Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) to complete 25 years of struggle

National Alliance of
People's Movements (NAPM)

National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) is organizing its Eighth Biennial Convention in the Narmada Valley, at Badwani, Madhya Pradesh, from 24-26 October 2010. Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which is entering in 25th year of struggle, and is one of the founding members of NAPM will be hosting the convention this time. The journey that started in 1992 and took the shape of NAPM in 1996 has today reached a critical stage. Read more

"We started when the processes of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation were beginning to take shape, Hindu Right was picking steam in the shadow of Babri Masjid demolition and  TINA – There is No Alternative, was propounded as the mantra for the time. Since then we have come a long way and have waged important struggles along with many other movements, voluntary organisations, federations and forums, sympathetic intellectuals, artists, students and others against WTO, World Bank, Enron, SEZs, big dams, rural and urban evictions and displacements, atrocities against women, adivasis, and Dalits and communalism" said Medha Patkar, national convenor of NAPM.

"In 2003 we undertook Desh Bachao Desh Banao (Save the Nation – Build the Nation), a nation-wide campaign, aimed at evolving a national movement, to bring the ideal of an alternative world into reality, as a collective peoples political force, seeking to challenge and transform the existing political system that promotes a development paradigm that is anti-poor and anti-development. In 2007, Sangharsh / Action process was launched involving many other alliances, forums and federations which was another step in the direction of achieving a better world" said Medha Patkar.

"A decade after we met in the Narmada Valley, we are meeting again at a time, which is the 'best of the times and worst of the times'. The process of neo-liberalism which started then has now started showing its true colours, Corporations, Public and Private both, are not only grabbing the resources but the political space and even power through market and related mechanism. The investors – national to multinational have "privatized" each and every dimension of our society, polity and economy. Transformation is today a much greater challenge to the imagination, because Global Warming and the Energy crisis are much more visible too" said Medha Patkar.

The State has become a mere mediator and given away the mask of welfare and benevolence, political class and a more articulate middle class has been completely sold to the ideology of market and neo-liberal models of economy and growth. "We are witness to increased informalisation of labour as a result, 96% of workers today are in the unorganised sectors of work and there is enormously rising polarisation between the rich and the poor and a steep rise in food prices, together with loss of food security and attack on agriculture" said Medha Patkar.

The political class rarely resolves the people’s issues but rather exploits those towards vote banking, more crudely now than ever. Public space, public interest, public domain and priorities are shrinking to the detriment of basic need fulfillment jeopardizing not only the present but also the future. However, we cannot also forget that there is this growing trend towards "war on terror", militarisation and violence unleashed by the State making non-violent mass struggles more difficult, but at the same time making them more relevant too.

These times are not that bleak either, our collective efforts have not only led to enactment of progressive legislations like Right to Information Act, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Rights Act etc. but also created a situation where people on the ground have challenged every single attempt at grabbing of our land, water, forests, minerals etc. We are standing amidst the victory of people's movements at Singur, Nandigram, Niyamgiri, Sompeta, Karla, Chengara and many more such places of resistance.

The question of justice and equity have come to the fore like never before and the 'rights to and control over natural resources' become the focal point of contestation today amidst, people, state and corporations. NAPM is not the only alliance today and there is a large biradari (family) beyond our fold all engaged in struggles and reconstruction through alternatives, committed to challenge the corporatization and globalization in the face of corruption, criminal acts and callousness of both the State and the corporates. We have always strived to create spaces for dialogue and coordination between them and also provide adequate space to diversity of resistances and ideologies existing in the country.

On a more positive note it can also be considered our collective victory that today social activists and human rights activists have become threats to the State and to their corporate designs, so much so, that they are falsely framing them as 'Maoists' or 'Terrorists'. The bogey of communalism has seeped through the veins of society and governance in numerous ways and demands a different understanding and strategy to fight them.

The armed conflicts imposed upon us by the state and counter violence by non-state and private vigilante forces are also creating a situation which is threatening the lives and livelihood of the millions of those living at the margins of this development process. Together the forces of communalism,

corporatisation, and veiled casteism and patriarchy are not only threatening the framework of democratic society but has become an impediment to our collective efforts towards building a truly people's democracy unlike the existent bourgeois democracy.

The coming decade will see the fierce battles and struggles for asserting rights and control over land, water, forests, minerals and thereby making it more difficult to ensure justice to dalits, adivasis, women, minorities, workers, landless peasantry and others who are considered 'out-castes of the development'. We continue to defy the principle of 'eminent domain' of State and challenge its power even when it has merely become a negotiator for the corporations and appropriate military strength to protect their capitalist interest. Whether it is land acquisition, displacement or rehabilitation- most issues today are politicized and polarized yet there is an urgent need for movements and supporters to evolve consensus on development planning to ensure equity and justice, through peace and democracy…hence the alliance !

For more information about the 8th Biennial Convention of NAPM, write to: nba.badwani@gmail.com, 25yearsofnba@gmail.com

Medha Patkar

8th Biennial Convention of NAPM in Badwani (24-26 October)

National Alliance of
People's Movements (NAPM)

National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) is organizing its Eighth Biennial Convention in the Narmada Valley, at Badwani, Madhya Pradesh, from 24-26 October 2010. Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which is entering in 25th year of struggle, and is one of the founding members of NAPM will be hosting the convention this time. The journey that started in 1992 and took the shape of NAPM in 1996 has today reached a critical stage. Read more


"We started when the processes of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation were beginning to take shape, Hindu Right was picking steam in the shadow of Babri Masjid demolition and  TINA – There is No Alternative, was propounded as the mantra for the time. Since then we have come a long way and have waged important struggles along with many other movements, voluntary organisations, federations and forums, sympathetic intellectuals, artists, students and others against WTO, World Bank, Enron, SEZs, big dams, rural and urban evictions and displacements, atrocities against women, adivasis, and Dalits and communalism" said Medha Patkar, national convenor of NAPM.

"In 2003 we undertook Desh Bachao Desh Banao (Save the Nation – Build the Nation), a nation-wide campaign, aimed at evolving a national movement, to bring the ideal of an alternative world into reality, as a collective peoples political force, seeking to challenge and transform the existing political system that promotes a development paradigm that is anti-poor and anti-development. In 2007, Sangharsh / Action process was launched involving many other alliances, forums and federations which was another step in the direction of achieving a better world" said Medha Patkar.

