducting field-based studies of the livelihood risks and opportunities (LRO) arising from involuntary displacement and resettlement. The 'livelihood risks and opportunities' framework combines insights from the 'impoverishment risks and returns' framework and the 'sustainable livelihoods' approach. This paper discusses the advantages of the LRO framework over other currently used qualitative and rapid research methods, and demonstrates its application through case studies of conservation-induced displacement in India.

Land Use Policy, 2014

ABSTRACT Studies of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) and conservation-ind... more ABSTRACT Studies of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) and conservation-induced displacement argue that when displaced people are resettled at a new location, their ‘hosts’ suffer impoverishment risks due to loss of common property resources to resettlers. Compensation for host communities, though acknowledged increasingly in policy, is rare in practice. This paper unpackages ‘host community impacts’ by investigating intra-household variations in livelihood impacts in a central Indian host village in a case of conservation-induced displacement. The ability of host households to cope with risks and gain from new opportunities is distributed unevenly along lines of power encoded in caste, class and gender. However, we show that site-specific historical and ecological factors can create contingent and multi-directional livelihood outcomes. Moreover, the overall human development impact on host households varies depending on how old vulnerabilities like low cash income give way to new vulnerabilities related to stronger integration with the market and the developmental state.

Conservation and Society, 2009

Attempts at 'preservation via displacement' are an extreme manifestation of the 'fortress' or an ... more Attempts at 'preservation via displacement' are an extreme manifestation of the 'fortress' or an exclusionary conservation paradigm, support for which has increased lately due to escalating conservation threats. While the policies and processes emanating from this paradigm have produced positive conservation outcomes for some Protected Areas, livelihood outcomes for the displaced people have seldom been as positive. This article examines whether the impoverishment risks arising from conservation-induced displacement tend to vary with the degree of marginalisation of the displaced community. In this light, this article examines in detail the impact on livelihood of conservation-induced displacement in two Protected Areas (PAs) of India. The article posits that understanding the dynamic livelihood context of displaced communities, especially the ecological base of their livelihoods, is critical to any assessment of their pre-and post-displacement livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes (such as income, poverty, food security and health). A variety of livelihood parameters, including compensation received, consumption fl ows, agricultural production, monetary income, food security, headcount ratio of poverty and overall poverty indices have been studied, to understand the extent to which key livelihood risks arising out of displacement are addressed by the rehabilitation package and process in the two PAs. The Sahariya is a forest-dependent Adivasi community living in and around the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in the semi-arid tropical region of Madhya Pradesh. The Sahariya Adivasis of the Kuno Sanctuary were a socially, politically and economically marginalised community, whose lives and livelihoods were intricately linked to their ecological base. We found that inadequate attention was paid to this factor while designing and implementing a suitable rehabilitation package for the 1650 Sahariya households displaced from this PA. As a result, their material condition deteriorated after displacement, due to loss of livelihood diversifi cation opportunities and alienation from their natural resource base. Displacement thus resulted in rapid proletarianisation and pauperisation of these households, and their 'integration' into the national 'mainstream' occurred at highly disadvantageous terms. The 430 odd households displaced from the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats (a biodiversity hotspot in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka) consisted of relatively less marginalised social groups like the Gowdas and the Shettys, both of whom occupy a prominent place in the local politics and economy of this state. The share of agriculture in the pre-displacement livelihood of these households was relatively higher, and dependence on forest-based livelihoods was relatively lower than in the case of the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. I argue that this was an important factor that enabled these households to negotiate a better post-displacement deal for themselves. Consequently, the relocation package and process was far more effective in mitigating the potential impoverishment risks of these households. It appears, then, that the livelihood outcomes of conservation-induced displacement are generally biased against the poor. Further, the more marginalised a displaced community (or household) is, the less likely it is to obtain benign or positive livelihood outcomes after displacement. This has important implications for poverty and social justice, especially for Adivasi communities, which constitute a large proportion of those threatened with conservation-induced displacement, in India, in the coming years.

Economic and Political Weekly, 2003

This paper describes the process of relocation and rehabilitation of villages populated primarily... more This paper describes the process of relocation and rehabilitation of villages populated primarily by sahariya tribals in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. It examines the rehabilitation package offered, the process followed for relocation and resettlement and ...

… conservation work: Towards innovative strategies for …, 2007

ABSTRACT Wildlife today is competing with some of India’s most underprivileged people for surviva... more ABSTRACT Wildlife today is competing with some of India’s most underprivileged people for survival. This apart, commercial and industrial pressures from far outside park boundaries reverberate within these fragile ecological oases, making them vulnerable in a way they never have been before. Reconciling the question of preserving what little wildlife remains with the needs of humans has never seemed as tangled. Shahabuddin and Rangarajan's new book, which is about to be released, brings together the thoughts of many new scholars on this urgent issue--is this a battle in which either nature or humans will survive? Must it be a battle?

EXCLUSIONIST policies of forest conservation, of which preservation via dislocation is an extreme... more EXCLUSIONIST policies of forest conservation, of which preservation via dislocation is an extreme manifestation, need to be situated within the broad canvas of the conservation-poverty-rural livelihood interface. Prima facie, a clear correlation seems to exist between ...