Fifty-six years after its foundation stone was laid by our first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, the humongous Sardar Sarovar concrete gravity dam—only second in scale to the Grand Coulee in US—was inaugurated by the 14th prime minister, Narendra Modi, on his birthday this Sunday. Calling it a lifeline for Gujarat, historically a drought-prone state and one slated to go to polls in a few months, Modi reminded the people of the numerous hurdles that needed to be overcome for the project to come to fruition. If the agitating Narmada Bachao Andolan led by Medha Patkar was his target, he did not mention them directly.
The World Bank had withdrawn its promised funding of $450 million back in the early 90s after campaigns by activists citing the human cost it entailed. The pros too are well known: besides Gujarat, the dam will irrigate and electrify large swathes of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Around 18,000 sq km, mostly in the arid zones North Gujarat and Saurashtra, will specially benefit—the project, thus, is touted as the harbinger of a second green revolution. The project involves building a series of large irrigation and hydro-electric multiple-purpose dams on the Narmada River. In total, about 30 dams are planned. While work on the biggest of them is complete, the canal network that would take the distributor channels to a wider population is still in the works.
Hopefully, this work will not only be speeded up but extended meaningfully—so that it is not used merely to ‘justify’ the ultimate sacrifice made by the tribal people of three states whose ancestral home, hearth and livelihood had to be swept away, but so that the benefits actually flow back to them. Meanwhile, the government would also do well to complete the relief and rehabilitation of the 40,000 families awaiting compensation. Under the new rubric of equitable development or ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’, development for some can no longer translate into destitution for others. The India of tomorrow must find a balance.