"A decade after we met in the Narmada Valley, we are meeting again at a time, which is the 'best of the times and worst of the times'. The process of neo-liberalism which started then has now started showing its true colours, Corporations, Public and Private both, are not only grabbing the resources but the political space and even power through market and related mechanism. The investors – national to multinational have "privatized" each and every dimension of our society, polity and economy. Transformation is today a much greater challenge to the imagination, because Global Warming and the Energy crisis are much more visible too" said Medha Patkar.

The State has become a mere mediator and given away the mask of welfare and benevolence, political class and a more articulate middle class has been completely sold to the ideology of market and neo-liberal models of economy and growth. "We are witness to increased informalisation of labour as a result, 96% of workers today are in the unorganised sectors of work and there is enormously rising polarisation between the rich and the poor and a steep rise in food prices, together with loss of food security and attack on agriculture" said Medha Patkar.

The political class rarely resolves the people’s issues but rather exploits those towards vote banking, more crudely now than ever. Public space, public interest, public domain and priorities are shrinking to the detriment of basic need fulfillment jeopardizing not only the present but also the future. However, we cannot also forget that there is this growing trend towards "war on terror", militarisation and violence unleashed by the State making non-violent mass struggles more difficult, but at the same time making them more relevant too.

These times are not that bleak either, our collective efforts have not only led to enactment of progressive legislations like Right to Information Act, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Rights Act etc. but also created a situation where people on the ground have challenged every single attempt at grabbing of our land, water, forests, minerals etc. We are standing amidst the victory of people's movements at Singur, Nandigram, Niyamgiri, Sompeta, Karla, Chengara and many more such places of resistance.

The question of justice and equity have come to the fore like never before and the 'rights to and control over natural resources' become the focal point of contestation today amidst, people, state and corporations. NAPM is not the only alliance today and there is a large biradari (family) beyond our fold all engaged in struggles and reconstruction through alternatives, committed to challenge the corporatization and globalization in the face of corruption, criminal acts and callousness of both the State and the corporates. We have always strived to create spaces for dialogue and coordination between them and also provide adequate space to diversity of resistances and ideologies existing in the country.

On a more positive note it can also be considered our collective victory that today social activists and human rights activists have become threats to the State and to their corporate designs, so much so, that they are falsely framing them as 'Maoists' or 'Terrorists'. The bogey of communalism has seeped through the veins of society and governance in numerous ways and demands a different understanding and strategy to fight them.

The armed conflicts imposed upon us by the state and counter violence by non-state and private vigilante forces are also creating a situation which is threatening the lives and livelihood of the millions of those living at the margins of this development process. Together the forces of communalism,
corporatisation, and veiled casteism and patriarchy are not only threatening the framework of democratic society but has become an impediment to our collective efforts towards building a truly people's democracy unlike the existent bourgeois democracy.

The coming decade will see the fierce battles and struggles for asserting rights and control over land, water, forests, minerals and thereby making it more difficult to ensure justice to dalits, adivasis, women, minorities, workers, landless peasantry and others who are considered 'out-castes of the development'. We continue to defy the principle of 'eminent domain' of State and challenge its power even when it has merely become a negotiator for the corporations and appropriate military strength to protect their capitalist interest. Whether it is land acquisition, displacement or rehabilitation- most issues today are politicized and polarized yet there is an urgent need for movements and supporters to evolve consensus on development planning to ensure equity and justice, through peace and democracy…hence the alliance !

For more information about the 8th Biennial Convention of NAPM, write to: nba.badwani@gmail.com, 25yearsofnba@gmail.com


Medha Patkar

UP is home to 20 per cent of India's child labourers

State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights is still not top priority of government
It is indeed a matter of grave concern that 20 per cent (1,927,997 to be exact) of India's total (12,666,377) child labour force lives in Uttar Pradesh. It is a fact that there is no dearth of grants, aid, projects and schemes for creating a child-labour-free state and yet, instead of declining, the percentage of child labour is growing by leaps and bound in the state. Read more


Children, it seems have never been on the priority list of the state government. No wonder that when other states have had a Commission for children for years Uttar Pradesh still does not have a Commission for the Protection of Child rights. It is also often observed that important functionary; including ministers of concerned department always avoid attending children-centric functions. It is never a clear cut no, just a last minute ditch with some lame excuse.

The most conspicuous absentee was the minister of employment and labor, Mr. Badshah Singh, UP at one of the most important function organized on International Child Labor Day in the state capital on June 12. Mr. Singh who was the chief guest at a UP government and UNICEF jointly organized seminar missed the golden opportunity of being part of a drive that aimed at improving the lot of those unfortunate children who live below the poverty line. He did not even realize that his presence would have added so much weight age to the seminar on the lives of those children who are forced to live a life of misery and want, just because they have to earn a few rupees for the need of their families’ daily needs.

The message was clear and simple. The government never cares simply because children are not voters. The same minister would never have done this had it been a seminar on labourers and where he could have reiterated the government commitment to 'serve its people.' After all the assembly elections are round the corner and wooing voters is the top agenda of the government.

Not that the absence of the minister did in any way dampen the enthusiasm of other UP government officials, lead by labor commissioner S R Meena, UNICEF representatives including Ms Adele Khudr, chief field officer, UNICEF, Uttar Pradesh. Last but not the least the enthusiasm of the 100 odd children from Uttar Pradesh’s labor department’s special Child labor schools from five districts of Uttar Pradesh - Lucknow , Kanpur , Moradabad , Rai Bareily and Hardoi who had traveled all the way to Lucknow to participate in the seminar was envious. The state labor department runs such schools in 43 districts in the state.

Speakers at the seminar at Paryatan Bhawan, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, stressed on the urgent need to ensure that all the many good governmental schemes of both the state and Central government were properly implemented to ensure good results. It was said that proper and total access to education for all children, irrespective of their social status was a sure weapon of arresting child labor in the state.

