SAVE THE NARMADA
The Narmada River, one of the most important rivers in India, is being seriously harmed
by the construction of dozens of dams. The most notorious of these dam projects, Sardar
Sarovar, is flooding tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land and forests and evicting
more than 200,000 people. Once deprived of their rights and traditional livelihoods, the
displaced are condemned to hunger, poverty, and debt and forced to move to resettlement
camps without decent drinking water, adequate farmland, or forests for collecting timber,
firewood and wild vegetables and medicines.
The farmers facing evictions and many outside supporters have led an epic struggle against
these dams under the banner of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA – Save the Narmada
Movement). The NBA has inspired many others worldwide who are fighting against dams and
other megaprojects that uproot communities and destroy the environment in the name of an
outdated, authoritarian concept of progress.
Sadly, many communities have lost the struggle to stay on their lands and are now fighting
against the callousness, incompetence and corruption of authorities who continue to deny
them adequate compensation, rehabilitation, dignity and justice.
Texts: Patrick McKully and Marisancho Menjón
Photography: Karin Robinson
