Details of Module and its Structure Module Detail Subject Name Sociology Paper Name Ecology and Society Module Name/Title Environmental Movements Part III : Narmada Bachao Andolan Pre-requisites Objectives Keywords Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), NBA, Narmada, NVDP, NCA, NVDA, NWDTA Structure of Module / Syllabus of a module (Define Topic / Sub-topic of module) Summary This module narrates Narmada Bachao Andolan, as an environmental movement in India. Right from independence, there were several proposals to harness the waters of the river Narmada. In 1961, Nehru laid a foundation stone for a dam near the village Navagam in Gujarat. This module engages with the history of the protest movement against Narmada Valley Development Projects Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof Sujata Patel University of Hyderabad Paper Coordinator Himanshu Upadhyaya Azim Premji University Content Writer/Author Himanshu Upadhyaya Azim Premji University (CW) Content Reviewer (CR) Savyasachi Jamia Milia Islamia Language Editor (LE) Savyasachi Jamia Milia Islamia This module talks about Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the river Narmada movement) as an example of environmental movements in India. Resistance Movements prior to Narmada Bachao While the Narmada Bachao Andolan is believed to be the most talked about resistance movement challenging the large dam, it would be wrong to assume that large dams in India were always celebrated as ‘modern temples of India’ and had not met with protests. McCully (2001: 299) states that, “Harakud, the first huge multi-purpose dam project completed in independent India, provoked opposition from local politicians and bureaucrats as well as the people to be evicted”. McCully’s brief narrative on resistance movements against large dams in India, in his book Silenced Rivers, informs readers that around 30,000 people marched in protest against Hirakud Dam in 1946. Mentioning another incident, McCully reports that “in 1970, some 4000 peope occupied the Pong dam construction site to demand resettlement land, and the work was stopped for more than two weeks”. McCully narrates to us the widespread popular resistance by people affected from large dams in the state of Bihar in late 1970s, on the banks of Subarnarekha river. He refers to a protest march by around 1 lakh people to the site of Chandil dam. A month after this spectacular mobilisation, police had opened fire at a demonstration by around 8000 affected people killing three protestors. In the decade of 1970s, there arose protests against the proposed Tehri dam on Bhagirathi and from the people affected by Chandil and Icha dams on Subarnarekha. There were also movements by downstream people affected by construction of Sipu and Dantiwada dam, led by Gandhian activists, raising concerns about water security. Around 1980s, the earlier romanticism of looking at large dams as temples of modern India was losing an appeal, and as we have discussed while talking about hydroelectric power and large dams, Nehru was a precursor to the critique of large dams as representing “disease of gigantism”. In addition to that, Gandhian activists such as Jugatram Dave, who conceptualised a school and commune at Vedchhi, to exhibit Gandhi’s ideas on Nayi Talim, had started to rethink the earlier impressions on large damsi. Planning to Harness Waters of River Narmada Way back in late 19th century during the British Raj, the idea of harnessing the waters of Narmada rivers had grabbed attention of colonial irrigation planners. The first Irrigation Commission of India, which was constituted soon after the devastating famine of the year 1900, mentions a proposal to construct a barrage near Bharuch. However, the soil condition at the proposed site was found to be unsuitable for flow irrigation and hence the scheme got shelved. Inter-State Water Sharing Disputes and Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal’s Award The Sardar Sarovar Project [SSP] is one of the 30 large dams planned to be built on the Narmada River. During the early years of its long history [1964-'65], the rationale used for SSP height of 530 feet was to prioritise the requirement of irrigation water for arid zones in Gujarat and Rajasthan over power.ii However, this proposal of Khosla commission to allocate 13.9 Million Acre Feet (MAF) water to Madhya Pradesh and 10.6 MAF to Gujarat was not agreeable to upstream riparian state and the proposal got mired into disputes. So under Inter State Water Disputes Act (1956), Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal [NWDT] was constituted in 1969. After hearing the arguments from different riparian state, and a non-riparian beneficiary state that was made party along the proceedings for ten years, NWDT passed Award in 1979 apportioning Narmada water between four states, fixed the height of SSP at 138.68 metres [455 feet] and laid down binding rehabilitation clauses by promising oustees cultivable and irrigable land and alternative housing with civic amenities. While