Policy Briefs Disaster-Induced Internal Displacement in India: Denial, Protection and Policy Chhaya Bhardwaj and A. Renganath ABSTRACT The authors recommend policy alternatives and suggestions to protect disaster-induced internally dis- placed persons (DI-IDPs) in India through this policy brief. Currently, there is a paucity of a compre- hensive policy framework to protect DI-IDPs in India. This paucity arises due to the nonrecognition of these displaced persons and a lack of integration of laws within India. Keywords: disaster-induced internally displaced persons, disasters, DI-IDPs PROBLEM I nternal migration in India is driven by both vol- untary and involuntary forces. 1 People migrate vol- untarily due to reasons of education, employment, leisure, and so on, 2 and are forcibly displaced due to conflicts, development, and disasters. 3 India has a na- tional framework to protect people displaced due to de- velopment 4 and conflict, 5 but it overlooks the disaster- induced internally displaced persons (DI-IDPs). 6 India is familiar with DI-IDPs, who can be protected under the Indian Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005, 7 and the subsequent guidelines. 8 However, currently, there is no active national protection framework. Jane McAdam recognizes disaster-induced displacement 9 and distinguishes between people displaced by conflict and Prof. Chhaya Bhardwaj is an Assistant Professor at the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India. Mr. A. Renganath is a penultimate year law student at the Amity Law School, Guru Gobind Singh Indrapastha University, Delhi, India. 1 United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organi- zation. 2011. ‘‘Internal Migration in India Initiative.’’ <http://www .unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/FIELD/New_Delhi/ pdf/Internal_Migration_Workshop_-_Vol_2_07.pdf>. (Last ac- cessed on July 5, 2021). 2 Bhugra D, Becker MA. n.d. ‘‘Migration, Cultural Bereave- ment and Cultural Identity.’’ World Psychiatry 4 (2005): 18–24. 3 Balajinaika B. G. n.d. ‘‘Lessons from African Normative Response to Internal Displacement: A Way Forward for South Asia.’’ 14 ISIL Y.B. INT’l HUMAN. & REFUGEE L. 268 (2014–2015), 258; Mo Hamza et al. ‘‘Disaster Induced dis- placement in the Caribbean and the Pacific.’’ Forced Migration review, Oct. 2017, <https://www.fmreview.org/latinamerica- caribbean/hamza-koch-plewa>.; Panel on Climate Change. ‘‘Climate Change 2014.’’ (IPCC, Geneva, 2015). <https:// www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/SYR_AR5_FINAL_ full.pdf>. (Last accessed on July 5, 2021). Shivani Chaudhry. ‘‘Development-Induced Displacement and Forced Evictions’’ 41 Stud. Transnat’l LEGAL POL’y 591 (2010); Das NR. ‘‘Re- location Failures in Sri Lanka: A Short History of Internal Displacement and Resettlement.’’ Social Change 38 (2008): 772–775. 4 Kavita Arora. ‘‘Politics, Policies and Progress: Develop- ment, Displacement and Resettlement in India.’’ 9 ISIL Y.B. INT’l HUMAN. & REFUGEE L. 246, 2009.; Singh Negi et al. ‘‘Sujata: Development Projects vs. Internally Displaced Po- pulations in India: a Literature Based Appraisal.’’ Bielefeld: COMCAD Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development; 2011, 10. 5 Mahendra P. Lama. ‘‘Internal displacement in India: causes protection and dilemmas.’’ Forced Migration Review, 2000. <https://www.fmreview.org/accountability-and-displacement/ lama>. (Last accessed on July 5, 2021); Charu Malhotra. ‘‘In- ternally Displaced Persons from Kashmir: Some Observations.’’ Indian Anthropological Association, 2007. <https://www.jstor. org/stable/41920041?seq=1>. (Last accessed on July 5, 2021). 6 Balajinaika BG. ‘‘Lessons from African Normative Re- sponse to Internal Displacement: A Way Forward for South Asia.’’ ISIL Y.B. INT’l HUMAN. & REFUGEE L. 14 (2020): 268. 7 The Disaster Management Act. 2005. Act no. 53 of 2005, 23rd December, 2005. (hereinafter DMA). 8 National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). ‘‘Na- tional Disaster Management Plan, New Delhi, NDMA.’’ 2019. <https://www.ndma.gov.in/about-us/division/Policy-and-Plan>. (Last accessed on July 5, 2021). 9 Jane McAdam. 2016. ‘‘From the Nansen Initiative to the Plat- form on Disaster Displacement: Shaping International Approaches to Climate Change.’’ Disasters and Displacement. 39 U.N.S.W.L.J. 1518; Glenys P. Spence. ‘‘A Chameleon in the Courts—The Fallacy of Agency Intra-Circuit Non-Acquiescence in Temporary Protected Status Jurisprudence: Time for Uniformity to Address the Plight of Disaster-Induced Displacement for Migrant Groups in the United States.’’ U. DET. MERCY L. REV, 96 (2015): 105. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Volume 15, Number 4, 2022 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/env.2021.0060 266 Downloaded by 54.224.25.43 from www.liebertpub.com at 04/23/23. For personal use only.