Industrial Development and Displacement

The People of Korba

`This is among the most important books in recent Indian literature and scholarship on involuntary resettlement. MARG's researchers have collectively produced a compeling, in-depth, and lively social account that must be read by many. The book is replete with unexpected questions and fresh ideas on many issues and unsolved problems in resettlement practice' - Professor Michael M Cernea, World Bank

The issues of people being forced to abandon their homelands is a matter of global concern. In India, the displacement of local inhabitants due to large development projects such as big dams, has received a fair amount of attention both from activists, researchers and the media. However the nature and consequences of displacement caused by urban development or by the development of industrial clusters is an area that has so far received scant attention.

This significant book is based on intensive fieldwork in Korba, a little known multi-project industrial area in Chhattisgarh. It describes the impact of piecemeal industrial development, and its consequent environmental degradation, on the lives of the original inhabitants of the region.