Huge anti-Narmada dam rally in Badwani, MP, against "illegal" submergence, Gujarat oustees participate

Medha Patkar leads rally in Badwani

By A Representative
A large number of Narmada dam oustees from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat thronged on the banks of river Narmada next to the Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi Memorial in Badwani district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday to protest against the alleged injustice meted out to them the name of rehabilitation.
Begun under the banner Narmada Jal, Jangal, Jameen Haq Satyagrah on July 30, 2016 morning with a rally, the protesters highlighted how the Modi government, on coming to power in 2014, took a decision to “impose illegal submergence” by authorizing to complete the dam to its full height 138.68 meters.
This, they said, was in “violation” of the Supreme Court ruling that any “expedition of construction is has to precede complete rehabilitation of the dam oustees.”
The participants included adivasi oustees from different resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) sites, who have started an agitation and a relay hunger strike next to the Narmada dam site at Kevadia Colony. They are demanding basic facilities in their sites.
Senior activists from 15 states, including Karnataka, Kerala, UP, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkand, Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Haryana, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Delhi participated in the demonstration.

Prominent among them were Biju Krishnan of Bhumi Adhikar Andolan from Karnataka, senior Gandhian Kumar Prashant who is associated with Gandhi Shanti Pratishthan, Delhi, Dr Sunilam of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and Vimalbhai of Matu Jansangathan, Uttarakhand.
Pointing towards how the proposal to close the Narmada dam’s gates would permanently displace more than 45,000 families, mostly adivasis, across 244 villages and Dharampuri town in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, they said, they faced “the grave risk of submergence of their farms and households”.
Speaking ahead of the satyagraha, water and dam specialist Major General Sudhir Vombadkere, from Mysore said, “The long struggling people’s movement has been deprived of legislative, governmental, and bureaucratic support. I have written to the Prime Minister, but have received no response.”

Gujarat activist Bharatsinh Jhala, a land rights activist, said, “It was told that all the Gujarat villages will get irrigation. We haven't seen it being provided to any villages or farmers. Water is available only to industries. Water may have reached till Kutch, but only for industries, not for farmers, or adivasis.”

Jhala added, “2000 plus villages in Gujarat have seen full droughts and partial droughts repeatedly in the last few years but Narmada water has not reached them. We now understand that Medha Parkar is not anti-Gujarat, but the development model of the government is actually anti-Gujarat.”
Referring to the Justice Jha commission report, which is said to have exposed thousands of crores worth of corruption in rehabilitating Madhya Pradesh oustees, BR Patil, independent Karnataka MLA and ex-deputy-speaker, regretted it has not been made public. “It needs to be discussed in the assembly and among the general public”, he said.
Referring to the response from the Government of India to her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) said she was disappointed to see it was a “regurgitation of a report from year 2000”, adding, “It even states that the dam will get completed in 2004! This is the degree of apathy with which the government is treating such grave problems in the lives of 45,000 families.”
The protesters said the claims about irrigation and drinking water benefits have proved untenable, with only 30-35 per cent irrigation canal network built in Gujarat.
Other issues highlighted included the decision to decommand four lakh hectares (ha) of land of the 18 lakh ha the proposed Narmada command area, how this was being done to favour industrial and investment activities in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), and how the state government had agreed to supply 30 lakh litres of Narmada water per day to Coca Cola and 60 lakh litres to car industries.

Comments

Anonymous said…

We're a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
Your website offered us with valuable information to paintings on. You have done an impressive task and our whole group will likely be thankful to you.

December 20, 2018

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Labour unrest in Manesar trigger tensions: Recently enacted labour codes blamed

By A Representative A civil rights coalition has expressed concern over recent developments in the industrial hub of Manesar in Haryana, where a series of labour actions and police responses have drawn attention. A statement, released by the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), said it stood in solidarity with workers in IMT Manesar and other parts of the country, while also alleging instances of police excess during ongoing unrest.

Search This Blog