Years ago when she set out on the cause, it raised quite an uproar. A time when I still hadn't weaned off Tom & Jerry or the Laurel & Hardies of comic strips and 'NEWS' of any kind...still something forced upon me by my dad for the 'greater' knowledge sake. But as I grew, Medha Pathkar was a name that kept on cropping up more and more. Magazines, newspapers (still remember a picture published on the front page of the Times of India), and of course television that beamed visuals of a frail woman wrapped in a cotton saree struggling to be heard over the din. But once she started, there was always a sense of 'eeriness' with which others responded to her.
So the thought of traveling the span of the Narmada through the villages to get a first-hand 'feel' of the situation....definitely something that excited me. A trip, that took us to villages far away from any road transport, televisions or cell-phone networks.
Her cause - The 'Narmada Struggle' or the 'Narmada Bachao Andolan'. The losing livelihood and resettlement of scores of Adivasis settled on the banks of the Narmada and who would be displaced as the height of the dam would increase.
Defeats were something that kept cropping-into the struggle right from the beginning. The first one (major) came with the construction of the dam itself. Resettlement from that displacement is still a question many would want to leave unanswered. Lives lost...the number of suicides are not even a matter of any records.
On the flip side, scores of villages turned into towns and sprawling cities over night as electricity and more importantly water reached their doorsteps. Soon, as benefits overweighed the losses, the Narmada struggle grew out of public consciousness. Until of course the need arose to provide for more cities, more towns and the ever increasing demands of agriculture and electricity. The solution yet again was - to increase the height of the dam.
People to be affected? More than 39,000 families. And scores of others, who do not even exist on any Government records. But the struggles are of a perennial nature. The story that makes Geography text books of how 'man' loots 'nature'; Destroys forest lands; turns them into villages; these villages turn into towns; towns then turn into cities and so on and so forth.
In this struggle, whom would you really blame? Nature itself? Or 'man', for being 'wrong' in the first place for encroaching upon 'nature's property? Well the dam too's a result of such an encroachment.
But with adaptation of human-kind taking it's own due course, the losers at the end of the day seem to be the NBA itself. With a huge ideological struggle to battle with. It's promises to the scores of Adivasis in the areas of Manibeli, Bitada, Chimalkhedi, Jalsindhi, Domkhedi and other such villages...... who still haven't shifted to the land allocated by the Government; believing that the NBA would someday deliver.
What the NBA now finds itself is in a tight spot - not willing to accept defeat, yet constantly on the look out for a fresh spark to re-ignite the flame. But for how long? The question is...what is the logical route for the NBA now? A change in name? (To incorporate a new struggle) or may be a political party?
first published:September 22, 2006, 19:29 ISTlast updated:September 22, 2006, 19:29 IST
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Dignified grit...Emotional strength and sheer determination....words that would seem few, to describe the conviction with which the 'Iron' lady Medha Pathkar continues with her stuggle for the good of scores of villagers in the Narmada valley. The area spans the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
Years ago when she set out on the cause, it raised quite an uproar. A time when I still hadn't weaned off Tom & Jerry or the Laurel & Hardies of comic strips and 'NEWS' of any kind...still something forced upon me by my dad for the 'greater' knowledge sake. But as I grew, Medha Pathkar was a name that kept on cropping up more and more. Magazines, newspapers (still remember a picture published on the front page of the Times of India), and of course television that beamed visuals of a frail woman wrapped in a cotton saree struggling to be heard over the din. But once she started, there was always a sense of 'eeriness' with which others responded to her.
So the thought of traveling the span of the Narmada through the villages to get a first-hand 'feel' of the situation....definitely something that excited me. A trip, that took us to villages far away from any road transport, televisions or cell-phone networks.
Her cause - The 'Narmada Struggle' or the 'Narmada Bachao Andolan'. The losing livelihood and resettlement of scores of Adivasis settled on the banks of the Narmada and who would be displaced as the height of the dam would increase.
Defeats were something that kept cropping-into the struggle right from the beginning. The first one (major) came with the construction of the dam itself. Resettlement from that displacement is still a question many would want to leave unanswered. Lives lost...the number of suicides are not even a matter of any records.
On the flip side, scores of villages turned into towns and sprawling cities over night as electricity and more importantly water reached their doorsteps. Soon, as benefits overweighed the losses, the Narmada struggle grew out of public consciousness. Until of course the need arose to provide for more cities, more towns and the ever increasing demands of agriculture and electricity. The solution yet again was - to increase the height of the dam.
People to be affected? More than 39,000 families. And scores of others, who do not even exist on any Government records. But the struggles are of a perennial nature. The story that makes Geography text books of how 'man' loots 'nature'; Destroys forest lands; turns them into villages; these villages turn into towns; towns then turn into cities and so on and so forth.
In this struggle, whom would you really blame? Nature itself? Or 'man', for being 'wrong' in the first place for encroaching upon 'nature's property? Well the dam too's a result of such an encroachment.
But with adaptation of human-kind taking it's own due course, the losers at the end of the day seem to be the NBA itself. With a huge ideological struggle to battle with. It's promises to the scores of Adivasis in the areas of Manibeli, Bitada, Chimalkhedi, Jalsindhi, Domkhedi and other such villages...... who still haven't shifted to the land allocated by the Government; believing that the NBA would someday deliver.
What the NBA now finds itself is in a tight spot - not willing to accept defeat, yet constantly on the look out for a fresh spark to re-ignite the flame. But for how long? The question is...what is the logical route for the NBA now? A change in name? (To incorporate a new struggle) or may be a political party?
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