"UP contributes to about 20 per cent of the country’s total child labor force. Though both the Central government and the state government has a policy objective of eradication of child labor, the progress is slow, steps must be taken up to speed up things so that the goal of making the state child labor free is realized," said Ms Adele Khudr, chief field officer, UNICEF, Uttar Pradesh.

She said that while poverty and lack of income of poor families was one of the major reasons which came in the way of wiping out child labor, absence of social protection schemes and safety nets, and poor quality of education not relevant to the children and their families were also responsible for growing child labor in the state.

Ms Khudr called upon the state government to accelerate the creation of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights. This she said would provide the proper policy framework for child protection. Ms Khudr also urged for better co-ordination between the various state departments to ensure smooth and quicker redressal to issues.

"Children are the best advocates for change; they are the champions of child rights and gender rights. They are the source of energy and potential for the ongoing struggle for a UP fit for children. They are the bearers of UP’s future, so let us give them the windows of opportunity that they deserve," said Ms Khudr.

Mr. S R Meena, labor commissioner, UP government who was present on the occasion interacted reiterated the government’s commitment to work towards creating a child labor-free state.

The theatre by children, prepared by Yayavar group depicted the children as victim in an adult ruled society was very much appreciated.

"The idea was to give children the centre stage so that they could bring about their problems," said Rajib Ghoshal, Child Protection, and UNICEF.

Media as always did not lack in its commitment for a better tomorrow for these children. A photo exhibition tittled '… still working' showing children doing various kind of jobs from driving rickshaws to working at a mutton shop spoke volume for the exploitation of children was also organized at the same venue. The media photo exhibition, supported organized by Media Nest, a forum of journalists that works for the welfare of journalists and their families saw entries from several photographers like N Prithvi Kumar and Manoj Aligarhi.

Students of Amity mass communication, Lucknow, also did not lack behind in creativity - they displaced 100 odd frames of black and white photographs showing children at work.

Kulsum Mustafa

(The author is a senior journalist and Secretary of Media Nest)

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Mumbai's slum-dwellers embark on Visthapan Virodhi Yatra

The agitation for Right to housing and land for the poor, continues with increased support from various organisations, at Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar, Mankhurd. Here thousands of people – men, women, children and aged are camping, with slogans asserting their Right to shelter, as a part of Right to Life. Read more


After arrests, lathi charge, demolition of about 400 houses, with almost 100 houses burnt to ashes, and death of Shivaji Bhutekar, people have gained courage and commitment to take over the land to rebuild houses. Black flags of protest are on the houses while belongings are being put back. Small shops selling immediate needs have brought a bit of live amidst despair.

Today, condemning the statement by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavanji, and questioning the role of the Collector, Deputy Collector and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM); Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan has challenged the government to prove whether it is with or against Aam Aadmi and whether it is in favour of providing houses to the Ministers and land to the builders but not the poor or even the middle class. The threat is looming over the communities, not only over 2800 houses in Sathe Nagar which are not yet demolished but also over Rafi Nagar, Sanjay Nagar (slums on the BMC land), Indira Nagar (on collector’s land) and other slums. There is no declaration of ‘slums’, under Section 4 of Slum Act, 1971, which the government is to take up in the case of communities living below subsistence level but it has not been done till date, in spite of our application for declaring not one but 19 slums.

The issue is who owns the land? If it is for development that the Government of Maharashtra is committed to, the land should not and cannot be unjustly distributed. Today 60% of slum dwellers are living on 6% of Mumbai’s land and more and more of slum land is being re-distributed to the builders,
fictitiously called, “developers”, benefiting the rich and political elite.

This is unacceptable. While the Government of Maharashtra has cheated the middle class and lower class organised under the banner of Nagari Niwara, slum dwellers are exposing the land grab.

Anna Bahu Sathe Nagar is now taking the lead and their Visthapan Virodhi Yatra, beginning today, awakening and organising of slum dwellers, SRA affected and others has begun today. After 2004, there will be another challenge to the government and MCGM, if they proceed with demolition and destitution instead of initiating development with land rights, under housing schemes like Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana or BSUP. Mandala and Anna Bahu Sathe Nagar have already applied under these Central Government schemes.

No response by the state government officials or the ministers, except Narayan Rane’s assurance to take a report from the officials and the Mumbai Commissioner and visit the place. Local Corportor has extended support and written to the Chief Minister against demolition but MLA, Shri Abbu Azmi and
MP, Sanjay Patil have not yet made any expressive move in this regard.

A fact finding team, constituting of Varsha Gupte, Bino Paul, Satyen and Monica Wahi have conducted their exploration and listened to the voices of slum dwellers and would be preparing a report highlighting the consequences of demolition on the lives of slum dwellers, especially the children, women and aged persons.

The Satyagraha with legal action under SC& ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act, 1989, under Slum Act, 1971 and all human and legal rights instruments is on! Justice (Redt.) Suresh of Mumbai High Court has condemned the action of State Government and said that the demolition of housing of slum dwellers is illegal and unconstitutional because it violates the Right to Life and further his experience shows that today this is happening across the length and breadth of this country. In such a context, the only option left before the people is to be committed for struggle if they have to attain justice.

Ms. Medha Patkar and Justice H. Suresh (Bombay High Court) addressed the press conference today afternoon.

Organisations that have expressed Support & Solidarity to Struggle of Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar Slum Dwellers:1. Socialist Front, Subhash Ware, Pune
2. Janta Dal (Secular) Pratap Aoghade
3. Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Sanjiv Sane
4. Lik Rajniti Manch, MR Khan
5. Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Ram Sharmol
6. Rashtriya Sewa Dal, Bharat Latkar
7. Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, Datta Iswalkar
8. Samajwadi Mahaila Sabha, Varsha Gupte, Pune
9. Stree Mukti Sampark Samiti
10. Massom
11. SM Joshi Foundation, Pune
12. Shehar Vikas Manch
13. Apnalaya
14. YUVA
15. ICHRL
16. Nirbhay Bano Andolan
17. Railway Small Caterers Union
18. Bootpolish Worker Union
19. Chemical Mazdoor Sabha
20. AVEHI
21. Phule Shahu Ambedkar Vikas Manch
22. Janjagruti Vidyarthi Sanghatan
23. Kachra Kamgar Sanghathana
24. CORO
25. Republican Panther
26. NAPM (West Bengal)
27. Akhil Bhartiya Railway Khan Pan Railway Licensees Federation
28. Narmada Bachao Andolan
29. Parivartan

Whom are the houses for under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme?

