Displaced Tribal community in Urban Spaces A study of Warli community in Morarji Nagar, Mumbai. ntroduction!

In recent years, one social issue that has caused intense debate among academics, social activists and planners is the involuntary displacement of peoples from their productive assets and homes due to industrial or infrastructure projects. Though the process of acquisition of land for setting up mining irrigation, transportation, or mega industrial projects is taking place in the various settings, the needs of infrastructure in fast growing cities and new partnerships in industrial sectors have threatened traditional sources of sustenance of peoples also it is affecting on their cultural practices. All this has unleashed a situation where more and more people are being displaced from their communities and traditional ways of life a protest against the very model of development that alienates people from their traditional sources of subsistence. In the past few decades there is a rapid infrastructural growth in the country this is manifested in the setting up of large-scale projects in power generation, mining, industry, infrastructure development, irrigation and even in creating new urban settlements like acquiring land for educational institutions. The intensity of such land acquisition has grown so high in the both urban and rural settings, as many communities are threatened with separation from their traditional sources of livelihood and and social networks. Forced population displacement is always crisis-prone, even when necessary as part of broad and beneficial development programs. It is a profound socioeconomic and cultural disruption for those affected. Dislocation breaks up living patterns and social continuity. It dismantles existing modes of production, disrupts social networks, causes the impoverishment of many of those uprooted, threatens their cultural identity, and increases the risks of epidemics and health problems !ichael "ernea, #$$%& According to a survey conducted by The Tribal 'esearch ( Training Institute, )tate of !aharshtra, *une, there are +++ tribal hamlets with the population of about ,,,--- in the tribal padas in .reater !umbai and suburbs. These tribals were mostly spread out in the blocks of /orivali, Andheri and 0urla. "#rabin and #an$aj feel it %ill be better if you can add t&e concept of Displacement and de'elopment %it& proper reference and also gi'e some e(ample from t&e broad conte(t, e.g. some statistical data on displacement of tribal population in t&e name of de'elopment in and around %orld)

T&e *istory, conte(t and t&e contestation

+ac$ground of t&e ,ommunity WA-. , the tribes, who live around the !aharashtra and .ujarat border constitute of a minor chunk in India. This tribe worships the nature and takes care of the nature. The relationship between 1arli and 2ature cannot be neglected. They have a unique art with them, which resembles their identity, culture and custom. This form of art is called Warli ainting. Their paintings reflect the close association between humans and nature. 3ow the nature sustains them and in returns how they protect the nature. They sustain themselves by practicing agriculture, animal husbandry, 4ishing and collecting woods and herbs from the forest. In year #$%- a tribe named 1arli came to !umbai and settled in *owai which was then forest&, mainly in the outskirts of !umbai. The government of India in its first five year plan #$%##$%5& started to establish IIT at % places, in which *owai was selected at !umbai for its inception. IIT issued a notice under the 6and Acquistion Act, #7$8 and the entire %,8 acres of land was acquired in the name of public interest. In #$59, about +-5 acres of land in *owai got transferred to the Indian Institute of Technology by one !ohd :usuf Trust who had taken possession of the land despite tribal being cultivators of the land. )oon they were given notice, which did not allow cultivating and fishing. The livelihood of tribals residing in the two *adas named *errubag and /hanshila came into jeopardy. !oreover they were not allowed to construct bathrooms and latrines. "urrently the mass of people are informal laborers and some work in IIT campus as housekeepers. Major contestation! #. +. ,. 8. %. T&e ,onte(t of t&e community, people/s li'ed e(periences, struggles and agency as mediated by t&e t&eme "t&roug& case studies. Also e(plain rele'ant concepts based on literature re'ie%). This community migrated to /ombay then& in #$%-s from 1afi. "ommunity christened as 1arli tribe is one of the vulnerable tribes. This community is solely dependent upon their forest resources for food and livelihood. 1ith lots of aspirations and a better future to live they came here. Initially they settled midst the forest areas of *owai. ;rbanisation was at peak at that time

