Description

Sardar Sarovar Project is a multipurpose mega-scale dam. Its advocates say that it would benefit huge areas of Gujarat and the three adjoining states in terms of availability of drinking water and water for irrigation, generation of electricity and increase in agricultural production. Narmada Bachao Aandolan is a movement to save river Narmada while opposing the construction of dams and questioning the nature of ongoing developmental projects in the country. 

The Sardar Sarovar Project

• It was an ambitious developmental project launched in Narmada Valley during the initial months of the Eighties
• This project was supposed to be launched with 30 big dams, 3,000 small dams, and 135 medium-sized dams on the Narmada, and it is supposed to flow across three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra as well
• The Sardar Sarovar Project in Narmada Sagar and Madhya Pradesh were two significant and biggest multi-purpose dams planned under this project
•  In the country, the Sardar Sarovar Project is considered to be a multi-purpose mega-scale dam

Benefits of this project 

• The availability of drinking water and water for farming and irrigation 
• Electricity generation 
• Hike in agricultural production 
• A good quality flood and drought control in the specific regions

Problems associated with the projects 

• The construction process of this dam expected approximately 245 villages to submerge
• It needed relocation of approximately two and a half lakhs people from the given villages
• The problems caused because of proper rehabilitation and the project affected were first by the local activist groups

Debates and Struggles

• The year 1988-89 was crystallized by the issue of Banner of the NBA, which was a loose collective local voluntary organization 
• The Narmada Bachao Andolan was linked in opposition to the Sardar Sarovar Project with huge issues
• It also concerned the happenings of developing projects, the efficacy of the model development that the country followed, and what constituted a public interest in a democracy

It put the following demands:

• The cost-benefit analysis of the biggest developmental projects was completed in the country

• The higher social costs of developmental projects will now be calculated in such an analysis

• These social costs will also include the forced resettlement of the people affected by this project, a severe loss of their culture and livelihood, and a reduction of ecological resources

• The demand of local communities raised that they must be included in every decision. They will also get effective control over natural resources such as land, water, and forests

• These were the considerations that led the Narmada Bachao Aandolan to make a switch from their earlier demands

• The right to rehabilitation is now recognized by the Government of India and the Judiciary as well
• A comprehensive National Rehabilitation Policy was formed in 2003 by the Government of India, marking an achievement for the movements such as the NBA

The supreme court also upheld the government’s decision and went ahead with the construction of the dam while making sure to imply the proper rehabilitation

Conclusion

Popular movements like Narmada Bachao Andolan ensured effective representation of diverse groups and their demands. It is considered as a new form of active participation and thus broadened the idea of participation in Indian democracy by questioning the nature of ongoing developmental projects.