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You are here: INDR Home arrow About INDR arrow Search Member Profiles arrow Biswanath Debnath
Biswanath Debnath Profile Page
Biswanath Debnath
Online Status OFFLINE
Member Since 11/13/2007
 

Additional Info

Website: in.geocities.com/bdebnath_1957/B_Debnath-Introduction.html
Location: Philippines
Occupation: Social Safeguards Specialist
Company: Asian Development Bank
Address: 6 ADB Avenue
City: Manila
Zip Code: 1550
Country: Philippines
Phone #: +6326325968
Fax #: +6326362381
Short Statement: As a resettlement and rehabilitation planner, what has bothered me most is the project authorities’ systematic reluctance to sincerely carry out the activities of a given resettlement action plan, although they readily agree to follow the resettlement action plan in order to secure a loan. Other specialists too may have faced similar problems. Perhaps the specialists could organize an e-mail forum to debate this issue.

The issue at stake in a resettlement plan implementation, apart from physical relocation, is the livelihood restoration measures. I find that most resettlement planners are poor livelihood planners, who prepare unimplementable resettlement plans. This is an area that needs attention and strengthening.
Displacement Experience: As a Resettlement Specialist for the past 14 years, I have worked on displacement issues as well as on poverty and social impact assessment for infrastructure projects (especially highways and waterways) and designed a total of 25 resettlement plans for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank funded as well as National Highways Authority of India funded infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, India, Mongolia, and Mozambique. In addition, I have participated in a number of road construction supervision projects for resettlement plans implementation and impact assessment studies. In the ADB I work as a social safeguards (resettlement) professional staff, my major job being reviewing the compliance requirements of the resettlement plans prepared by the Developing Member Countries and carrying out safeguard review missions.

Among my displacement related projects, the following are most important:

a) Afghanistan: Resettlement Plan for Qaisar to Daraii Bum Road (ADB)
b) Afghanistan: Social Assessment for Kabul International Airport Taxiway Project (ADB)
c) Bangladesh: Road Network Improvement and Maintenance Project (ADB)
d) Bhutan: Road Network Expansion Project (ADB)
e) Ethiopia: Jimma to Mizan Road Upgrading Project (AfDB)
f) India: Kerala State Transport Project - Highways and Waterways (World Bank)
g) India: Madhya Pradesh Road Engineering Design Project (ADB)
h) India: Punjab State Road Sector Project (World Bank)
i) India: Srinagar to Banihal (Jammu & Kashmir State) Road Upgrading Project (NHAI)
j) Mongolia: Ulaan Baatar Services Improvement Project (World Bank)
k) Mozambique: advisor to the National Roads Administration (Administracao Nacional Estrada) on social safeguards issues and prepared a resettlement plan for N-1 road (World Bank)
Publications: 1. The Crisis of Indian Anthropology: An Iconoclastic Essay. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 34, No. 44, October 30-November 5, 1999.
2. Fishermen in the Net: Eco Watch. WWF-India Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 1, Jan-Mar 1995.
3. Fertility and Family Planning in India. Yojana, Vol. 37, No. 11, June 30, 1993.
4. Land Reform in Sikkim. Yojana, Vol. 36, No. 24, Jan 15, 1993.
5. Gender Inequities and Development Strategies. Yojana, Vol. 36, No. 18, Oct 15, 1992.
6. Shortfall in Sikkim's Social Forestry Programme. The Pioneer, July 9, 1992.
7. Sikkim Witnesses Population Boom. Press Trust of India Feature Service, May 23, 1992.
8. The Study of Religious Beliefs. (A chapter in the module Society and Religion, a distance education course offered at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, ISBN 81-7263-179-0.) New Delhi: IGNOU, 1992.
9. Allah is Venerated Here Too: Islam in Southeast Asia. Bulletin of the Academy of Third World Studies, #3, January 1991.
10. Colonialism and Tribalism in Southern Africa: Implications for Nationalism. Bulletin of the Academy of Third World Studies, #2, October 1990.
11. What Democracy Means to Nepal. Bulletin of the Academy of Third World Studies, #1, July 1990.
12. The Analysis of Myth: Its Legacy and Potentialities. The Eastern Anthropologist, 42(4), 1989.
13. Ethnicity in Contemporary Sikkim. In D. Shimkhada (ed.), Himalayas At The Crossroads. Pasadena (California): Himalayan Arts Council of the Pacific Asia Museum, 1987.
Accomplishments: Worked on resettlement and social development issues in such developing countries as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, India, Mongolia, and Mozambique. In addition, has carried out a review study on Evaluating Environmental Management of Category I and II Projects in Regional Member Countries for the African Development Bank. Presently more involved in impact evaluation studies. The World Bank invited him in January 2008 to attend an impact evaluation conference for policy making in Washington, DC.

As an employee of the ADB, responsible for (a) the review, finalisation and clearing of all IR and IP related social safeguard documents and project proposals related to the South Asia region in order to assure compliance of the entire portfolio with ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009), and b) operational support for highly complex projects. The countries included in the latter exercise for my involvement are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, PRC, Vietnam and the Central Asian countries.

Technical Editor and contributor to the Post-Graduate Diploma Programme on Participatory Management of Displacement, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (PGDMRR) teaching material at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India, sponsored by the World Bank.
Highest Degree: Ph.D. in (Social) Anthropology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1987

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Cote d'Ivoire:Protest by Social Scientists
 A large group of West Africa, Europe, and North American academics and social scientists, many of whom are students of population displacement, have signed onto an editorial written and circulated by a group of West African academics and social scientists.  They argue that the former President of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, is abusively clinging to power after having blatantly tried to falsifiy the recent elections. The point out that international bodies have confirmed that the opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, has defeated Gbagbo. Nonetheless, the Gbagbo and his military supporters prevent the access to power of the newly-elected President. The likelihood of renewed violent conflict, civil war, and bloodshed in Cote d'Ivoire is high and increasing, involving obvious risks of renewed massive uprooting and population displacement. 
 

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