To read this post in (हिंदी) Hindi language, click here

In the list of those who were alloted houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme last month, not a single urban poor figures from the two slum dwellings that were bulldozed last year in state capital Lucknow of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Read more

The urban-poor people, who were living on the banks of river Gomti beneath the Daliganj bridge, close to Mankameshwar temple, were forcibly removed and their dwellings bulldozed on 19 February 2009. Since the district administration said that these urban-poor people will get houses allotted under the Central government’s scheme to provide basic amenities for urban-poor people, these homeless people went to Dubagga where houses were being constructed under the aforesaid scheme. The construction work of these houses is lying incomplete because of the demand from the farmers who are getting displaced for a higher compensation. These people who were displaced from Daliganj, began to live in the houses constructed under the Homeless Housing Scheme of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) in Peer Nagar, Vasant Kunj, that were lying vacant. The quality of construction of these houses is so bad that the people who were allotted these houses earlier don’t want to live in them. From this community, 180 people have submitted their applications for allotment of houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme.

Those urban-poor people who were living on the land of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) in new Gandhi Nagar ward, behind Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Vibhuti Khand Gomti Nagar, had to face the bulldozer on 29 September 2009. We were told that the reason for bulldozing these dwellings was that the UP state Governor was to pass through the road alongside which these people were living, to inaugurate the building of State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). However, these people are still residing at the same place, and the Vice Chairman of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) Mukesh Meshram had written a letter to the District Magistrate of Lucknow requesting him to consider these people for allotment of houses under the urban poor housing scheme. 150 people from this dwelling in Gomti Nagar have submitted their applications for allotment of houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme.

Last month when the list of those who were allotted houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme was released then it was found that not a single person from both these groups of urban poor in Lucknow figured in the list. People of both these communities are extremely poor. Most people living in Dubagga are stone cutters or do other daily wage labour, and in Gomti Nagar area, most people are either ‘dholak’ makers or do other daily wage labour to sustain themselves and their families.

The question that arises is that if poor families like in these two communities will not get the houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme, then who will get the houses? Also we want to know the background of the people who were allotted the houses under this scheme.

Urban poor people from both these communities will stage an indefinite demonstration from 4th May 2010 onwards at the Shaheed Smarak, Lucknow.

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Narmada Jeevan Adhikar Yatra storms NCA Indore Office for justice

Sardar sarovar and jobat displaced storm NCA office to demand their rights

Indore citizens express full solidarity with Narmada Jeevan Adhikar Yatra
After two full days of non-stop action and travelling through various villages and towns creating awareness on the enormous social and environmental impacts of large dams in the Narmada Valley, the indefinite Jeevan Adhikar Yatra of the thousands of adivasis, farmers, fish workers affected by the Sardar Sarovar and Jobat Dams reached Indore today morning. At every village and in every meeting,
the people raised pressing issues concerning their fundamental right to life and livelihood and challenged the State, asserting that it cannot move ahead, even an inch, with these ‘monuments of mismanagement and injustice’ if it fails to ensure land and livelihood to the affected people. Read more



Slogans of “Narmada Ghati ka ek hee naara, nahi, chodenge narmada Kinaaraa” (The only slogan of Narmada Valley – We shall not leave the river bank) and “Vikas ke naam par Gaaon ka katl-e-aam band karo” (The State must stop massacre of villages in the garb of development) rent the air as the Yatra trucked through in 16 vehicles with blue buntings of the Andolan from Dhamnod to GPO, Indore where it received an encouraging welcome from the Indore Solidarity Group, a network of numerous citizens’ organizations, academics, intellectuals and professionals.

Addressing the large gathering at the GPO Ground, Dr. Bharat Chaparwal, Former Vice Chancellor of Devi Ahilya Vishwaya Vidyala, Indore, conveyed his full support to the people in their genuine struggle and assured that their non violent way to assert their rights will surely earn them more support from the civil society and the State will have to relent. Shri Kalyan Jain, Former Member of Parliament, Samajwadi Party expressing his full solidarity with the struggle said that there was never an iota of misgiving in his mind about the Andolan which has been raising very pertinent issues concerning people’s rights and the environment and it is in fact in the best interest of the State
that these issues are resolved at the earliest. Shri R.D. Prasad, senior academic said that the Sradar Sarovar Dam has been totally exposed today and the government’s own Reports such as the Devender Pandey Report on environmental non-compliance is highly damaging. The Government cannot go ahead with raising the dam height in this stage and if it still does, the people have no other alternative but to give an open challenge and get on to the streets and the common citizens will support them. No one can dare stop this.

Dr. Ranjana Sehgal and Dr. Mahesh Shukla , Professors at the Indore School of Social Work and the National Association of Professional Social Workers (Indore Chapter) who are actively supporting the people’s struggle along with their students said that the movement of the common masses is itself a university of learning and values for those in the academic circles. Shri Tapan Bhattacharya from the Association of Voluntary Agencies for Planning and Development also expressed his solidarity with the people. Dr. Arun Kumar, Lecturer of Political Science from Kerala and students from Madurai also joined the action today.

NBA storms NCA Indore Office: Demands Immediate Justice
Marching ahead, the Yatra resumed from GPO to Vijay Nagar, where the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) is head quartered, passing through the main streets of Indore and spreading its message to thousands of the city’s denizens. Not surprisingly, the gates at NCA were barricaded beforehand, displaying the defensive attitude of the State. However, the people asserted that they will have to be heard and made their way into the main verandah of the Office. Upon entering, the people were told that the senior officials were not present and briefly interacted with the Deputy Director, Mr. Ashish Fulandikar.

NBA expresses its dismay at the fact that the senior officials of the NCA i.e. the Directors of Rehabilitation and Environment could not make themselves available for a dialogue with the hundreds and hundreds of people who had come from the three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, despite having been informed of the same well in advance. In any case, the people have
come prepared for an indefinite action and shall not budge without meeting up with the concerned authorities and seeking answers that shall determine their right to life.

