Scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) are among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. They have been facing problems since colonial India to the present times. Scheduled castes, who are also known as ‘dalits,’ have been suffering from social, religious, legal, political, economic, educational, and other problems. Scheduled tribes live in various ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from plains and forests to hills and inaccessible areas and are at different stages of social, economic and educational development. Problems of tribes are mainly related to forest rights, land alienation, exploitation by money lenders, mining and displacement in tribal areas. Development projects, such as industrial projects, dams, roads, mines, power plants and new cities, displace the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes from their homes resulting in destitution and unemployment. Today, displacement is the main problem confronting these communities.

In many forested areas of Jharkhand , the wealth of natural resources contrasts sharply with the poverty of the inhabitants, who are mainly adivasi (Scheduled Tribes) and dalit (Scheduled Castes) small farmers and labourers. The rich forests and mineral deposits are State property and their ‘development’ means that lands used by local people are compulsorily acquired by the State for a pittance. While a handful of local residents may get secure jobs on the lower rungs of the industrial sector, most are impoverished even further and survive on the edge of starvation as wage-labourers. Displacement not only worsens the economic situation of a community, it often spells their social and cultural death. Villages are scattered, families broken up, the fabric of social being is destroyed.

It is estimated that 30 million Dalits & Tribals , more than the entire population of Canada, have been displaced by the State’s Land Acquisition law since Independence. Of these, almost 75 per cent are, by the government’s own admission, ‘still awaiting rehabilitation’.

Displacement or forced/voluntary eviction of tribals and Dalits from their land and their natural habitats and subsequent rehabilitation has been a serious problem. Due to large development projects in rural areas, millions of tribal  & Dalit people have been uprooted from their lands and homes. Thus, affected people face a broad range of impoverishment risks . To achieve rapid economic growth, India has invested in various development projects to create new infrastructure. This has been made possible through massive acquisition of land and subsequent displacement of people. So, dams, mining industries and other developmental like SEZs projects have displaced people from their homestead and the total number of displaced and affected people runs into millions [9].

Between 60 and 65 million people are estimated to have been displaced in India since Independence, the highest number of people uprooted for development projects in the world. In India, “This amounts to around one million displaced every year since Independence,” says a report released in 2012 by the UN Working Group on Human Rights in India (WGHR).“Of these displaced, over 40 per cent are tribals and another 40 per cent consist of dalits and other rural poor” (Times of India; 2012). The studies also pointed out that in India from 1947 to 2000, about 60 million (6 crore) people have been displaced from 25 million ha of land, including 7 million ha of forests and 6 million ha of common property resources. The incomplete rehabilitation of the displaced tribals has further compounded their woes as they are pushed into a vortex of increasing assetlessness, unemployment, debt bondage and destitution. Women and children as ever are the worst affected.

Most displaced people have not been properly resettled or given adequate compensation. For instance, in India 75 percent of displaced people have not been “rehabilitated”. Their livelihoods have not been restored; in fact, the vast majority of development resettlers in India have become impoverished. Resettlement & Rehabilitation policies have been unable to avoid the impoverishment of the displaced population and restore the previous level of well-being.

Another example of the social displacement that Dalits suffered in the face of a large-scale natural disaster was witnessed in the immediate aftermath of the 26 December 2004 Tsunami. The Tsunami brought a substantial amount of devastation for the Dalits of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is estimated that well over 10,000 died while 650,000 were displaced. In the aftermath of the Tsunami, the Dalits of Tamil Nadu were made to suffer from worst forms of discrimination and humiliation. Dalits were excluded from making use of (and in some cases even entering into) makeshift relief camps; the ‘untouchablity’ syndrome dominated Hindu upper–caste mentality even at this time of natural catastrophe. The limited shelter that was provided to Dalits was close to what are regarded as less desirable areas, for example near graveyards or garbage dumps lacking in proper sanitation or other facilities. In these shelters there was no regular supply of water. After the Tsunami, several international agencies donated large portable water-tanks for the general consumption of all those who were affected by the Tsunami. In several instances, Dalits were prevented from drawing water from these taps, because of the fears of upper–caste Hindus of the ‘pollution’ of water at the hands of Dalits.