The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has been setup under the final orders and decision of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) as a machinery for implementation of its directions and decision. The authority started functioning from 20th December, 1980. | Learn more >>
The Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) at FRL 138.68m (455 ft.) will affect 244 villages in the 3 States which includes 192 in Madhya Pradesh, 19 in Gujarat and 33 in Maharashtra. Out of 244 villages, 4 are getting fully submerged and remaining are getting partially submerged.
The Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) at FRL 138.68m (455 ft.) will affect 48269 families in the 3 States which include 39369 PAFs in Madhya Pradesh, 4737 PAFs in Gujarat and 4163 PAFs in Maharashtra.
The total land affected in the 3 states is 37533 ha. which includes 11279 ha. agricultural land. | Read more >>
It was almost three decades ago and I have only very hazy memories of the trip. We, a batch of university students, accompanied our Anthropology professor to a remote tribal village in northern Maharashtra, to study the impact of the controversial construction of giant dams being built on the Narmada river. […]
Life in the hamlet, home to a small number of families of the Bhil tribe, was simple. There were then no roads in the area, and communication with the world outside was strictly limited. The jungles and mountains acted as a barrier to the infiltration of outside influences, which meant that the denizens of the hamlet lived much as their ancestors must have. Bhil men donned just a small loin cloth, woven at home, and the women left their torsos uncovered. There were no shops in the area, indicating that the Bhil villages were largely self-sufficient.
By urban standards, the Bhils were poor but not impoverished. Very few Bhils worked outside their villages, and most of them seemed to be content with how they were. They grew whatever they required, and their methods of cultivation were simple: they scattered the seeds on the slopes of the hills and let them grow naturally. The forests around were rich in fruits, vegetables and herbs, which were collected.
Few outsiders ever bothered to come to the Bhil areas. And that was all for the good because it meant that the Bhils could carry on with their lives much as they had for centuries. There were hardly any schools in the area, for what need, I thought, was there to study books in an alien tongue which would inevitably alienate them from their own culture?
And of course, thankfully, there was no TV, which has played such havoc with local cultures and has triggered off uncontrollable consumerism even in isolated communities.
After a tiring day’s work in the fields, men and women would gather in a communal hut, where youngsters would sing and dance together to the throbbing of drums. Others would prepare a drink made of the mahua flower, served in leaf cups. Yet others would sit around and smoke mahua flowers mixed with tobacco in giant pipes.
The Bhils of the area practiced their own unique religion, a form of animism and ancestor worship with a heavy dose of magic. But it was clear even at that time that their ancient religious tradition would soon disappear: many Bhils in the area had become devotees of wandering Hindu sadhus and Christian missionaries. Soon, their religious tradition would be looked down by others as ‘primitive’. […]
They had no faith in the promises of the government of being suitably rehabilitated. In any case, money probably didn’t count much for them. At the same time, the inhabitants of the hamlet probably suspected that their opposition to the dam was futile and must have known that, like thousands of other tribals displaced in the name of ‘development’, they might soon have to flee their homes once the dam came up.
And for all I know, with the dam now firmly in place, their village might now have been completely wiped off the map of the world, sunk deep in the swirling waters of the Narmada, its denizens being reduced to manual labourers in some dusty, nondescript Indian town.
The Narmada and its 30 big dams, the Sardar Sarovar in particular, have for long been a matter of prestige for the government. […]
According to the rehabilitation package, each of the displaced families are entitled to two hectares of land. Male members of a family who are over 18 are also eligible to get these two hectares in their own right. The submergence area of the Sardar Sarovar extends into Madhya Pradesh and most of the oustees are from that State. In fact, additional submergence from increasing the height will affect villages in Madhya Pradesh more than the other States. […]
Memories of life in a remote Bhil hamlet on the Narmada river: “Poor but not impoverished” – Maharashtra
Memories of life in a remote Bhil hamlet on the Narmada river >>
“Those displaced, who are the Scheduled Tribes, belong to the Bhil, Bhilala, Pavra, Tadvi, and Vassawa ethnic groups [of] Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.”
Source: Development and Dispossession in the Narmada Valley >>
Source: Narmada Control Authority
Address: https://nca.gov.in/aboutus_ind.htm
Date Visited: 22 October 2020
Submergence Details:
Source: Narmada Control Authority
Address: http://nca.gov.in/rnr_index.htm
Date Visited: 22 October 2020
Source: “Simple ways of life” by Yoginder Sikand (Deccan Herald, 23 December 2012)
Address : https://www.deccanherald.com/content/300193/simple-ways-life.html
Date Visited: 25 February 2021
Source: “Height of controversy” by Lyla Bavadam (Frontline Magazine, 19 September 2014)
Address: https://www.frontline.in/the-nation/height-of-controversy/article6364780.ece
Date Visited: 22 October 2020
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
Research the above issues with the help of Shodhganga: A reservoir of theses from universities all over India, made available under Open Access >>
Up-to-date reports in the Indian press | More search options >>
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