Addressing the gathering of the fiery adivasis and farmers inside the NCA premises, Vimal Bhai of Matu Jan Sanghatan working with the Tehri and Bhagirathi dams displaced condemned the recalcitrant attitude of the State in forging ahead with giant projects on virtually every single river, thereby
killing the riverine communities and causing permanent damage to the ecology.

People in every single river valley are facing this challenge today to save their livelihoods and the valley and we shall together fight until our last breath, he said. Suniti S.R. from Visthapan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, a coalition of people’s struggles against displacement in Pune congratulated
the Andolan for its unflinching faith in the peaceful way of struggle to achieve its natural and human rights despite heavy odds by the State and its inability to engage with social movements that are raising right (though uncomfortable) questions which is only towards facilitating positive alternative change.

The Andolan is thankful to senior freedom fighter Shambhunathiji who has been travelling with the Yatra for the past three days, Shri Anil Trivediji, senior advocate and activist for his guidance and support despite his ill-health, Pairindaji, Johar Chand Dasaneji, Kumar Siddharth, Samyak and Chinmay Mishraji from Sarvoday Press Service, the small railway caterers, including Jitubhai and
all saathis of Indore Solidarity Group and also who are actively supporting the people’s just cause in different ways.

Marking Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanthi tomorrow, the people will take an mass Sankalp at Ambedkar Pratima statue tomorrow at 11 in the morning re-affirming their vow to strive for their constitutional right to life.

The struggle from the valley has moved to Indore and will not go back without justice…

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Narmada: Politics to outdo law and justice again?

Sardar Sarovar with 10 times costs and only 10% benefits needs review, not funds
The controversy over the giant Dams and large Dams on the Narmada river, altogether 30 large and 135 medium Dams, displacing a few million people, not even fully and fairly counted, and destroying thousands of hectares of agricultural land and forest, affecting the whole riverine ecosystem is decades old. Yet, the same is again reaching its peak in the case of the Sardar Sarovar Interstate Project. The Dam, with the wall completed upto 122 mts, as per the demand by the Government and politicians of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is to be pushed ahead by raising piers and erecting gates 17 mts high even when 2,00,000 and more people; adivasis, farmers, fish workers, artisans, traders live in the village communities and township densely populated with pakka houses, markets, best of agriculture and horticulture since generations. Read more

The demand that the Centre must fund the Project with thousands of crores or declare it to be a ‘national’ project, contrary to the stand of its own sanctioning and monitoring authorities, is also indicative of Gujarat’s politics, stinking of irrationality and immaturity, showing neither prudence
nor progressive outlook. The Finance Ministry has declared 3000+ crores in the latest budget, but this cannot and should not be done, without looking back and looking forward to the reality of the Project – its claims and achievements.

History of Injustice can’t be repeated:
The absolutely illegal push given to the Dam in the past (1987 – 2006) violating conditions on rehabilitation and environmental mitigatory measures is tried again, when on both grounds and on the issue of costs and benefits too, the Project stands fully exposed. It is obvious that the Report by the Group of three Ministers including Former Union Minister of Water Resources, Shri Saifuddin Soz, Former Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Ms. Meira Kumar and Union Minister of State for Earth Sciences, Shri Prithviraj Chavan after their visit to the Narmada valley in 2006 was most truthful and depicts the situation of “Rehabilitation on Paper” and “Massive corruption”, which is the reality further confirmed, even today.

There are thousands of families , including adivasis who have lost their lands and habitats since 1994, who are yet to be given their land entitlements in Madhya Pradesh (with the largest submergence and ‘oustees’) as also in Maharashtra and Gujarat where the Governments are not able to allot land to the
eligible, since private land is not being purchased at the market value, any more. Not even one resettlement site for its own adivasis wishing to resettle in Madhya Pradesh, as per legal provision is located and established by the state of MP, while the corporates are given land as per their whims and
interests, at whatever costs, financial to social and environmental.

Corruption worth a few hundred crores in rehabilitation exposed by the affected farmers of Narmada Bachao Andolan has resulted in the High Court appointing a Judicial commission of Inquiry in Madhya Pradesh and its investigation is on.

There is no political will to investigate and punish the guilty and hence the GoMP has challenged the Orders in the Supreme Court where hearing is yet to take place. It is unfortunate that the Narmada Control Authority, which is a central body also is not taking a clear position favouring the High Court’
Judgement on the judicial commission on corruption and irregularities leading to derailment of the Rehabilitation Policy.

Drowning the lands and living communities with full life on, without an alternative source of livelihood (land for farmers, fisheries for fish workers) is absolutely in violation of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award (NWDTA), which is a decree; four judgements of the Supreme Court;
constitutional and human rights, and justice. Is the UPA Government, with its Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment incharge of rehabilitation and the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) with the statutory mandate, ready to permit these gross violations is a question.

Experts establish serious environmental non-compliance:
The Project, along with its feeder Project, Indira Sagar Project (ISP) cannot proceed further in the present situation, due to serious environmental non-compliance, concluded by an Expert Committee chaired by the Former Director-General, Forest survey of India and presently, Chairman of the Expert
Appraisal Committee of River Valley Projects, Dr. Devender Pandey. The Committee which has been appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which leads the Environmental Sub – Group of NCA, has brought out in its Second Interim Report that even after 20 years since the two giant Dams were cleared by the MoEF, there is an unprecedented apathy exhibited from the fact that the command area development plans necessary to prevent severe destruction of land with water-logging and salinization and ensure benefits are not even ready and final, nor approved by the Central Authority i.e. MoEF.

The unfounded hope of securing fulfilment with respect to the impacts on health, archaeology, seismic risks etc which are the most serious in preventing the Project from becoming more destructive, than developmental, has thus been diminished. With a large percentage of SSP’s and ISP’s command area
development not in place, catchment area (a few lakh hectares in each Dam) not yet treated and huge forest loss not proved to be compensated, the Committee’s Report concludes that no construction on Dam and canal and no irrigation should be permitted.

Costs outweigh Benefits : 30 Years of Mismanagement
Have the much drum-beaten benefits of the Dam come true, satiating the thirst of Kutch-Saurashtra in Gujarat or ‘lightening’ progress in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra with a share in power, but not a drop of water, in spite of bearing the largest share in submergence and finance? No!

