Women protest lack of compensation in Madhya Pradesh dam displacement

In the buffer zone of Panna Tiger Reserve, women from Kupi village assembled around an unlit funeral pyre to protest the exclusion of adult women from compensation tied to the Daudhan Dam, part of India’s first river-linking project. While husbands and sons have each received 12.5 lakh rupees, Gyan Rani Gond, her 18-year-old daughter Muliya and Pooja, the widow of Gyan Rani’s younger son, have received nothing. Activists argue that officials rely on a conventional definition of family that ignores the LARR Act’s clarification that every adult, regardless of gender, should be compensated separately.

The Madhya Pradesh Revenue Minister announced that all eligible families in the affected districts have been paid, yet the state assembly has been asked to review allegations of payments being deposited into agents’ accounts. Following an 18-day hunger strike, district officials ordered a new verification of beneficiary lists. Construction of the dam continues, leaving many families to use limited payments to buy land and rebuild without formal resettlement.