in and around !umbai. Infra structure, malls , roads, bridges and last but not least displacement and deforestation where also the bitter truth of this urbanisation process. <isplacement was the first step of this rapid urbanisation. "oming back to the community, this community started here by clearing land and practicing agriculture for their livelihood. 4ishing and wood cutting were the secondary option for their earning. They were leading a peaceful and prosperous life. Things were going well, every decision was taken with the consensus of people. 1omens participated in the decision making. The social capital was palpable here in this community. =ducation on the other hand was a cumbersome job for this community as said by 6ata & they didn>t found any use of education that time as they didn>t had to deal outside the community to anyone. In year #$%5 the advent of Indian Institute of Technology was a crucial moment for this community. It had acquired few plots nearby there house and fields. *eople illiterate and ignorant didn>t bother it. 6ata says it was the biggest mistake done by their community. IIT took this advantage and started acquiring their lands, ponds and gave them a notice to evacuate the land as soon as possible. The /aboos, police and local goons were in hands of IIT. The fight for the land was not easy. They didn>t have any option but to fight for their land, bows, arrows and a?e became their ammunition. They started resisting and dharnas, meetings and discussions didn>t help them. IIT acquired their whole land e?cept their hamlets. 2otices were frequent and IIT started demolishing their houses. The matter went up to the court. @utput was nothing. 4rom them till now this community is fighting for their basic rights. This is their , rd generation, still far away from education, clean water and health facilities. 1hat they lost A 6ivelihood =ducation 3ouses 3ealth Accessibility

#roblems 0aced 2ow IIT has built barricade and kept them inside the campus. 2o one can predict from outside that these community lives inside the campus. @nly a few youths of the community are employed inside the campus on wage basis. @nly + of them in the community are employed outside.

=ducation is minimal in the community. !ost of the children are enrolled in /!" )chool. 3ardly + of them are enrolled into higher education. "hildren here <ropout as they cannot bear the private e?penses. =ven though they have certificates, authorities deny . The community encounters !alaria, typhoid and jaundice whole year. =very year people die from their community due to pathetic living conditions. 2o bathrooms and latrines for the people. Though IIT has build two public )auchalayas without water and door. =very family can use one bulb and a fan as per the guidelines of IIT. <rinking water is still a big problem of the people here. they use the traditional /awri to fetch water for drinking and washing clothes and utensils. 4orest wood is collected to cook food. .as is still matter of fear for women here. on basis of ;rban slum 'ehabilitation is providing one room to the family consisting of $ -#- people.

"Satos& and Dec&en #lease refine t&ese factors " coloured in red) again considering t&e case studies and t&e li'e e(periences. 0ollo% t&e sub &eadings under t&e 1 nd *eading %&ic& is already gi'en in t&e outline)

Strategies and implications for action!

The 2on-.overnment @rganisation B)hramik !ukti )anghaC came up as a supportive organiDation for the community people living in this particular area. @bserving the notice put up by the /ombay IIT Administration and the legal steps taken up by them, the 2.@ came up in support of the tribal population who claimed their e?istence in that particular geographical area, generation by generation even before the establishment of the IIT /ombay. Strategies adopted for settlement and t&e rig&ts of t&e tribals! #. *eople of the community with the support from the 2.@, )hramik !ukti )angha took up protest !arch in-front of the "ollectors office. In this march all age group people participated even they took their cattle in the protest march to attract people>s attention. +. )everal meeting were organiDed with the ministers, e.g. with the )tate !inister !r. 'ajendra .avit. !eeting with the chief minister on his call to settle the matter, where proper rehabilitation was demanded. ,. @rganised a protest ralley under the leadership of !edha patkar at ADad !aidan.

All the efforts of the 2.@ failed in front of the legal proceedings as because they do not have proper documents of land ownership. =ven the .overnment policy for land acquisition in the name of <evelopment initiative and the provision of the housing facilities as rehabilitation for every family, made the protest weaken. About one hundred families have already moved to the flats provided near 2aur as because for some nuclear small families it was a good option to move into those flats.

