The proposed roundtable entitled "Displacement and Resettlement: Critical reflections in memory of Hari Mohan Mathur" aptly addresses the 2023 IUAES-WAU conference theme. The plight of over 60 million people, displaced in India since its Independence in 1947 by infrastructure projects, mining, and more recently, special economic zones and new industrialization programs, certainly represents "marginalities and uncertainties". In "enlivening pasts" India's social researchers have, over decades, fearlessly documented the plight of the displaced "oustees". They have spiritedly debated the causes and consequences of their displacement, and potential remedies to prevent their impoverishment. They have contributed to the crafting of policies, and an innovative law, to address this issue, to give greater definition to the terms under which the public interest can be served by displacement, and to provide the oustees with more empowered choices in compensation, relocation, and rehabilitation.
India's scholars have, through a rich diversity of views, made a gigantic contribution to global scholarship on development displacement and resettlement. In envisioning the future we still search for answers on how to balance the public interest, development, avoiding displacement, addressing the risks of impoverishment, and accountability. The Roundtable takes the opportunity to reflect on these pressing issues in memory of the late Distinguished Professor Hari Mohan Mathur (1937-2022) of the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. He very artfully and effectively interlocked his scholarly and administrative work over close to 50 years to promote development and social change. He advocated for social equity through policy and action. His huge published output had a brilliant knack of crossing national and international boundaries, bringing together anthropologists and other contributors from India and across the globe. The Roundtable will examine his contributions critically within the wider context of development-induced displacement, legacies, and the new legal and political developments in India.