Only 30% of the canal network of SP is built over 30 years and 66,000 kms long canals (70%) remain to be constructed, not due to NBA’s opposition, but because Gujarat’s own farmers are unwilling to part with 30000 hectares of land and also due to lack of finance, (estimates vary from 8000 crores to
20,000 crores) and absence of command area development plans. Inspite the pondage attained by submerging adivasis lands, forests, communities, not more than 7-10% of the available water is being utilized by Gujarat. Moreover, with much of water supplied to the cities especially Gandhinagar, the Kutchis have moved the apex court, demanding their due share. Maharashtra is demanding for 1800 crores of compensation from Gujarat for loss in power allocation, but Madhya Pradesh is still keeping mum!

Investment clearance for the SSP was for Rs. 6406 crores in 1988 Today, the project cost is Rs. 45,000 crores as per the Report of the Working Group on Water Resources of the Planning Commission and it will escalate upto Rs 70000 crores by 2012! The Centre,in the past, under the Accelerated Irrigation
Benefits Programme has allotted the largest amount of Rs. 5000 crores to this Dam and yet the CAG Reports have made a critical inditement of its misutilization.

The Planning Commission should have by now or MUST, at least today, review the Project fully since not only the approved investment limit, but also the environmental conditions in the same are flouted by the states, with no monitoring. The experience certainly explains the colossal gap of 1,20000 crores needed for completion of large Dams since the II Five Year Plan and huge discrepancy of 17 million hectares between the planned and attained irrigation potential. Not one hectare additional irrigation is achieved in the country is what the data of the Ministry of Water Resources for the years, 1990-2005
itself shows!

Which way Sardar Sarovar and Narmada? The most ancient of the world’s civilization can’t face any more destruction and death which is not a penalty but a political vendetta. For unexpectedly low and unsustainable benefits, if the Projects this and others, are pushed with illegal and unjustifiable expediency, not one state government, but the nation will be accused of connivance towards destruction.

Medha Patkar
Narmada Bachao Andolan

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There's more to Life than Money: Explore Yourself, Connect with Society, and Find Happiness

Convocation address of Dr Sandeep Pandey, who was the Chief Guest, at Indian Institute of Management (IIM-C) Kolkata
Dear friends, as you complete yet another milestone in your academic career and prepare to embark on a new professional path, I would like to offer you hearty congratulations and best wishes. Your Institute’s environment and professors at IIM Kolkata must have provided you with both managerial skills and ethical values necessary to lead a life that will be professionally, socially and spiritually satisfying. However, the inputs imbibed here are only the starting point, and you will have to constantly question, assess and evolve your values and actions as you begin living in the real society. While I hope that you will take care of your professional skills, I want to share my thoughts with you about the challenges you will face on the social and spiritual aspects, the implication they will have for your professional choices, and how you could respond to them.
I will organize my thoughts by responding to some fundamental questions that arise in everyone’s mind:
(i) Who we are?
(ii) How can we become happy and satisfied individually?
(iii) What is the implication of seeking happiness for our professional choices and decisions? Read more


Who we are?
To put it simplistically, we are social beings shaped by history of nature and life, and integrated in the web of nature, society and economy. To realize this we have to only look at three facts – (a) what scientists have understood about evolution of life and human society, (b) how economies work, and (c) what our present living experience says.

Living species have evolved over hundreds of millions years through a natural process of collective adaptation to environmental changes. While environmental changes are highly random, collective adaptation response of a population of a species at any point of time is partly random too. The collective response also depends on the capabilities of that species. A species’ capabilities themselves have been shaped by historical pathways of environmental changes and responses of that and other species. Even the evolution of humans as groups and societies in the past tens of thousands years is the story of how, under certain fortuitous circumstances, certain collective decisions were taken. To sum up, the set of phenomenal intellectual, psychological, cultural and physical capabilities that each one of us possesses as individual today is a product of collective decisions and actions taken in the past by populations of so many human societies and other species as responses to random environmental changes. And this is equally true of the set of unique capabilities that every species possesses.

Then, look at how the economies work. The regulated supply of money combined with the rules by which the market values various activities, determines how the money flows, from whom and to whom. Every individual is a consumer and a labourer. As a labourer he/she adds certain value to making of certain products or services. How much material wealth he/she gains depends on how much the markets value his/her skills relative to others’ skills. Hence some people end up accumulating material wealth at a rate higher than others, while some people at the other extreme may even end up being pauperized. The rules by which an economic governance structure values various skills and distributes material wealth among different sections of society are heavily influenced by who has the say in designing those rules. That is, who has greater lobbying power in the political structure. A less democratic political and economic structure will distribute wealth less equitably than a more democratic one.

Finally, look at our current living experience. Ask yourself and others a question, “What, in your experience, gives you lasting happiness?” While there will be disagreement on whether money or private ownership of property gives true happiness, there will be wide agreement on certain responses. Forming and sustaining mutually warm and friendly relations with others makes each one of us happy. In addition, we also feel happier if we have greater freedom to express and exercise our choices at the levels of relations with other individuals as well as relations with macro structures like the state and market. To sum up, mutually satisfying and harmonious relations at the micro level with our friends and at the macro level with the political and economic governing structures will make us happy. The condition of ‘mutuality’ is crucial as it demands that we, in order to freely exercise choices, do not harm others. It’s like saying that I will be happy in a relationship with a friend only if my friend is happy too. Extend this argument to larger society and it becomes obvious that we will be happier if all our co-citizens are happy too.

At the micro level of individual relations this demands that we become compassionate and sensitive towards others. At the macro level of relations with political and economic structures this demands that the structures are democratic, i.e. they provide enough space to every individual and community to express and exercise its concerns and choices irrespective of how underprivileged or privileged it is.

How can we become happy and satisfied individually?
Therefore the learning from our understanding of evolution of life, how economies work, and from our own living experience tells us that we are social beings. And that we will be happy and satisfied if we become more compassionate towards our people, other species and the rest of nature, and design political and economic governance structures that are more democratic.

Please note that money is just one of the means to achieve this end. Thus, our real challenge as economically privileged citizens is to influence the flow of money and materials in the economy so that our under-privileged co-citizens can gain as much access to resources and opportunities as we have. So that they too can lead a life of dignity.