,ritical analysis and conclusion!

!illions of people got forcefully displaced in India on the name of displacement but there is no reliable data e?ist related to displacement. The development projects became curse for the people especially for tribal and after the displacement, the livelihood is a big challenge for the displaced people. The livelihoods of tribal is depends on the natural resources but the term development has taken away not only natural resources but also livelihoods of tribal and after losing livelihood survival is a big question for tribal. B Development pro!ects every year involuntarily displace one million people in the developing countries from their land and homes" 1orld /ank, #$$8&. 3ere 1orld /ank has given ratio of displaced people in the developing countries. The ratio of displacement is in developing countries are one million people per year on the name of development. !athur +--7 has given current estimate of displaced people that around 5million people got displaced since last 5- year. #$ega development pro!ects like multipurpose river dams and large scale mining generate benefits it%s for the few relatively better off sections of population while marginali&ing and excluding the poorer tribal people" @ommen, +--8, +--5, +--7&. @mmen has found in his study that the tribal are becoming marginaliDed and poor due to the development project. There are fewer who are getting benefits of the development projects but tribal have to pay for their development. !ehar +--$& has said that development should be focus on the holistic concept of development and based on the progressive improvement of quality of human life in order to ensure food, shelter, and clothing. Analytical frame%or$! <ue to the development the 1arly tribal lost their social, human, financial, natural, and personal capital that are very important in one>s livelihoods and if people are losing these assets means they will become marginaliDed and vulnerable. /asically due to the displacement 1arli lost their livelihood option and became poor. 1e analyDed their poverty and vulnerability with the help of this I4A< sustainable livelihood framework. This model is advocating that, the social, human, natural, financial and personal capital influence the poverty positively also and negatively as well. The I4A< framework of sustainable livelihoods is more focused on the various assets of people. It is a cyclic process of the livelihood to keep livelihood sustainable. If those assets of people will be increasing that means the vulnerability and poverty will be decreasing, but if the condition will be opposite means, if those assets will be decreasing then vulnerability and poverty o people will increase. After studying the community and having various arguments on the sustainable livelihood model, we found that this framework is not

suitable to ensure the sustainable livelihoods. There are various critiques on the basis of study and arguments with the group members. "i) There are the many assets which influence the poverty, vulnerabity, policies and institution as well but we found that people were missing from this model. There was no e?istence of people in the whole process of sustainable livelihood framework. The people of studied community had all kind of capital but due to the displacement they had lost their capital that resulted vulnerability and chronic poverty. *eople of 1arli community were missing from the entire process of this IA4< livelihood framework. The process of this framework is not clear in order to measure the human, social, financial, and natural capital. There are many elements which directly or indirectly related to these capitals so we need to measure them also, but in this model we have not found any clear idea to measure capitals and its elements as well. The intervention part of this framework is depending on the policy and institution, but there is no participation of people. The policy makers might be not aware about the e?isted capitals and problems, therefore there is high chance to failure of those policies which will be for various capitals of people and their livelihoods. The participation of people from the 1arli community is lacking in the process of decision making. The authority so called institution or policy makers did not consider about their livelihood option even though due to the policy people had to displaced. As this framework is trying is trying to assess the vulnerability, poverty but we have not found any point which indicates about the sudden shock and sudden disaster. If there will be sudden high inflation, draught and floods which play significant role in one>s vulnerability and poverty. <uring this study we found that there is always risk of epidemic diseases, they also vulnerable heavy rain fall but as we know this framework does not focus on the sudden shock, or haDards therefore we cannot say that this is the appropriate model to measure the vulnerability and provide alternative for the people of 1arli community. 1e cannot rely on this model because while seeing its figure it seems to be very easy but as we know life of people is so comple? and we cannot measure the comple?ity of the problem with this model. 4rom the point view of policy it is not so worthy because present study we found that because of policy people got displaced and there is no any policy which can ensure their identity after getting displaced from their main habitat. ,onstruction of Analytical 0rame%or$ for sustainable li'eli&oods! The I4A< model of sustainable development has to consider about the certain issue of the people to ensure the sustainable livelihoods of the people. *eople who get force displacement they

"ii)

"iii)

"i')

"')

become vulnerable in terms of livelihoods but if their social, financial, physical, natural and personal capital increase through any policy provision or institutional effort then we can ensure their livelihood. 1e need to include the people from 1arli community in the process of displacement, rehabilitation and policy planning. "i) #eople #articipation in t&e process of displacement!

