Narmada Essay

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Medha Patkar - A Leader of the Underprivileged..! By Ankita Das Published on 30 th Jul, 2011 Medha Patkar is best known for her great leadership in Narmada Bachao Andolan. The Narmada Bachao Andolan is a non governmental organization that mobilized tribal people, farmers and adivasis against the Sardar Sarovar Dam built across the river Narmada. Medha Patkar was born on December 1, 1954 in Mumbai. She did her M.A. in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The Sardar Sarovar project is an ambitious project to put up several enormous dams on Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to send water to Gujarat. Medha Patkar got involved in this movement when she and her colleagues took a tour to the Narmada Valley in 1980s. She was upset after looking at the poor conditions of people who were going to be affected by the dam. In 1986, Medha organized a 36 day long march from Madhya Pradesh to the dam site. The marchers had to endorse a strict ideological commitment to non violence and also follow Satyagraha. As Medha Patkar and other marchers reached Gujarat, they were violently attacked by the police. The march brought everyone’s attention to the Sardar Sarovar Project. Later Medha Patkar formed Narmada Bachao Andolan in 1989. The main goal of this movement was to provide the residents in the Narmada valley with access to the project information and legal representation and stopping the Sardar Sarovar Project. Medha and her team found that the project’s financier, World Bank was aware of the project’s disadvantages but was going ahead with the funding. Medha Patkar and her team then started the practice of Dharna and were able to succeed in withdrawing the World Bank’s endorsement of the Sardar Sarovar Project in 1993. Yet their celebration was short lived as India’s government announced that it would increase its
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