Energy Security and Climate Change Challenges: India's Dilemma and Policy Responses

Development, energy security and climate change are closely linked issues. Since India gained independence in 1947, policy making has prioritised economic development with the aim of eradicating widespread poverty. This emphasis on economic growth and a long neglect of environmental issues have resulted in a polluted and degraded environment, in which deforestation, desertification, soil degradation, water and air pollution, growth of urban slums and unhygienic living conditions have featured prominently. Effects of climate change on various sectors will further compound these problems

Development-induced displacement and women: the case of the Tehri dam, India

Large-scale development projects often result in massive displacement of population. Based on an ethnographic study of the people displaced by the Tehri dam in India, the present paper examines the impact of displacement on women and demonstrates that their experiences of displacement and resettlement are qualitatively different from those of men. Displacement not only results in physical dislocation, but also in women's disempowerment. Resettlement policies and programmes, in the Indian context, have largely remained gender biased and fail to take into account the differential experiences of women, making resettlement a difficult process for them. I argue for a better understanding of women's experiences of development-induced dislocation and a subsequent refocusing of policy