much proverbial water has flowed down the river basin since then and also through turbines in the last one decade, in writing accounts and narratives about the Narmada controversy, authors in recent times slip into the tendency to present the discourse as a "minefield", "bibliographer's nightmare", "voluminous and tendentious" and the stand taken by opponents and proponents as "confrontationist" and "attrition of forces" whereby a middle ground of dialogue and compromise is lost. However, those narratives have seldom tried to probe the responses from the proponents and State, who wielded propaganda, hate speech and emotive power of thirst aiming at "discourse breaking", rather than responding to criticism and alternative proposals – such as the one put forward by Joy and Paranjpe (1995) - in a discursive fashion. Many a time such narratives are also seen faltering at the review of literature chapter itself. For example in his book, The Politics of Water Resource Development in India: The Narmada Dam Controversy, John R. Wood’s narration of the NWDT years with singular focus on how different state governments and opposition parties in state level politics perceived and participated in the process. However, he neglects to draw upon the Vidhan Sabha resolution dated November 24, 1967 and letter sent by Madhya Pradesh MPs to Prime Minister on December 16, 1967. Wood (p. 112) says, "periodically, the Tribunal and its Assessors toured the disputant states to investigate…they made a point of not meeting politicians. They did not hold public hearings… Hearings and consultations had never been held before, nor remarkably were they asked during 1969-'78," but fails to draw from the petition submitted by Nimad Bachao Samiti to the chairman of NWDT dated October 28, 1974. Sangvai [2002: 16] describes how there were widespread protests during the visits of NWDT Assessors to Nimad drawing upon newsclips from Indore edition of two newspapers - Sandesh and Nai Duniya. Wood (p. 120) says, "fairness in whose eyes was a question rarely asked in 1969-'78…there was some grumbling on both sides", while ignoring to narrate immediate response to NWDT Award's announcement - August 18, 1978 - in the form of 10000 people taking out a protest rally in Badwani and 5000 farmers from Nimad taking part in protest demonstration at Bhopal on 23rd and 28th August respectively. Khagram (2002: 206-231) not only describes the protests that followed NWDT Award's announcement but also reviews events that took place between '78 and '81 drawing upon newsclips from Bhopal edition of The Statesman and The Times of India. Isn't it surprising that an academician whose "news clipping files on Narmada and Indian water resources development now go back 30 years and fill many feet of filing cabinet space" should have picked up clips only from Ahmedabad edition of The Times of India while writing about NWDT process and ignored two books on the subject that have been in public domain for many years before the publication of his book! Sangvai and Khagram engages with the first phase of resistance against the large dams under the banner of Nimad Bachao Andolan, which couldn’t sustain the mobilization beyond initial few years. Narmada Valley Development Projects and consolidation of resistance The full details of the Narmada valley Development Projects (NVDP) started to emerge only towards mid-1980s, when an ambitious plan to construct 30 large dams, 135 medium dams and 3000 smaller dams was announced. The next prominent event was the World Bank decision in 1985 to provide US $ 450 Million to finance the construction of dam and canal network. The Planning Commission accorded investment approval to the project in October 1988 for Rs. 6,406.04 crores at 1986-‘87 price levels. Environmental clearance was denied to the project in the year 1983. But, after considerable correspondence between Union Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Environment and Forest, the conditional environmental clearance was accorded to the project on June 24, 1987. Narrating the history of the second phase of resistance where people got mobilised with a view to seek full information about the extent of submergence and displacement to be faced by affected villages and the promised rehabilitation, McCully (2001: 301) states: “Medha Patkar was a 30-year-old social activist, when she first came to the Narmada valley in 1985 to work in the villages to be submerged by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Over the next few years, Patkar travelled by foot, bus and boat throughout the nearly 200-kilometre long submergence zone, which includes parts of three states and people speaking five different languages. Patkar lived with the villagers to be displaced, listened to their fears for the future, and urged them to organise to force the government to respect their rights… Her oratorical and organisational skills helped build the trust of many local people and also attracted a committed coterie of young outside activists to come to the valley.