Environmental Insecurity and Social Friction: Links in Rural Odisha

An attempt is made in this article to explore and build knowledge on the close linkage between environmental insecurity and social friction in the context of rural Odisha, particularly in the wake of neo-liberalist policies. Environmental insecurity and social friction are intertwined with destabilization of natural-resource–based livelihood system, reflected in degradation of land, forests and water, in many cases causing irreversible damage to the ecosystem. What is significant to note is that loss of natural resource base for livelihood has led to unemployment, underemployment of people dependent on such resources, increasing morbidity, distress migration and social disharmony and conflicts at family and community levels. Furthermore, there is transformation of the local social environment with the emergence of an elite group in the form of company officials, contractors, journalists, traders and police/government officials who begin to encroach and control the future of the local communities. One major issue emerges from the research—need for a holistic approach to understand the process of environmental scarcity induced social friction in developing possible strategies, institutions and policies to achieve the desired development goals, transformation of stakeholders and their relationships in a given context.