Development Vs People

The controversy surrounding the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada is often seen as an offshoot of the conflict between the state and the people who will be affected by the construction, the tribals to be precise. Little do we realise that the controversy is far more complicated. While the people of Gujarat are very much in favour of the dam, those of Madhya Pradesh are by and large its vocal critics.

There is another twist to the controversy. The anti-dam movement too is sharply divided. While the Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is against the construction of the dam per se, activists of ARCH-Vahini have been fighting for adequate compensation to the oustees.

 

Briefly, the controversy revolves around the technological feasibility of the dam as well as problems of large-scale human displacement and issues of their resettlement. The Sardar Sarovar project (SSP) is being constructed across the river Narmada in Bharuch district of Gujarat. It is designed to provide irrigation to 1.8 million hectares of land and drinking water to 4,720 villages and 131 towns in the state. The SSP is expected to generate 1,450 mw of electricity on completion.

However, the picture is not all that rosy. The height of the dam was fixed at 455 feet, creating a reservoir that would submerge about 37,000 hectares of land in three states: Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It is designed to divert 9.5 million acre feet of water from the Narmada river into canal and irrigation systems aggregating 75,000 km and submerge 80,000 hectares of land. In addition, more than 1.5 lakh people are to be displaced due to the construction. Of these, 23,500 people belong to Gujarat, 20,000 to Maharashtra and 1,20,000 to Madhya Pradesh.

The books under review deal with various aspects of resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) involved in the process. The Dam and the Nation begins with a review of the resettlement policy followed by various state governments. Needless to add, the government has no coherent policy. As a result, resettlement is the responsibility of the relevant project authorities and what displaced persons will actually get would depends a great deal on their political power and organisational abilities.

A look at the rehabilitation package for oustees of the SSP evolved by various state governments suggests a difference in approach across state borders. While landless families will not be given any land in Madhya Pradesh, they will treated at par with those with land in Gujarat and hence will be entitled to get land.

The paper by Anil Patel, a member of ARCH-Vahini, provides a critique of the activities of NBAs activities. He argues that oustees were used by the NBA to wage an anti-dam struggle which did not always coincide with their own interests. Furthermore, NBA activists obstructed resettlement efforts in order to fulfill their own prophecy that adequate R&R was impossible, he says.

Other essays highlight the sociological aspects of displacement and resettlement. Papers by Amita Baviskar, Roxanne Hakim and Vidyut Joshi focus on the predicament of the oustees, as they see it. These studies also try to understand the practice and politics of displacement and resettlement.

Amita Baviskars book provides a critique of the prevailing view that displacement is being resisted by the tribals because of their alienation from the nature they depend on. Environmental movements in India assert that their ideology incorporates a thoroughgoing critique of environmentally-destructive development. Such movements also claim that this critique is writ large in the actions of those marginalised by development indigenous people who have, in past, lived in harmony with nature, combining reverence for nature with the sustainable management of resources.

Her study of the Bhilala tribes suggests that the idea of a community that lived in harmony with nature, worshipping it and using its resources sustainably, turned out to be both true and false.

Though both the books deal with different aspects of the dam controversy, they can be of great help to environmentalists and researchers in understanding the larger issues involved.