Benjamin O’Connor

11.123 Narmanda Dam Assignment

April 27^th 2000

 

 

            There are several examples of how, during various stages of the Narmanda Dam project, people and organizations attempted to change the course of the project, or stop it altogether.  These actions had varying degrees of success and contributed to varying degrees of change in the project.  The ways in which people and institutions tried to affect the project included:  well-funded and scientific studies, community education and community mobilization.

            When confronted with the reality of being removed from one’s land, or having one’s land removed, people began to mobilize in opposition to India’s construction of a series of dams in the Narmanda Valley.  The construction of these dams would displace thousands of families, mostly poor and underrepresented, and swallow up many more acres of land.  The first step in creating any political movement is education.  An example of this community education, in the case of Narmanda, was a woman by the name of Medha Patkar, who took it upon herself to wander through the villages to be submerged telling villagers about their upcoming displacement and building an opposition to the dam. 

Through education, opposition grows and with the community behind a single cause, the people can join together and rise up, mobilized in opposition.  An example of this in the Narmanda Dam situation was the foundation of the Narmanda Bachao Andolan (NBA).  In 1988 this group of community formally called for all work to stop.  Villagers threatened to drown themselves, and banded together in groups marching in protest.  News of these opposition movements eventually spread to international concerns and organizations that could directly impact the progress of the project through their funding of it.

In 1992, the World Bank, prompted by increased protests and controversy surrounding the dams and similar actions by funding groups in Japan, released the Morse Report – a detailed study that served to condemn the project and its goals.  On March 30^th, 1993, after another commissioned study, the World Bank pulled out of the projects altogether.