Narmada Bachao Andolan

[Asif]

Originally Posted by Apurv

SC is commendable for upholding the importance of rehabilitation, but there is a darker side to the whole rehabilitation debate which mostly goes unreported. Sardar Sarovar has one of the most generous rehabilitation schemes in the world. Why is it still controversial?

<snip>

But then if two more members of this family are just 2 years away from turning 21 yrs old, it is to their advantage to get the freeze date postponed by two years so that they too get their 5 acres. So they turn to NBA activists, who do these local level demonstrations & petition district courts complaining about the 'quality' of rehabilitation, resulting in a stay on rehabilitation activity. By the time the court ruling gives a clean chit to the rehabilitation officials, 3 years have passed and 5,000 more people have turned eligible to get 5 acres of land. A separate petition is launched in district courts asking for rehabilitation for this new lot of 5,000. Court gives ruling in their favour and govt is faced with the problem arranging land for 5 grand more, all for the interests of a few. Then Medha Patkar goes onto a fast crying hoarse about the lack of rehabilitation work and the nation, which has never seen the ground realities, turns hysterical with her.

Rehabilitation cannot go on in such an environment and the govt is not entirely to blame. But who is ready to listen to all this amidst the hysteria created by Medha Patkar/Arundhati Roy and now Aamir Khan?
<snip>

Apurv, believe you to a great extent and am sure most of the issue might be about the NBA people supporting the issue to run their kitchens, But considering the long history of neglect when it comes to rehabilitation, The people cannot but believe whatever the NBA people would say.
You know rhetoric gets more coverage then the truth.

---Asif

[Mrs.Zong]

I have always felt that charity is a farce...

The best part is the sort of amusing antics that our politicians n actors..n activists put up for our daily dose of entertainment.

Medha patkar goes on a fast....and we have a counter medha fast by narendramodi...I simply love the guy...he is an ass...he makes no bones abt it.

Then again poor aamir... high on the RDB note , suddenly remembers i m a citizen of india too....only to get kicked right and left by raging gujju fans...

Democracy says its meant for the people, by the people, of the people.

Let us practice what we preach. Democracy should not mean water for thousands and depravity for a couple of hundreds.
But let not democracy encourage the chicanery thats goes on on the name of activism.

Jaago India Jaago!!

-zong

[grondmaster]

I read somewhere that History is the biased account of what the winners wanted to keep for posterity, not what needed to be kept.
Facts and statistics are not biased. They are just numbers. How you interpret them is the question.
If you wear green coloured glasses, White will appear green. If you wear red, it'll appear red. But it is still White. What you see depends on what you want to see, and what you're looking at, not what actually is. Hitler did this in Mien Kampf, and the result was the Holocaust. Arundhati Roy has done the same, by not looking at the facts as facts alone, but as something that supports what she already has accepted as concrete.

My father had visited Medha Patker's workshops in Gujarat some years ago, and he came back impressed. The work done by her organisation is awesome, to say the least. But that does not mean that she is the only one who thinks well of the people there. The government is not out there to think of only the rich, and bypass the poor. It has to work, look at the future, and see what needs to be done where.

If by building the dam over the Narmada, three states are going to benefit, then, by all means, go ahead. If a few million need to be rehabilitated, understand the fact that hundreds of millions are going to benefit as well.

What unfortunately has occured is that everyone has lost the sight of the forest for its trees. Looking at the micro arena has not helped the macro picture. If you look at the big picture, then smoothen the parts that are not balanced, and a cohesive, complete society will emerge, with everyone being happy!!

Regards,
Harshal,
Grondmaster

[nex]

Originally Posted by Apurv

SC is commendable for upholding the importance of rehabilitation, but there is a darker side to the whole rehabilitation debate which mostly goes unreported. Sardar Sarovar has one of the most generous rehabilitation schemes in the world. Why is it still controversial?

It is controversial because it has never been implemented. The govt washes its hands off by giving 14000Rs. cash and tells to find land on your own. This, despite repeated recommendations by various experts that cash compensation is a recipe for disaster as far as rehabilitation is concerned.

NBA is not protesting against the increase in height of the dam. They are asking to "implement" the rehabilitation "schemes" BEFORE the construction happens. Which is what the supreme court had ordered. Although Medha patekar has her own views against large dams, thats a debatable issue. And I don't believe that NBA has started "crying horse" only recently. Although I will happy to be corrected.

