SARDAR SAROVAR
Cooking the dam books
In theory various rules govern the use of AIBP funds to execute projects. In practice, as the CAG reminds us, money is liberally diverted, and the States and the Centre both look away.
Public funds
April 2011

NARMADA DAMS
Construction, at any cost
Many of the conditions under which the Narmada dams were erected remain unfulfilled, but this does not deter the government from pushing for further construction.
Environment regulation
April 2010

DISPLACED BY THE DAM
Penury and peril
The stilled waters of the river that always sustained them have now become polluted. Yet, this muddy river is their only source of drinking water, bringing with it illness and disease.
Displacement | Madhya Pradesh
February 2010

DISPLACED BY THE DAM
A new home, but in a nala!
Shakuntala Pawra accepted the state's offer of resettlement, away from the submergence zone of the Narmada dam. But she is drowning in her new home too.
Displacement | Maharashtra
February 2010

DISPLACED BY THE DAM
A lifetime's harvest
Sitaram Patidar fights on for the land which means everything to him, now lost to the Narmada dam. At the ripe age of seventy, the end of this road of struggle is still not within reach.
Displacement | Madhya Pradesh
January 2010

MP HIGH COURT VERDICT
Equal compensation for equal loss
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that excluding canal oustees from the R-and-R policy applicable to its dam projects is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Displacement | Madhya Pradesh
December 2009

DISPLACED BY THE DAM
The futility of hope
When Madubhai first heard that a big dam 150 km away would control the waters of the river he revered, he didn't believe the news. He never knew that its waters would one day drown his little world.
Madhya Pradesh
November 2009

DISPLACED BY THE DAM
Making ends meet
In the shadow of the Narmada dam, those displaced by the canal once hoped that its water would irrigate their fields. Little did they know how their lives would turn out.
Gujarat
November 2009

DISPLACED BY THE DAM
A legacy of loss
It is not only those whose villages have been submerged who have suffered, but hundreds of families have lost land to the building of Sardar Sarovar itself.
Gujarat
October 2009

RELIEF/NARMADA SAGA
Scamming the law, pretext of inability
The MP High Court has ordered a judicial inquiry on allegations of large scale corruption in distribution of compensation to families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project.
Government | Relief | Madhya Pradesh
October 2008

NARMADA OUSTEES
A unique land scam in MP
With the state government abdicating its responsibility to rehabilitate dam oustees on cultivable land, middlemen and officials in Madhya Pradesh have connived to create a huge land scam that has been forced into the light in the courts. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.
Displacement | Madhya Pradesh
March 2008

UNACCOUNTABLE, UNPREDICTABLE
The other side of the dam
With the damming of the rivers has come a great wave of unaccountable administration. Waters are held back without warning, and released without warning. In both cases, there is little time for the affected communities to react. Shripad Dharmadhikary writes.
Madhya Pradesh
September 2007

GOVERNMENT
The willful breaking of Narmada promises
Without an iota of public debate and due process, Gujarat had increased allocation of Narmada waters for industry five fold last year, eating into the share of drought affected villages. The Comptroller and Auditor General reported this in 2007, finding it untenable. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.
Government | Gujarat
May 2007

REHABILITATION FUNDS
Drains that dewater the state exchequer
Monies allocated for rehabilitation of persons affected by the Narmada dams have traveled a different path than to the people. A recent audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General has confirmed significant corruption in rehabilitation works in Madhya Pradesh and a culture of impunity amongst state officials, finds Himanshu Upadhyaya.
Public finance | Madhya Pradesh
September 2006

MONSOON REPORT
Horrifying face of the dammed river
Incessant rainfall in the catchment area of the Sardar Sarovar dam, coupled with less water being allowed to flow into the Narmada main canal led to an unusual overflow in early August, despite upstream dams not recording downstream releases. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the devastation in the Narmada valley.
Adivasis | Displacement | Maharashtra
August 2006

OPINION: THE FANAA BAN
Whose Gujarat?
The violent assertiveness against Aamir Khan is part of a larger trend, marked by politicians who have instilled the language with idioms of aggression. But as they mobilise to silence the 'other' voices in the Narmada struggle, 'we' lose too, for it is only a short step from here to gagging ourselves, says Himanshu Upadhyaya.
Society | Gujarat
June 2006

EDITORIAL
A moral breach in the dam
As the demands for justice draw embarrassingly close to the PM, the decision to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam is being reviewed. But promises are nothing new, and officials have always known that they can be broken with impunity. Should we expect anything different this time? The India Together editorial.
Editorials | Displacement
April 2006

NEW RESEARCH
The dams balance sheet
The establishment's appetite for large dams diminished marginally in the late nineties, but encouraged by the World Bank's low-key decision to restart funding, Indian governments are ready to start building again. But are large dams worth the expenditure? Tarun Jain and Ashima Sood report on the findings of a new research paper.
Public funds
December 2005

OPINION / MEDIA
Overflowing with the official view
In response to the devastating floods in Gujarat, state officials were quick to point fingers at activists who have long opposed raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada. And even though their claims were clearly off-track, at least one publication thought it fit to repeat them. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.
Media Opinions
August 2005

NARMADA DISPLACEMENT
Latest judgment proves it all
The displaced people of the Narmada valley have long argued that the states and the Centre have shortchanged them - ignoring the claims of many, offering uncultivable land in exchange, and going ahead with dam construction even before they are resettled. A recent Supreme Court verdict proves they were right all along, says Medha Patkar.
Displacement | Guest opinions
April 2005

DISPLACEMENT
Narmada rehabilitation scam exposed
A simple way to claim that everyone affected by dam construction is properly rehabilitated is to make a list of affected persons - and then leave off thousands of them from the list. This has been the history of rehabilitation in the Narmada valley. Himanshu Upadhyaya notes that after many years, the game isn't quite adding up in the courts.
Displacement
April 2005

DEC.10: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
RTI may check Narmada dams
Much debate over the massive dam projects on the Narmada has been on costs vs benefits as well as poor rehabilitation measures. But one of the original questions activists raised years ago was over the Right to Information. The 'RTI' factor may be finally hitting home, reports Jaideep Hardikar.
Right to info | Maharashtra | MP
December 2004

Rehabilitation's short arm
Why does meaningful resettlement for Narmada dam oustees in Maharashtra remain slow despite a state cabinet show of willingness in January 2004? Find out from Mike Levien who recently spent a year in the Narmada valley researching the Sardar Sarovar project and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Human rights | Maharashtra
September 2004

Rising waters, declining hopes
This July-August, like the previous years, the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam has channeled the fury of the monsoons into the submergence zones of Maharashtra and MP. Hundreds of villages deluged and scores of people left with ever diminishing hopes of resettlement. Jaideep Hardikar reports.
HR | Maharashtra | MP
August 2004