in what ways do the environment movement and women s movement different from the narmada bachao andolan.
Answers
The Narmada Bachao Andolan Movement [NBA]
Since the early 1980s, the Narmada Project has faced mounting opposition from a variety of sources. Protest groups formed in all three affected states and included or were supported by individuals facing displacement, students, social activists, Indian environmental NGOs, international NGOs, and transnational networks. In Gujarat, nineteen villages, whose submersion the Sardar Sarovar dam ensured, formed the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini, a youth protest group. The group engaged in protests and initiated court actions, ultimately forcing the government of Gujarat to offer a more generous resettlement package. The group’s belief that Gujarat’s water needs made the dam project necessary guided its decision to focus on rehabilitation efforts and to ensure that the government adhered to its promises.
In contrast, groups in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra opposed the dams altogether. Two such groups, the Narmada Ghati Navnirman Samiti in Madhya Pradesh and the Narmada Ghati Dharangrastha Samiti in Maharashtra, subsequently merged to form the Narmada Bachao Andolan in 1989. Under the leadership of the principal figure associated with the movement, Medha Patkar, the NBA initially sought to verify the claims regarding the benefits that would flow from the construction of the dams. In the process, it focused on securing access to documents from the government and the World Bank to ensure greater transparency.
One of the biggest reason for the success of the NBA was the excellent leadership provided by the most able persons of the country. The NBA, a broad-based participatory movement, flourished under the leadership of visionary environmental champions. One of India’s most vibrant and best known living activists, Medha Patkar (or Medha didi (big sister) as she is called) has led the Narmada movement for over two decades. Her uncompromising stance against government apathy toward the human and social costs of dam construction and her ongoing efforts to ensure that transparency and accountability remain hallmark features of development projects have helped fashion the NBA into one of the most dynamic social movements of our time. A ‘‘veteran of several fasts [and] monsoon satyagrahas [civil disobedience] on the banks of the rising Narmada,’’ she has endured police beatings and jail terms in her quest to secure the right to life and the right to livelihood for the over twenty million people whose lives would be adversely affected by the Narmada Project.
Other women have also played central roles in the campaign. The NBA’s struggle against the Maheshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh state, for instance, has been led by the Narmada Shakti Dal, a separate women’s organization within the NBA that was set up on March 8, 1988—International Women’s Day—and is comprised of female villagers from Maheshwar. Alongside Medha Patkar, social activist Baba Amteprovided moral leadership to the cause to preserve the Narmada River. ......
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