A post facto social impact assessment SIA of the Chamera Hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh lessons for the policy and practice of SIA under the RFCTLARR Act 2013

Abstract

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, now governs land acquisition for public purpose ; it replaced the colonial Land Acquisition Act, 1894. This legislation, among other modifications, mandated an ex-ante Social Impact Assessment (SIA), with detailed guidelines of process and content, to examine anticipated positive and negative impacts for approval of the land acquisition proposal. This post-facto SIA study for the Chamera Hydropower Project, District Chamba, Himachal Pradesh assessed the long-term impacts of the project in hindsight, as the first phase of the project has been operational since 1994 when the ex-ante SIA requirement of the 2013 legislation was not specified nor undertaken. This research has fleshed out the intended and unintended impact of the project using a qualitative research design. It has also compared the methodology, outputs and outcomes with the formulaic ex-ante studies. There are lessons for more holistic and granular ex-ante assessments, which, it is suggested would be subject to accountability when a post-facto study is also conducted down the line. Ex-ante studies must not be a mere approval mechanism for projects. Rather, respective governments should be sensitised towards making an appropriate choice of the third-party agency and researchers conducting the research must be trained robustly to ensure the quality and standardisation of the ex-ante SIA reports. Further, the premium of employment and its long-term returns over one-time monetary compensation for Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RandR) plans must be recognised for the affected families and their enduring well-being. The future of SIA can be promising only if both ex-ante and post-facto studies, which are comprehensive, reliable and analytical, are made mandatory for holistic project impact assessment. newline