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Dams and development: the Narmada story.

Article Excerpt
The controversy over large dams on the River Narmada in western India has come to symbolize the struggle for a just and equitable society in India. From its inception, the Indian state was confronted by two different visions of reconstruction; the Gandhian project of reviving the village economy as the basis of development, and the Nehruvian plan of prosperity through rapid industrialization. Dam building in post-independent India, under the predominant Nehruvian developmental agenda, became a major symbol of modernization, scientific progress and a source of national pride. 'Temples of modern India' is how Nehru described them.

In the case of the Narmada, the government's plan is to build 30 large, 135 medium, and 3000 small dams to harness its waters and its tributaries. The proponents of the dam, in particular the Government of Gujarat, claim that this plan would provide large amounts of water and electricity, which are desperately required for the purposes of development. However, a mass of research and independent studies (see www.dams.org) shows that on purely technical and economic grounds, large dams have been colossal failures. While they have delivered only a fraction of their purported...

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