The great difference between the economic development of India and China, one that Ken Livingstone woefully glosses over, is that Indians have always been able to resist “modernisation” forced down their throats when it comes at their own expense.

The struggle over building the Narmada river project is one such issue. In short, the Indian government wants to build 30 large, 135 medium and 3000 small dams over the river Narmada and its tributaries. They say it will provide water for drought-prone parts of India and generate energy.

Those opposed, calling themselves Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Project), have a few charges.
1) The cost/benefit analysis was grossly skewed in favour of the project.
2) Citing previous projects (Sardar Sarovar Dam), they say the benefits are minimal while the environmental damage is colossal.
3) The 100s of 1000s villagers that are going to be displaced have not been adequately compensated.

Pretty much most of India’s activists and human rights campaigners have been involved in campaigning against the project, including Arundhati Roy and India’s most famous environmentalist Medha Patkar, hence the continued limelight.

The project was initially funded and approved by the World Bank but after independent reviews and intense opposition it withdrew from the project in 1993, admitting it was not able to enforce concerns over the environment and people displacement.

In 2000 the Indian Supreme Court gave it a green light and opposition started. BBC Online has a brief overview.

Back in the news
Last month, the government decided to raise the level of the dam. That brought condemnation:

This is all due to the morally bankrupt politics of Narendra Modi (CM of Gujarat) and Shivrajsingh Chauhan (CM of MP) who have never visited the valley and do not understand the massive scale of displacement and human tragedy they are causing. Modi, of course, is used to genocide even in his own state! Why then will he care about displacement of tribals and other poor families? …

It has taken the last 25 years to resettle 11,000 families. How then will 35,000 families just in Madhya Pradesh be resettled within even the next 5 to 10 years, especially when M.P. has no cultivable land to offer to people nor the political will to follow through on its promises?

In response Medha Patkar started an indefinite hunger strike unless they re-considered. On Thursday April 7th the police arrested her and forced her into intensive care to save her life.

As you may expect, I side firmly on the side of the protests. The Indian government has successively fudged and confused the numbers, tried to paint the opposition as ‘anti-Indian’ and ‘anti-development’ and tried to sling any mud at them.

Where does it go from here? No one really knows. I hope Indians sufficiently mobilise themselves to force Congress to re-think its strategy. Otherwise they will keep on advocating raising dam levels and destroy the livelihood of people and the environment by stealth.

How can you help?
The Indian government is increasingly open to opinion from its British and US diaspora. We should use any opportunity to raise the issue and show solidarity with the protests. The 100s of 1000s who lose everything in the name of development cannot be forgotten.

Links: Friends of Narmada | Government website