Chandigarh,
Panjab University’s Department of Anthropology has published a book on “Social Impact Assessment in India: Learning from the field” with renowned publishing house Sage Spectrum. The book is an edited book, editors being Prof. A.K. Sinha (Professor, department of Anthropology, Panjab University), Dr. Ratika Thakur (Sr. Research Associate at the Centre of Excellence in Management in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.) and Dr. Avanee Khatri (Guest Faculty, department of Anthropology, Panjab University).
The book is a discourse on social impact assessment (SIA), an important tool for identifying and managing impacts of a development project. The book provides an outlook on judicial, methodological and ethical complexities in SIA. It also provides an anthropological critique of SIA and collates experiences of practitioners and researchers from India, with the objective of sharpening SIA with redefined practices. The book discusses direct and indirect impacts on project affected people (displaced and relocated) and the role (ethical and financial) of funding agencies, including legalities and associated vulnerabilities. The strength of the book lies in its field based approach revealing ground realities and the authors’ reflections and insights.
With a total of 21 chapters, the objective of the book is to understand impacts of a development project on a community, while also assisting in developing skills and knowledge of researchers, students, academicians and practitioners interested in development studies, by bringing forth different field based evidences across India. For convenience to the readers, the book is divided into five different sections namely, i) Anthropology in SIA: Methodological and Theoretical Perspectives; ii) SIA and RFCTLARR, 2013; and iii) Case Studies
The idea to develop this book was brewed in 2017 when the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, was selected by Punjab State Government and Chandigarh(UT) Administration as the nodal center to conduct SIA studies across Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana. It was during this time the editors participated, understood, learnt and closely viewed the process of land acquisition under the newly introduced law. SIA projects conducted by the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, employed anthropologists and researchers from other allied discipline as research associates and research assistants and trained them in SIA studies.
In the process, it was discovered that anthropologists across the country were doing similar studies and contributing immensely to land acquisition studies in urban, rural and most importantly in tribal areas. In no time the importance of anthropology in SIA was recognized. Therefore, the editors took this opportunity to invite anthropologists who were practicing and practiced SIA from across the country to share their experiences. Hence, a workshop on SIA was organized at The Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, funded by Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) and Greater Mohali Area Developmental Authority (GMADA). The workshop was expected to enrich scholars and students on a new arena that anthropology was being applied to and seemed to promise greater scope for the discipline in future. The workshop invited eminent speakers from across the country, comprising anthropologists, legal experts and administrators. As planned the workshop discussed ground realities of land acquisition, covering varied aspects of methodology to conduct SIA, issues related with displacement, rehabilitation, direct and indirect impacts on people whose lands were being acquired, the role (moral and financial) of funding agencies, methods of inclusive development, legal rights, etc. There was a special focus on vulnerable groups specially children, women, the elderly and the specially abled, to give a holistic view on current scenario of SIA. Nevertheless, SIA remains an interdisciplinary practice and keeping in view the multidisciplinary approach to conduct SIA and its implementation on the field, the book intends to address SIA in India, holistically, with an interdisciplinary stance, with majority contributions from experts in anthropology, experts in development studies, law and other eminent social sciences.