In any such large project, ...

In any such large project, involving rivers and dams, we have figures quoted by planners and pushers of such schemes, as to how much power will be generated and many acres will be irrigated. No one has thought of the human cost which is brushed aside. Farmers are committing suicide due to agrarian distress right now. How will just irrigating fields make their lives any better till they are assured of a MSP for their crops. Environmental costs are of course never considered. Human beings have a very poor record of restoring destroyed environments.

Secondly going by past record, human populations are displaced, and never properly rehabilitated. They are not being just uprooted, their whole way of life is being destroyed. Can that be compensated by shifting them to another place miles away from their present locations, because of some political advantage, and because some corporates and contractors can make money. This is not unfounded, as it has been said before, large projects mean large kickbacks . Which is why government planners are never enthusiastic about small dams or small projects, which can deliver the same results .

I would suggest readers to carefully read, The Dam and the Nation: Displacement and Resettlement in the Narmada Valley by Jean Drèze, Meera Samson, Satyajit Singh, Oxford University Press, 1997.

More than 25% of India's population, especially the poor, the landless and the disadvantaged have been displaced by large dams since Independence. Most of them have not been rehabilitated till now. Had they been rich and powerful then they would not have been displaced. A question: Why is development always connected with destroying lives of the economically disadvantaged .

So let us not get excited by the millions of Megawatts and irrigation of millions of acres. Let us have human and environmental solutions in place first before we start tinkering around, just because technology allows us to do this.

Another question. Would the government be willing to place this scheme in the hands of an organisation like the Narmada Bachao Andolan and other similar organisations for implementation .

The answer will be no , because there will be no room for leakage of money from contracts.

Let us first display our care for the environment and our fellow-men before starting something like this, and think of solutions which do not involve shifting of populations, destructions of forests, and the environment in general.

Picture to yourself. You are leading a comfortable life in your 3-BHK house, with all the modern conveniences. Some faceless planner decides a canal should run through the place where you are residing. ( You have no say in the formulation of these plans ). Some politician or politicians approve the building of the canal. Some faceless bureaucrat decides you will be given a plot of land in a place, where no amenities whatsoever are available. One fine day you are shifted there. You have now become in bureaucratese, a PAP (Project Affected Person) or an Oustee. Your way of life is gone forever, and you will spend years trying to get compensation, which will be a fraction of the value of the property you have lost .

Have that picture in your mind before even having an academic discussion on how great it will be to have those millions of Megawatts, and millions of irrigated acres.