If we work towards accumulating wealth mainly for our immediate family and organization, we will most likely ignore impact of our actions on the rest of the society and nature. In an inter-connected world, the result will be what we are witnessing already. Resources are being grabbed by the few corporations and individuals. Market is adding monetary value for the few and taking it away from the others. Most of privileged individuals are busy trying to make more money and accumulate more material assets for themselves.

Psychological disorders are increasing proportionately. Modernization is progressing at a fast pace. Big time corruption, not just in government but also in corporate world, is on the rise. At the same time tribals are being displaced from the forests in order to clear land for mining companies. Some tribals are, in turn, supporting Maoists in violent fight against the state’s armed forces. Small farmers and families are being displaced without proper rehabilitation to clear lands and rivers for SEZs, big dams and industries. The urban poor are being thrown out in order to erect shopping malls, posh offices and residential complexes. Crimes in cities are on the rise. Local communities everywhere are protesting at the snatching away of public resources like land, water and forests on which their survival depends. They are protesting at the helplessness of not having the right to exercise choices that will help them come out of poverty and lead a life of dignity. Simultaneously, severe environmental problems, both local pollution of air, water and soil, and global problems like climate change and ozone layer depletion, threaten our wellbeing.

We would be foolish to not see the obvious correlations between these trends.

The problem needs to be solved at both the macro and the micro levels. At the macro level, structures of political and economic governance need to be made more democratic and humane. Take the example of GDP which we use as the dominant measure of economic prosperity of a nation. There are so many problems with this. One, it does not capture non-materialistic aspects of happiness, like living in harmonious relations with other people and the rest of nature. Two, GDP and its growth rate are only ‘average’ measures of economic wellbeing. They do not even reflect the overall economic status of the people living in a country. Every engineering and management school teaches that the performance of a population must be measured by both the average and the variation. Ignoring variation will give only partial and probably incorrect picture of a phenomenon. If we look at the frequency distribution of household income in India it will become clear that it is highly skewed, with the majority of people falling in the very low-income range and the minority occupying the long high-income tail. These two sets of population are growing at vastly different rates. The growth rate of income of the majority of poor people is less than even the rate of inflation, implying their condition is actually worsening. This is the set that consists of landless people, small farmers, tribals, dalits, street vendors, daily wage labourers and urban slum dwellers.

What is the implication for our professional choices and decisions?

As individuals living in an inter-connected web of nature, society and economy, what therefore can we do professionally so that we simultaneously attain happiness and satisfaction? This is the question I want each one of you to ask yourself.

Whatever choices you make in your profession, whatever actions you take, what work you do and how you earn your income, how you allocate your time, how you participate in your immediate surroundings and community and in the larger society and economy.. All these are the questions that you must seek answers to. Your analysis and response to these questions will determine how much happiness you will attain and how much meaning you will find in life.

I do hope that you will build harmonious relations with your friends, relatives, colleagues and strangers – relations that will be a source of happiness to you and to others. I also hope that you will show a lot of compassions towards your underprivileged co-citizens and strive to build more democratic structures of polity and economy.

I sincerely wish you all a very satisfying life ahead. May you become prosperous, contribute to others’ prosperity, and in the process, derive lasting happiness – both socially and spiritually.

Rahul Pandey

(The author is a former faculty member of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow. He is currently a founder member of a start up venture that develops mathematical models for planning and policy analysis. He can be contacted at rahulanjula@gmail.com)

[Sandeep Pandey is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, member of National Presidium, People's Politics Front (PPF), heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley, USA. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com. Website: www.citizen-news.org]

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Raise in SSP-dam height will only increase submergence: Medha Patkar

Illegal and unjust decision of NCA-MOEF to submerge 200,000 people

News is just round the corner that the Environment Sub Group (ESG) of the Narmada Control Authority (ESG) has accorded further permission for erection of 17 mts high gates on the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSP) in Gujarat that will take it from its present height of 122.92 mts to its final height of 138.68 mts. There is however, ‘assurance’, that has emerged from the April 1st meeting of the ESG that there shall be no additional submergence by such a move and that the permission has been sought only after compliance of all the environmental conditions, that have not been complied with over the past 20 years !! It has also been stated that the gates shall remain in an ‘open position’ until such time that the catachment area treatment is not fully treated. Read more


Newspapers have quoted Gujarat’s officials as having stated that the Dr Devender Pandey Expert Committee Report (Feb 2009-2010) on the (non)implementation of the environmental safeguard measures of the Sardar Sarovar and Indira Sagar Project was not even discussed during the ESG Meeting!! This in itself shows how the decision to raise the height was taken more on grounds of political expediency, throwing the law and clearance conditions as also expert opinion to the winds! The intention is clear – to give a false boost to the Modi Government in the 50th year of the State and show the unyielding SSP as a ‘boon’ and raise the bar of threat of displacement in the lives of 2 lakh people in the Narmada valley.

The green signal by the ESG-MoEF and the NCA for raise in height is in total violation and contempt of the clearance conditions as also four Supreme Court Judgements and would jeoparidise the lives of tens of thousands of families and deteriorates the ecology further. It is significant to note as to how
Government which has been resorting to ‘tall talk’ of climate change at international fora has dumped such a crucial expert report back home, in a most irrational and unjust manner. Who benefits and who loses from such political decisions is a question to be asked and answered?

The Committee had, after considering comprehensive presentations and data mostly from Government’s own sources as also from some non-official scientific agencies recommended that there shall be no work on the dams and canals until all the environmental conditions become pari passu (simultaneous) with the construction work in order to ensure mitigation of the negative impacts on the environment and to guarantee sustainable benefits.

The manner in which this Report has been suppressed due to pressure from Gujarat’s politicians reeks not just of their undemocratic insensitivity, but goes against the soaring public debate and media reportage on the failure of the white elephant within Gujarat itself. The BJP Government of Madhya Pradesh hand in glove with the Modi Government is all out to submerge its adivasis and farming communities and in fact imperil the entire Narmada valley with these giant dams. Even as Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have hardly attained any benefits, the rehabilitation of thousands of affected people in these states has also become a political act today!

