In the post-independence period, India has sought rapid economic growth through 'planned development'. This has entailed large-scale investments in dams, roads, mines, power plants, industrial estates, new cities and other projects involving land acquisition. Large numbers of people have been displaced from their original habitats to make way for these development projects. The Sardar Sarovar Project, the Silent Valley Power Project (in Kerala), the Mangalore Thermal Power Project, the Dabhol Power Project, the Maha Mumbai Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ), the Nandigram SEZ Project, the Singur Tata Motors Project and the Utkal Alumina Project are such projects which resulted in loss of livelihood and displacement of the respective communities. There have been many more such projects across India. In many cases, however, the project affected people seem to be in an advantageous position with project managements competing to offer them better rehabilitation and resettlement packages. These rehabilitation and resettlement programmes for people affected by infrastructure and industrial projects have caused intense debate among academics, social activists and planners (Sharma and Shashi). It is a noteworthy fact that research on evaluation of rehabilitation policies has generally relied on industrial and infrastructure projects and very scant material is available on conservation induced rehabilitation policy. The present study is a step towards addressing this problem, and takes forward the debate on rehabilitation policy as an outcome of natural resources protection.