The participation of people in the process of displacement is very important to ensure their livelihoods, even they will not ready for displacement but we need to include them in that process. *articipation of people in the entire process of we have proposed a model which can ensure the sustainable livelihoods of people. It the present study we found that people was not included in the process of displacement. The participation of people in the process of development can help the authority to think about their alternative option of livelihood. This participation of people will help them to empower. This participation of people can be symbol of their empowerment. This participation can help them to enhance their opportunities in terms of sustainable livelihoods. This livelihood opportunity of people will empower them in terms of their capital such as social, financial, human, natural and personal. "ii) #roper measurement process to measure 'arious ,apitals!

1e need to bring an alternative process to measure the social, physical, personal, natural and financial capitals. The proper measurement of those capitals will play a vital role in the measurement of intensity of vulnerability. 1e need to also look at the sudden shock and disaster which happen in community and its effects on their vulnerability, livelihoods and capitals. "iii)#eople #articipation in t&e process of re&abilitation! The people participation in the process of rehabilitation is very important to maintain the identity of community and also maintain their social, physical, natural, financial and personal capital. The participation of 1arli community in the process of rehabilitation could have given a better idea to authority to think about their livelihoods without disturbing their identity. The identity of any group or community is very valuable, if once they will lose their identity it means they have lost everything, which we have seen in the present study that 1arli community has lost its identity and with identity livelihoods also. The participation of people can give better opportunity for the displaced people to enhance their identity that will help them to find out various opportunities. "i')#eople #articipation in t&e process of policy ma$ing! The participation of people in the process of policy making can provide a better livelihoods options for them, because what kind of livelihood will be suitable for them they will know better than any other policy makers. 1e can make the efficient policy to ensure the sustainable livelihoods of 1arli community through their participation. I4 people will participate in the

process of policy making then the policy maker can get better idea about suitable livelihood option for them. Through the people participation we can ensure the efficiency and proper implementation of that policy which help the community to get better livelihood opportunity. The people participation in the process of policy making will bring a sense of empowerment that they are contributing in the policy making that policy will be for them only. Those policies will play significant role in the empowerment of the entire community. The term displaced indicates the displacement of the people from their habitat and that habitat may be owned by individual or traditionally, customary and collectively owned by groups. As we know that the culture, norms, living habits, livelihood patterns of tribes are directly linked with land forest and water. /ut on the name of development and greater cause of nations their livelihood has been taken away. They also lost their culture, norms, and living habitat that deprived them from the identities of tribes and if anyone lost their identities it means he lost everything. 1arli community who was living very peacefully in the forest which was situated in *awai, !umbai and was fully depend on the forest and natural resources in terms of livelihoods. /ut due to the establishment of IIT they forcefully got displaced from their land. 1hen they displaced from their land then they had a big question of their identities and livelihoods, and that condition put them in most vulnerable condition. The displacement made them dependents on the state and other institutions for their livelihoods. 1hile analysing these capitals of 1arli community, it was found that it is on the edge of end due to the policies of state, therefore they do not have any kind of social, human, natural, financial and social capital and that resulted loss of livelihoods and more prone to vulnerability. The state also did not provide them any alternative option of livelihoods. =ven the state has taken away their all capital and put them in the condition of vulnerability and poverty. /efore the displacement 1arli had all their capital like social, natural, human, financial, and personal but due to the displacement they lost their entire capital that resulted poverty and vulnerability. In this paper, through some case studies, it is tried to e?plore the process of marginaliDation keeping in consideration the forced displacement, which restricts people>s agency and makes them more vulnerable in the urban space.