At a time when the costs of the Project have shot up to 10 times, with just 10% of the benefits having accrued, when only 10% of the reservoir waters are being harnessed, only 30% of the canals have been built over 30 years and Gujarat’s own farmers are unwilling to give 30,000 hectares of land for the canals, the political expediency to push a failed project ahead will simply destroy the valley and its rich eco-biodiversity, submerging a whole civilization, far from adding to Gujarat’s ‘economic prosperity’ ! Even the latest Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General has made scathing remarks against the total misuse of crores of rupees funds, diversion of money away from irrigation, contractual corruption and economic indebtedness that the Project is ‘submerged’ in today!

People from the valley will not silently watch such political machinations and unjust decision-making but will demand cogent answers. Thousands of adivasis and farmers who have only been ‘rehabilitated on paper’ till date will wait and watch if the Rehabilitation Sub Group of NCA will also accord like permission, despite the fact that the rehabilitation is far from complete and a massive judicial corruption against crores of corruption is on! When the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited itself issued a letter in 2008 stating that there shall be increased submergence by raise in height, who is to guarantee that there will be no submergence and who will buy this lie?

There are still 45,000 families in the villages in the submergence area with thickly populated communities; agricultural lands, horticulture, schools, shops, dispensaries panchayat bhavans, temples, mosques and ghats, the negative impacts on whose lives would be irreversible.

NBA strongly condemns this decision to accord permission to raise the SSP height and demands that all the conditions on the basis of which the environmental clearance was granted to the Project are fully complied with. Not an inch of submergence will be tolerated in violation of law. This is the challenge that thousands of people from the valley are to pose as they embark on an indefinite ‘Jeevan Adhikar Yatra’ from the 11th of April.

Medha Patkar

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Unlawful and Unjust Political expediency to raise dam height

The controversy over the Sardar Sarovar Dam has reached its peak once again with the Governments of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, colluding with the Ministry of Water Resources, are bypassing the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and are exerting all sorts of pressures on the MoEF and Centre for obtaining further clearance to raise the
height of the dam by erection of 17 mts high gates. Read more

There have been moves towards this at the latest meeting of the Environment Sub-Group of the Narmada Control Authority held on 26th March, wherein Gujarat and M.P. vehemently challenged the Dr. Devender Pandey Multi-disciplinary Expert Committee Report which brought out serious non-compliance of various environmental conditions by the states. A special meeting would be held on the
1st April with a single-point agenda to discuss and decide on the issue of whether there has been pari passu implementation of the clearance conditions along with the project construction work and whether gates can be raised without causing any additional submergence and thereupon grant clearance.

Any move to accord further permission to the Dam at this point in time is highly questionable and totally unjust, when there are still 2,00,000 people in the submergence area whose lawful rehabilitation is yet to happen. The Judicial Commission inquiring into crores of corruption in the rehabilitation is also yet to submit its Report.

Further permission would be a mockery of the detailed Report by the Pandey Committee that has pointed out gross violation of the environmental safeguard measures and stipulations as mentioned in the 1987 environmental clearance. The Committee has clearly concluded that the conditions on catchment area treatment and command area development are seriously flouted, without which the claimed benefits would remain unattainable and unsustainable and has, therefore recommended no further reservoir filling and construction either on dams or canals.

The benefits scenario on the other hand is in doldrums today, with the Project costs have shot up to 45,000 crore rupees, with a paltry 10% of the benefits having been realized as on date. There is enormous evidence today against this hoax of ‘benefits’ which Gujarat has tried to spread. With just 7-10% of the available waters being harnessed, just 30% canals built over 30 years and not more than 1.5 lakh hectares irrigated at 122 mts height (as against the promise of 8 lakh hectares), there is absolutely no case for any raise in dam height as no additional befits are to accrue with further increase. A comprehensive report by Gujarat’s own eminent citizens has exposed the failure of the Dam, after 30 full years.

It is thus high time for the nation to question as to whether there can be any further pampering of this monument of mismanagement and Injustice? Instead of granting further permission and funds, Gujarat should be made to account for all the crores of rupees it has been given till now and get the canals to be constructed first. Thousands of adivasis, farmers, fish workers and other affected are to begin a massive yatra from Badwani on April 11th and reach Indore on the 13th to sit-in on an indefinite demonstration at the Narmada Control Authority, raising all these issues and demanding their land and
livelihood based rehabilitation and compliance on environmental measures as pre-conditional for further work at the dam site and canals.

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When rains ravaged North Karnataka

Incessant downpour in drought prone and poverty stricken northern Karnataka.

Aftermath: 5000 villages in 12 districts inundated. 225 lives lost in a day. Worst in 60 years. Estimated total loss - 18000 crores.

In this article, are some revealing images from "The Deluge and After", a homage to the victims and survivors by Esha and ActionAid. Read more

Captured by Esha (short for Eshwarappa, a photographer, activist and ActionAid fellow) and ActionAid's committed workers over three months in the five worst affected districts of Davangere, Gadag, Bagalkot, Badami and Bijapur, these pictures formed part of an interactive exhibition across various venues in Bangalore in January 2010. They poignantly depicted the realities of the traditionally marginalized people facing new challenges from the untimely floods.

According to ActionAid (which has been actively involved in providing ground level aid along with other community groups) and Esha, landless and marginal farmers, children and women, especially from Dalit and Muslim families are dying to find a way to rebuild their lives in the midst of minimal support from the state. The government's laxity in providing relief and rehabilitation has resulted in deaths even after the waters receded. Apart from collapsed houses, and destroyed belongings, agricultural fields, their only source of livelihood for generations have become uncultivable.

Padiyamma, a 50 year old farm labourer from Kyada village in Bagalkot district was among the three victims who visited Bangalore to share their current experiences in braving the impact of the floods on their families and immediate communities. Having survived after standing in chest-deep water for 7 days said, "We are still awaiting the government's assistance promised after the 2007 floods. We received hakku patras (land titles) and Rs. 5000 but no land then and barely anything now!"

Pushpa Achanta
(The author is a freelance writer, a Fellow of Citizen News Service (CNS) Writers' Bureau, and a community volunteer based in Bangalore, India)

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