Why some people resist and others do not: Local perceptions and actions over displacement risks on the Sardar Sarovar

The paper looks at the problems of displacement and resettlement in the Sardar Sarovar - the reservoir of the Navagam dam on river Narmada. Towards analysing this problem the paper considers three major variables (a) resettlement policies and implementation (b) action group mediation and (c) internal differentiation among people to argue that people will have different perceptions and reactions to displacement risks - while some people will risk resistance others may risk resettlement. Given the importance of these variables, the paper highlights the need for conceptualising the displacement and resettlement as components in a dynamic environment and argues that in the specific context of the Sardar Sarovar, a reworking of the displacement-resettlement problem is possible and perhaps desirable.