Before Medha Patkar and fellow activists embarked on their current struggle, they should have considered two things. One, that the Indian-State would simply not allow an activist to fast to death (thus it becomes a void form of protest), and two, the Supreme Court, independent agencies and grievance redressal cells of the Narmada Control Authority have, to an extent, seen to it that the local communities, displaced by the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam, aren’t ‘wronged’. Thousands of villages in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are already reaping the benefits of the dam, and many more will do so once it is completed. But for the larger number of evacuated villages in Madhya Pradesh, this development has not meant progress. State machinery is painfully, at times tragically, slow, but it is unfair to accuse this particular project of cheating local peoples. And this is where the State and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) have worked at cross purposes.
The NBA’s current point is that the authorities have flouted SC orders in attempting to raise the dam height before the previously displaced populations have been rehabilitated on the ‘land for land’ formula. The court’s hearing is on April 17 and the activists want to move public opinion before the matter comes to court. That said, relocation and rehabilitation are giant issues that need to be an integral part of all development projects, which have been badly or indifferently handled till now. India is on the cusp of a wave of widespread infrastructural development. Highways, ports, new power and steel plants — all will entail the displacement of indigenous people. The State has to adopt a hand-holding approach to transpose a community into a new way of life. If the State is unable to deliver on what has been agreed upon, it must devise alternative avenues of livelihood for these people. This is where social activists can play a constructive role. They can ensure, to begin with, that communities equip themselves to avail of the State support. But when development activism gets hijacked by individual microviews and hostile attitudes, as has happened recently with the NBA, then its purpose gets defeated.
Patkar’s zeal is admirable for it brings into focus issues that often get ignored in the rush for development. But it’s worth remembering that even Mahatma Gandhi’s closest aides — Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel — never took recourse to his fasting-unto-death tactics. Her cause, and the nation, would have been better served had she focused her energies in empowering the communities to get their due and build a better future.
{{/usCountry}}Patkar’s zeal is admirable for it brings into focus issues that often get ignored in the rush for development. But it’s worth remembering that even Mahatma Gandhi’s closest aides — Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel — never took recourse to his fasting-unto-death tactics. Her cause, and the nation, would have been better served had she focused her energies in empowering the communities to get their due and build a better future.
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