A View of the Blue Planet

The Scientific American is not known for dramatic headlines. Which is why I was drawn to a title in the March edition "Down Go The Dams." The article described the increasing decommissioning of dams worldwide. In the US, the rate of dam removal has exceeded that of construction for a decade.

This new movement to restore rivers in the West is in stark contrast with the ongoing growth of dams in India (4,050 in operation, 475 in construction). Given the conflicts in water resource management here, it was instructive to read two new books on the subject. The Politics of Water Resource Development in India studies the case of the Narmada project in the light of India's experience with resolving inter-state water conflicts. One Valley and a Thousand explores the linkages between the construction of dams from the forties on in India with constructs of nationhood, ideas of development, and as potent symbols of "high modernism".

Wood's study develops the Narmada case from historical, legal and political perspectives to suggest conditions for conflict resolution. The key point in the book is the essentially political nature of the process of resolution. Wood writes "water is political, wherever and whenever it is a scare and a valued resource". Recognising the role of political negotiation, supplementing this with the uniquely Indian construct of River Water Tribunals, backed by the Supreme Court, the setting up of Grievances Redressal Authorities, and grassroots participation by affected parties and users, assisted by NGOs""all this can help reach just settlements.

None of this is possible, however, if contesting sides do not listen to each other, and aren't prepared to bargain. The author is even-handed in recognising the failures of state rehabilitation and the uncompromising attitude of some NGOs, noting that "anti-dam activists ... seem to believe their commitment to a transcendent cause puts them beyond politics". Much like the heroic nationalist engineers in Klingensmith's book.

Klingensmith's work is about the transplanting of the Tennessee on the Damodar, by a galaxy of civil engineers, post-war Howard Roarks, the technocratic rock stars of their age. The author describes "the TVA idea," proceeds to show how the original Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was itself a myth, and how it was brought down by political reality in the US. How the same happened with the Damodar Valley Corporation is also brought to light (the contributions, and competing views of the super engineers: William Voorduin, David Lilienthal, Andrew Komora, Harvey Slocum, Arthur Morgan, Sudhir Sen, Meghnad Saha, A N Khosla, Henry Hart, Leonard Elmhirst, and Kanwar Sain).

Coincidentally, a recent edition of The Economist (March 15) carries an obituary to Jean Baudrillard, the philosopher of hyperreality. Baudrillard distinguishes between a simulation and a simulacrum. The latter is a claim to reproduce something which does not exist. In examining how the TVA influenced the builders of the DVC, Klingensmith uses the metaphor of Baudrillard's simulacrum to describe how we built monumental copies of an original which never existed.

Precious gems of hyperreality shock in contemporary light, "build the dam, build a modern society, and cow worship will disappear" (Lilienthal); "those people who will be unsettled ... will get cottages for hovels, honest means for doubtful living and faith for fanaticisms" (N V Gadgil); "these problems can be satisfactorily solved only if the State purchases outright all the land of the area" (Sen); "the inhabitants had been driven in trucks to remote spots and abandoned" (Viegas); and "we will request you to move from your houses after the dam comes up. If you move, it will be good; otherwise we shall release the waters and drown you all" (Morarji Desai).

Of course, the TVA idea ("the one valley") has continued to find more clones ("the thousand"), to build the 48,000 large dams worldwide, displacing some 80 million people. The idea is the promise of a compelling utopia, that the apolitical, technocratic management of natural resources, spanning whole landscapes, would produce unparalleled prosperity, and help spread democracy and knowledge. Which is why the decommissioning of dams in the US is a poignant reminder of human fallibility, a striking note of caution when presented with the technocratic (and other) utopias of our time.

The writer confesses to Hydrological Conservatism

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One Valley and a Thousand
Dams, Nationalism and Development

Daniel Klingensmith
Oxford University Press; Rs 560; 315 pages

The Politics of Water Resource Development in India
The Narmada dams controversy

John R Wood
Sage; Rs 625; 285 pages