World Bank Involvement

  On February 29 this year, the Supreme Court of India began hearings to decide the fate of the massive Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in the Narmada Valley, India. The SSP is the largest of 30 large, 135 medium-sized, and 3000 small dams planned across the Narmada River, which flows westward through the States of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, before reaching the Arabian Sea. Currently it stands at a height of 294 feet but its full planned height is 455 feet. It was brought into the spotlight a decade ago through the efforts of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada movement, NBA) led by Medha Patkar. Had it not been for the solidarity and strength of the NBA, a true people‚s movement made up of project affected persons, villagers, and their supporters, the SSP dam may have been just another dam in India, displacing thousands without resettlement or compensation. Their non-violent, Gandhian-style struggle brought international attention to the dam, forcing the World Bank, which was funding the US$450 million project, to institute an independent review. The resulting report exposed the lack of resettlement plans, environmental impact assessments, and confirmed that the cost-benefit analysis was highly skewed. The World Bank subsequently withdrew from the project, a first in its history.

The struggle does not end with the Supreme Court decision. The NBA and the people of the valley will continue their struggle against other proposed big dams, that will destroy their livelihoods and social fabric. This is not merely a struggle against dams; this is a struggle for human rights, democracy, the environment, and ultimately truly sustainable development.

Corporate Involvement

Another significant struggle is being waged against India‚s first privately financed dam, the Maheshwar, upstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The 400 Megawatts (MW) of power slated to be produced by Maheshwar will be 4-5 times more expensive than power currently generated by the state. The dam will affect over 35000 people in 61 villages besides destroying the livelihoods of fisherfolk, ferrymen and quarriers who are landless and do not qualify for compensation. Previous international investors that withdrew due to social and financial concerns include American utility Pacificorp, and German utilities Bayernwerk and VEW. German company Siemens and Swiss-Swedish ABB are providing generators and other equipment while Ogden Energy (a wholly-owned subsidiary of US based Ogden Corporation, headquartered in New York) has just acquired a 49% equity stake in the project. Non-violent protests from the local people, mostly women, have stepped up in the last few months, despite police assaults and brutalities like violent mass arrests.

Key Issues Surrounding the Narmada Dams

Human Rights & Social Costs:

Official figures for the Sardar Sarovar project alone estimate displacement of 200,000 people, 60% of them indigenous people. The total estimate of the project affected people, including canal and downstream affected is closer to 1 million. The Maheshwar Dam will displace at least 35,000 people. Currently, there is either no land available for resettlement, or the land is of extremely poor quality. Close to 100,000 people are still awaiting resettlement in the State of Madhya Pradesh alone due to six earlier dams.

Environmental Impacts:

No comprehensive environmental impact assessment exists and large parts of fertile land and forests will be submerged. Soil erosion, silting and reduction in soil fertility have been reported in dam-affected areas.

Faulty Cost Benefit Analyses:

Despite claims that the dams will provide drinking water, irrigation and power generation, and that it will bring much needed water to the drought prone state of Gujarat, no concrete drinking water supply scheme has been finalized. Less than 10% of the total irrigated land in the drought affected areas of Gujarat fall under the command area of the SSP project - and that too at the tail end of the system. Despite claims of power generation of 1450 MW, the guaranteed output is only 450 MW, contingent on the completion of another dam (the Narmada Sagar dam) and will finally reduce to only 50 MW.

Results of International Public Action

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and concerned citizens in the US were instrumental in mounting protests against the World Bank, and NGOs in Germany, notably Urgewald, were successful in forcing the German companies to withdraw. Now is the time to unite again, to place pressure on Ogden Corporation to withdraw from the Maheshwar project.

Your Support

The Narmada struggle has inspired peoples‚ movements all over India and world-wide. We hope that you will express your solidarity with the people of the Narmada as they continue their struggle for their lives, livelihoods, and basic human rights. Please contact us at one of the addresses below so that we can keep you informed of future letter writing campaigns, protests, and other actions.

For detailed information and updates on the Narmada dam projects, please visit http://www.narmada.org