IT’s been over a decade now that the NBA has been in action. And we are not talking about basketball. In India, the NBA is an acronym for the Hindi Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) that has spearheaded non-governmental opposition to the Sardar Sarovar dam project.

But today, October 18, 2000, will go down in the history of dams and disobedience as the day the Supreme Court of India hammered the final nail into the coffin of the NBA by giving the green signal for the dam to be constructed with a raised height of 90 meters. Any further dispute will have to be addressed by the Narmada Control Authority (NCO), and if any dispute remains, then the Prime Minister will be the final deciding authority, the Court said.

The story of the dam, though, is one that will fill an entire row in any library, one that meanders like the river itself through highs and lows, through rocky patches and flatbeds to reach a foaming conclusion. Dating back to 1961 when Jawaharlal Nehru first laid the foundation stone for the Narmada Valley Project, the building of the dam has spanned two generations and spawned the most controversy since Sunderlal Bahuguna’s Chipko movement.

It is only fitting that the opposition to the project, which finally took off only in 1985, should be in Gujarat, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non- violence and the best-known practitioner of non-violent protest. For it is in Gujarat that the NBA, headed by social scientist-turned-activist Medha Patkar, has taken up cudgels on behalf of the tribals and villagers for most of whom the dam will mean the loss of the only home and hearth they have known for centuries. For her unceasing efforts, Patkar has been awarded the Magsasay Award as well as the Goldman Environment Award.

Even as the protests wound their way through the corridors of power in the government and international aid organizations, work continued on the dam till 1995, when the Supreme Court of India halted any further construction following a petition filed by the NBA. In 1993, the World Bank had in an unprecedented move, ordered an independent review of the project, which became known as the Morse Commission, based on whose report it declared that it would not go ahead with the remainder of its loan if environmental specifications weren’t met. The government of India had to cancel the last instalment of the loan, even as Japan withdrew its loan after Patkar met with the donor agencies.

Through it all, agitations have been aplenty, with Patkar herself going on fast a few times, satyagrahis (activists) threatening to drown themselves if they were evacuated – a few people were even shot by the police when they refused to leave their home – and public opinion veering sharply between ‘pro- and anti- development’ lobbies.

And somewhere in it all, a small village Domkhedi was transformed from being an invisible dot on India’s map to a potent modern symbol of civil disobedience. And Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy discarded the world of letters for that of numbers.

Indeed, both Patkar and Roy, celebrities in their own right to begin with, acquired the status of Rebels with a Cause across the world, often inspiring established professionals in various fields to quit and join the agitation. Never before were the battle lines so starkly drawn until 1994, when the NBA watered down its demand from No Dam to asking for a comprehensive review of all aspects of the project.

In February, 1999, the SC allowed work to recommence on the project. But today’s verdict, which has already seen sharply-divided reactions, could well be for many the beginning of the longest haul.

IndiaAbroad.com

Other Links
Madhya Pradesh deputy CM attacks anti-dam movement
Narmada dam only answer to drought: Minister
Sardar sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd.
International Rivers Network
'Raised Narmada dam can give enough water'