‘Narmada dam project has done little for Guj’

The ambitious Sardar Sarovar Dam project in Gujarat has gone wrong at several levels. Despite being seen as the solution to the state’s water crisis, the movement that started in the early 1980s has not reduced the water crisis here, said noted socialist and political observer Ghanshyam Shah during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), on Friday.

The hour-long lecture was themed on transformational social movements. Highlighting the failure of the Narmada dam project, Shah said that while people of the state have been grappling with water scarcity, industries are getting it without any caps. The Narmada dam project sprung from requirements of water-scarce region like Kutch, he pointed out. “In 1985, Umashankar Joshi and others had demanded a solution to water crisis in Saurashtra and Kutch,” he shared, adding that they were more concerned about the tribals who had to walk several kilometres during summers or eat meat to survive, Shah added.

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“In that writing, majority of Gujarat did not appear. That larger perspective was absent. When they wrote the letter, they had mentioned that Narmada water should not be used for industries. In 1980-85, in Gujarat and South Gujarat, it was movement for rehabilitation. They did not utter a word about rehabilitation but of water scarcity,” he said. He even took a dig at the project, suggesting that though the project was planned several years ago, even now the state government is struggling to solve the water crisis here. “Now they want water policy in place.

They filled Sabarmati River and Siddhpur lake with Narmada water. We as middle class people have not realised this issue. We have to raise our voice against it,” said Shah. “The government knows that even if they do not provide water to farmers, the latter do not have a voice and so they can sell off that water to (industries),” he added. According to Shah, the Narmada dam movement may have failed eventually but did make contributions to a few social concerns.

Caste-based movements

Asked about the survival of caste-based movements of Patidars, OBCs or Dalits in Gujarat, he said, “My understanding is Hardik (Patel) has not succeeded when it comes to elections. They know this and so they have started joining hands with others. The major problem that they (OBCs, Patels) are facing is land, employment and education. Let us talk about Jignesh (Mevani) or Alpesh Thakor. They must be realising that they can do limited things within the Assembly. And this requires self-realisation,” he said.

On managers

Observing that it was not necessary for everyone to be an activist protesting on streets, Shah urged students to link their education to a larger picture while solving a problem. “I don’t expect all students to go out and protest. My expectation is that when you study and understand business or industry or management and about the kind of problems faced by them, try and link it to larger picture,” he said. “When we talk about business management and environs, we always talk about buying capacity, taxes and if government is friendly or not. Business is part of a larger economy. If you try to understand and analyse the larger picture, it will be beneficial for everyone,” he added.