Narmada Bachao Andolan Research Articles

The Role of Law in Counter-hegemonic Globalization and Global Legal Pluralism: Lessons from the Narmada Valley Struggle in India

The multiplication of legal orders is characteristic of what one could call an age of globalization and counter-hegemonic globalization. In this age, the relationship between international law and other normative orders is increasingly important. The dominant disciplinary frameworks that provide explanations of such a relationship are focused on compliance with and/or the effectiveness of international norms in domestic legal orders and are derived from international relations. In this article, I examine the limits and possibilities of such approaches through a case study of the use of law (at multiple levels) by one of India's most prominent social movements, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada). The article argues that the use of law by a social movement is a concrete instance of counter-hegemonic globalization in which international law is one of many different legal orders, a situation of global legal pluralism, in which it is impossible to tell in advance which normative order will best advance cosmopolitan goals such as human rights.

Critics and Experts, Activists and Academics: Intellectuals in the Fight for Social and Ecological Justice in the Narmada Valley, India

The following article examines the role of popular intellectuals in the rise of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, a mass-based movement opposed to the building of large dams in the Narmada Valley of central India. In particular, it focuses on two of this struggle's most prominent public figures and spokespersons, Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy. The article examines the relationship between these individuals and the movement itself – how issues have been framed by Patkar and Roy for local, national, and international audiences, how support for the anti-dam struggle has been mobilized, and how each of these figures are themselves perceived and portrayed. The article will also examine some of the challenges faced by the movement and its leaders, not only from proponents of the dam projects, but also from other social activists and intellectuals. The latter have raised questions about representation, voice and strategy, as well as insider/outsider authenticity and legitimacy in the anti-dam movement, issues that this paper considers in some detail. Finally, the article draws on the Narmada case to ask some broader questions regarding popular intellectuals and social movement organizing and strategy.

Gandhi in his time and ours: the global legacy of his ideas

Preface 1. Introduction: The Gandhian Dialogic 2. An Incorporative Nationalism Forging a Nationalist Hegemony The Disciplined Nation Invented Histories of the Nation 3. Dialogic Resistance Popular Forms of Mass Resistance in India Satryagraha Individual Conscience Ahimsa Satryagraha Within the Indian Polity 4. An Alternative Modernity Hind Swaraj A Gandhian Civilisation The Contructive Programme Gandhi, Socialism, and the Doctrine of Trusteeship The Gandhian Critique Beyond India 5. Fear of the Nation Gandhi's Family Life Gandhi and Sexual Desire Marriage and Patriarchy Women and Satyagraha The Critique of Patriarchy 6. Dalit and Adivasi Assertion Dalits Adivasis Dalits, Adivasis, and the Indian Nation 7. Fighting Religious Hatreds Gandhi, Muslims, and Hindu Nationalists The 'National Duty' of the Hindu Patriot Gandhi and Christianity Partition and Gandhi's 'Finest Hour' Gandhian Anti-Communal Work Since Independence 8. Gandhian Activism in India After Independence The Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements The Naxalite Alternative The JP Movement JP's 'Total Revolution' The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini Women and Anti-Liquor Movements in India Vahini and Women's Rights Chipko Andolan Narmada Bachao Andolan Gandhian Activism Since 1980 9. Gandhi's Global Legacy Some Contemporary Western Reactions Gandhi and the Pacifist Movement Gandhian Resistance on a World Stage The African-American Struggle in the USA The Revolt Against Apartheid in South Africa Petra Kelly and the German Greens 10. The Moral Activists' Lonely Path to Martyrdom Bibliography Index

Developing compliance and resistance: the state, transnational social movements and tribal peoples contesting India's Narmada project

AbstractIn this article I conceptualize a conflict over the Narmada damming project in central India by highlighting particular spatial fields and larger trajectories of political interaction. The Narmada project's maintenance and destabilization is evinced in a range of processes, including conflict over afforestation in tribal villages, protest narratives over resettlement in regional centres, and transnational lobbying of donor agencies. The interpenetration of social practices by different scales, and the mobility of discourses are emphasized. Further, I examine how organizational and social decisions such as implementing a rehabilitation programme, accepting state compensation and participating in public protest point to the contingent nature of power, revealing both complicity and disarticulation between involved parties. Descriptive points and commentary focus on the Indian riparian states implementing the project; the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement); and affected adivasi (tribal) communities in the Narmada Valley.

Voices of the dammed: discursive resistance amidst erasure in the Narmada Valley, India

Abstract This paper analyses the conflict surrounding the construction of mega-dams along the Narmada river valley in central India. In particular, the paper examines various repertoires of resistance employed by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (save the Narmada movement, NBA) the principal protagonist resisting the Narmada valley development project. Various spaces of economic, cultural, ecological, and political erasure are engendered by the construction of the Narmada dams, and the NBA articulates resistance, and engages in constructive development alternatives, in each of these spaces. The discursive articulations of resistance provide a crucial counterpoint to material expressions of struggle. Discursive resistance takes the form of academic analyses, peasant testimonials and slogans. Utilising Warren’s concept of testimonios, the paper argues that movement identity articulates a unity that effaces internal difference, contradiction and ambiguity. The paper concludes with some thoughts on the role of academics in highlighting such ambiguities, in the context of collaboration with social movements.

Human Rights and Displacement: The Indian Supreme Court Decision on Sardar Sarovar in International Perspective

The human and environmental consequences of big development projects such as large dams have been a focus of increasing attention in many countries. Large-scale involuntary resettlement caused by such projects has become particularly contentious in a number of situations. In India where many large dams have been and are being built, the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river has been at the centre of a storm for over a decade. The latest development in the history of this project is the judgment given by the Supreme Court of India on 18 October 2000 adjudicating a public interest litigation petition filed by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA—Save the Narmada Movement). This decision is of great significance not only for the project itself but also from a broader perspective.

Damming waters and wisdom: protest in the Narmada River Valley

The science, technology, and wisdom of building large dams seem to be deemed unfashionable in the developed world. Developing countries like China and India, however, continue to believe that large dams are rational and legitimate development solutions. The Sardar Sarovar, across the river Narmada, is one such large dam which the Indian government has been building since the early 1960s. The past two decades have, however, spawned a unique, people-based, and non-violent protest against the Sardar Sarovar dam led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. This paper documents the history of the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the flawed rationale behind the building of Sardar Sarovar.