[Reader-list] India: New and protracted displacement ongoing in absence of formalised response

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

 India: New and protracted displacement ongoing in absence of formalised
response
 22 Dec 2008 11:15:00 GMT
Source: IDMC

Link -
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IDMC/672099bacb8ec56263f702aec5d9f200.htm

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 In 2007-2008, civilians in various parts of India continued to be displaced
by internal armed conflict and separatist, ethnic or communal violence, as
well as conflict stemming from the threat of development-induced
displacement. Over one third of the country's 608 districts were affected by
insurgent movements in 2007.

The armed movement by Maoist groups known as Naxalites was the most
widespread insurgency in the country and had displaced over 100,000 people
of Chhattisgarh state. Clashes between a tribal group and immigrant settlers
in Assam state caused the displacement of over 200,000 people, and communal
violence in Orissa state displaced tens of thousands. In Nandigram region of
West Bengal state, displacement followed conflict arising from the
government's plans to evict the local community and use the land for a
development project.

Some groups displaced for years continued to be trapped in relief camps or
relief colonies. Over 30,000 ethnic Bru IDPs were living in deplorable
conditions in camps in Tripura state while authorities in Mizoram state
refuse to allow them to return home. India's largest IDP group, the over
250,000 Kashmiri Pandits, were also unable to return after up to 18 years of
displacement. More than 20,000 people in Gujarat who had fled their homes
during communal violence in 2002 could not return to areas of origin for
fear of further violence.

The Government of India has no national policy to respond to
conflict-induced displacement and the responsibility for protecting this
population has generally been delegated to state governments. This has
resulted in a wide discrepancy of responses from state to state, and between
situations within one state.

It is very difficult to estimate the total number of conflict-induced IDPs
in India as there is no government monitoring agency and humanitarian and
human rights agencies have limited access to these IDPs. The displaced whose
numbers are known are generally those living in camps and registered there,
and so a conservative estimate of India's current conflict-displaced
population would be at least 500,000, but could be significantly higher.

Read full Report on Internal Displacement in
India<http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/india>