Large Dams and Related Controversies in India

Today big dams are one of the key concerns of the environmentalists across the world. We
can discern it from the fact that almost everywhere, there are communities or groups of
activists organising against the proposed building of a dam, in their particular areas of
concern. This issue is attracting polemics largely in the developing countries. In the growing
international debate over the catastrophic construction of big dams, India has also been
trapped. But Indias condition, in terms of water resources, is completely different from the
other countries of the world as its crucial economic sector, agriculture, is largely dependent
on monsoon. The need for building large dams and storage schemes is felt more acutely here.
In India, Sardar Sarovar Project has been arousing much controversy and bitter campaigns
since the late 80s, so much so that the World Bank had to step back from funding the project,
in 1990, because of pressures from certain groups. The projects impact on environment and
net costs and benefit are widely debated. Various documentaries such as; Drowned Out
(2002) and A Narmada Diary (1995) have filmed such protests as their center stage. The
figurehead of much of such protests in India is Medha Patekar, the leady who leads the 1991
Right Livelihood Award winning movement called Narmada Bachao Andolan.
The other examples are Tehri and Tipaimukh projects in India. Where Tehri Dam project
drew protest from the villagers of Uttaranchal and the issue was used as effective votebank
tool in the assembly polls of 2006, the Tipaimukh Dam project is facing protests from the
Manipur and the north-east Bangladeshi peoples as, its being referred as another Farakka, the
Dam which created much controversy during the 70s, between the Indian and Bangladesh
government.
Arundhati Roy, the renowned Indian author, is also against such large Dam projects as in her
article The Greater Common Good, she says: Big Dams started well, but have ended badly.
There was a time when everybody loved them, everybody had them the Communists,
Capitalists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists. There was a time when Big Dams
moved men to poetry. Not any longer. All over the world there is a movement growing
against Big Dams. In the First World theyre being de-commissioned, blown up. The fact that
they do more harm than good is no longer just conjecture. Big Dams are obsolete. Theyre
uncool. Theyre undemocratic. Theyre a Governments way of accumulating authority
(deciding who will get how much water and who will grow what where). Theyre a
guaranteed way of taking a farmers wisdom away from him. Theyre a brazen means of
taking water, land and irrigation away from the poor and gifting it to the rich. Their reservoirs
displace huge populations of people, leaving them homeless and destitute. Ecologically,
theyre in the doghouse. They lay the earth to waste. They cause floods, water-logging,
salinity, they spread disease. There is mounting evidence that links Big Dams to
earthquakes.

Although for some it spelled disaster, for others it was an answer to various problems related
to irrigation, electricity, water supply, floods and navigation. The hydroelectric projects can
also be considered greener than other power generation options. A large number of people
also question the rationale of the debate as, they believe different countries and regions have
different needs and, for its fulfillment thy make different policies and these policies should
not be labeled as good or bad just because they favour or oppose the construction of large
dams. The recent debates on large dams have become polarised and has very much clouded
the issue.
The development priorities of the West have changed and now they are raising fingers on the
developing South. In recent decades the issue of the environmental impact of dams has been
overshadowed by the affected interests and global coalitions. Many people believe that the
issue is not that grave and is simply over hyped.
As far as the relocation of the tribal are concerned, the rehabilitation package for the Sardar
Sarovar Project is a vast improvement on how such issues were looked at earlier. It was
perhaps in the World Environment Conference at Stockhome in 1972 that the social,
economic and environmental impacts of large dams were brought into focus. Now
rehabilitation is not that much a problem for the tribal, its rather an opportunity for them as
Right to Development can never be less important than the other basic human rights.
The other group of people believes that all the criticism against the large dams is due to the
faulty agricultural planning, corruption in society, malgovernance, improper use of the
developed water made available by the dams and the perceived inability of the government to
lay down and enforce progressive policies.
The India case study on large dams should look at the scene objectively instead of getting
carried away by sentiments and passions. It should take in consideration its peoples
aspirations and, should offer the lessons to the developing people of the world as, it observes
the experience of having large dams in India. The institutions such as The World Commission
on Dams which, was set up to address the central issues of the controversy with respect to
large dams and to provide an independent review of their effectiveness in sustainable
development, cannot deal with the India specific problems. Its the country and its people
who have to handle the issue.
In case, we do have to focus on the so called environmental aspect of the dams and also have
to achieve our developmental goals, we have some other traditional options of water storage
technology, such as, watershed management which is gaining popularity in the Indian states
like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan with the help of NGOs and state
government programmes. Although whether such options will be able to substitute the
importance of large dams in a developing world is a matter of question.
Sangya Supatra