Quantifying Displacement: A Census-Driven Analysis of the Chandil Dam, Jharkhand, India.

Bishwajeet Besra, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Kailash Chandra Das, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

The construction of dams, while facilitating irrigation and flood control, often leads to significant human displacement. India, a major dam builder, lacks comprehensive data on displacement numbers. This research aims to estimate the population displaced by the Chandil Dam in Jharkhand, India. Using census data from 1971 to 2011, village-level primary census abstracts were analysed. List of villages affected due to displacement and the resettlement sites was obtained from the Water Resource Department, Govt. of Jharkhand. To estimate displacement, the decadal growth rate of affected blocks in the district was calculated and applied to affected villages. This approach accounts for population growth and migration during the dam’s construction. Findings reveal that during the reference years, many affected villages experienced negative population growth, and Scheduled tribes (Indigenous Peoples) were a major proportion of the affected villages. Three villages that were inhabited in 1971 were completely uninhabited by 2001. Conversely, the resettlement sites witnessed exponential population growth. Primary data collection revealed severe impoverishment among the displaced population at resettlement sites, highlighting the challenges they faced in adapting to their new environment and finding new sources of income. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the human costs associated with dam projects.

Keywords: Census data, Population projections, forecasts, and estimations, The Demography of Indigenous Populations, Migrant Populations and Refugees

See extended abstract.