Is Medha Patkar’s Protest against the interests of the Nation?

The government has decided to review the decision to raise the height of the Narmada dam, an issue on which Medha Patkar has once again gone on an indefinite fast opposing it. This might seem to be the right thing to do at the moment considering the worsening health of the activist whose fast has now lasted for more than 15 days.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) first took shape in 1985. In 2000, the Supreme Court allowed the construction of the dam up to 90 metres height. It also permitted authorities to raise the dam height, but only after rehabilitation was complete. In 2003, Medha Patkar went on an indefinite fast to break it later, only after the Maharashtra government accepted her demands for proper rehabilitation. A year later, the flood water rose up to 114 meters in the Sardar Sarovar dam reservoir, destroying thousands of houses and farms in tribal villages. This year again, the Narmada Control Authority raised the dam height by nearly 11 metres, even though rehabilitation is far from satisfactory, forcing Medha Patkar to go on another hunger strike.

One might be tempted to side with the NBA since the activists are people who have been displaced from their land and have not been properly rehabilitated. But is trying to stop the dam’s height from being raised the answer to all this? Raising the height of the dam is being done in keeping with the interests of the nation and the people, whether it be bringing more land under irrigation facility , greater access to drinking water to more villages or generating the always in short supply electricity.

The core issue of development in a country is to manage its natural resources. A country is poor, not because it does not have resources, but because it does not have either will or ability to manage its resources. The Narmada Project is a vehicle for taking plentiful waters of Narmada basin which are today flowing down the sea, to the water starved regions of Saurashtra, Kachchh, North Gujarat and Rajasthan. Its growth and expansion must not be impeded, not at any cost.