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This compilation is a rare attempt to apply gender analysis to development-induced-displacement. and resettlement in the Indian context. It brings together leading scholar-activists,. researchers and contributors from people's movements to critique and draw. attention to the injustices perpetrated during such processes. Facing up to the. need to focus specifically on how displacement and resettlement affect social. groups differently with regard to axes such as gender, class, caste and tribe,. the articles show that disenfranchised groups are deemed dispensable and tend. to be affected the mos

This article deals with different methodological enquiries in researching citizenship and marginality in a developing context. It is based on reflections emerging from a five-year collaborative international research programme that focused on enhancing the efforts of the poor and marginalized groups to define and claim their rights and make citizenship matter. The article deals with the politics and dilemmas inherent in the different methodological stances and positions of action research and other sister approaches towards the question of citizenship. Reflections from the researchers are interspersed with theoretical issues to highlight the messiness of the research process. The article argues for the need to challenge dominant framings in development, to be more modest about and redefine what we mean by policy influence and research impacts, to be more process-oriented and reflexive and to engage more strongly in a pedagogy of the powerful.

This paper critically examines some narratives of water scarcity in Kutch, western India. It argues that images of dwindling rainfall and increasing drought largely serve to legitimize the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam and manufacture dominant perceptions concerning scarcity. This manufacture has naturalized scarcity in the region and largely benefits powerful actors such as politicians, industrialists and large farmers. But the needs of the poor in water-limited areas are neglected. By exploring the various connotations of scarcity, the paper argues that scarcity is both a biophysical phenomenon as well as a powerful discursive construct. (DSE/DÜI)