Apurv, I have not been to the region like you have been, and that probably gives you the right to discredit my opinion, but I think your remark about NBA being in it for money is a bit immature. It would take a lot more than an invitation to some unknown international conference in some unknown part of the world to make someone struggle for 20 long years like NBA has.

[RagnRoll]

well, the supreme court judgement comes as a relief,
ending the farce which is going on since the past
few days.

modi is at it again. no matter how much u hate the dude,
u have to admit he is a gr8 strategist. completely manipulating
the situation to his advantage. even the congress in gujarat is
whining now that modi sidelined them on the issue.

although i love arundhati roy's writing, i dont understand what
she is doing here. and aamir khan, well he had some valid points,
but the media took it completely out of context.

medha patkar is the only person who needs to be admired here.
imagine going for a 20 day fast. and for whom. those ppl we indians,
ya WE indians love to ignore.

there should be no doubt that the dam needs to be built. what the heck,
it is more or less complete. actually the height is 110 mts. but
rehabiliatation must happen.

p.s. well, i dont know if what apurv says is true or not. but guys,
take a rational approach. nothing can be treated in black or white.
its pretty much more complex

[nex]

Originally Posted by grondmaster

If by building the dam over the Narmada, three states are going to benefit, then, by all means, go ahead. If a few million need to be rehabilitated, understand the fact that hundreds of millions are going to benefit as well.

I believe what NBA is saying is why rehabilitation is an afterthought in such development projects. Are people asking for proper rehabilitation against the development of the nation ?? It's easy to label the activists as retrogade thinking, obstructing the progress of the nation because that wins you mass support immediately.

Someone please correct me on this: NBA is asking for proper implementation of the supreme court's order which said that satisfactory rehabilitation should happen before the dam height is raised again.

[RagnRoll]

and one more thing....

arundhati roy wants ppl to build only small dams, no
big dams coz...blah blah

only 1 problem here...

WHAT THE F*** do we do with Sardar Sarovar Dam????

[grondmaster]

Originally Posted by nex

I believe what NBA is saying is why rehabilitation is an afterthought in such development projects. Are people asking for proper rehabilitation against the development of the nation ?? It's easy to label the activists as retrogade thinking, obstructing the progress of the nation because that wins you mass support immediately.

If things were let be, as they were, there would be no need for threads like this one. For every development projects, people, especially the lower economical classes, are going to be affected. They will be rehabilitated, that is the primary clause in any project: Help those affected. Return their lives to them, what they are losing due to progess.

Then what impedes? I'd say two things: Corruption, and Celebrity-ness. Corruption amongst the project makers & the powers that be ensure that the money earmarked for rehab goes into their pockets. The other headache is when NGOs with no sense of ground reality jump in, as if they're helping the affected persons. But hte only thing they're doing is ensuring that the column centimetres you get in newspapers increase substantially.

Not that Medha Patkar is a media hungry person. She is committed to what she preaches. I have seen what her organisation does. But when there is something around her, and the Narmada, that is going selfish on a very high note, and ensuring that a decent cause for concern, one that is being addressed, gets blown out of proportion and thus is demeaned in the process.

Regards,
Harshal,
Grondmaster

[Abhishek Jha]

I think dam on Narmada will bring prosperity to the region. Lot of thought process has got into it. But it has and will displace countless inhabitants and they need to be adequately compensated. But you know guys our netas want a lion's share of all dhans!!, so they consumed compensation money.

Kudos to medha patekar for raising a storm for genuine cause. I know MM singh will come out with the best solution.

abhishek

[nex]

Originally Posted by grondmaster

Then what impedes? I'd say two things: Corruption, and Celebrity-ness. Corruption amongst the project makers & the powers that be ensure that the money earmarked for rehab goes into their pockets. The other headache is when NGOs with no sense of ground reality jump in, as if they're helping the affected persons. But the only thing they're doing is ensuring that the column centimetres you get in newspapers increase substantially.

Really appreciate your views. I'm not blindly supporting NBA. All my views and opinions are based on second-hand information, and I give them due weightage depending on the credentials of the source. It's just that the MP government's track record has been a lot shadier than NBA's.

Atleast it taught me that association of celebrities with an organisation might give people another stick to beat them up with.