As an activist of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), Nandini Oza lived and worked among the people affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) for over a decade. Having participated in the movement and documented its oral history through the voices of its leaders, she felt it was important to share their lived experiences so that their struggle would not be forgotten. Although Oza has authored a book on the movement, she wanted the audio and video recordings to be available to a larger audience.
The Narmada Oral History website (oralhistorynarmada.in), curated by Oza — currently president of the Oral History Association of India — is the first of its kind in India, and comprises over 400 hours of interviews with 80 key players in the struggle. Excerpts from an interview with Oza:
- Full-time activist with Narmada Bachao Andolan from 1990 to 2001
- Has documented oral histories since 2004
- Author of Whither Justice — Stories of Women in Prison and Ladha Narmadecha
- Serves on the board of Greenpeace India
What kind of impact do you think oral histories can create?
As an archivist and chronicler, I feel oral history is gaining significance as a method of study, as it is a more participatory process of recording historical events. Oral history is the history of the marginalised. In India, there are many communities dependent on natural resources, especially among Scheduled Tribes, who speak languages that do not have a written script. Here, oral history helps to record their history, social and cultural practices, and traditional knowledge of natural resources for the next generation. Also, it helps to record how the dominant development model has impacted natural resources, the environment and marginalised communities. It is an important tool for future learning. It was also important to share how a mass movement of the marginalised can become a powerful force against the establishment.
How important was it to include the voices of women?
Their voices help in knowing how women’s lives have been impacted by “development projects”. The interviews explain how women, both from within the affected communities and activists from outside the Narmada valley, were at the forefront of the struggle and, consequently, bore the brunt of state repression. Many were jailed and beaten, and a few were even sexually abused for their opposition to the SSP. Women leaders of the movement, particularly those belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, made a huge contribution. Dedlibai, a tribal leader of the NBA, narrates her unique role. Tribal women with no formal education fought for their right to life with the only weapon they had — their voice.
Where are these women now?
Sadly, some of the local women leaders whose interviews are on the website, like Pervi and Kapilaben, have passed away. Others like Dedlibai live in a resettlement site in Maharashtra. While Ushaben lives in a resettlement site in Gujarat, Kamala Yadav lives in the NBA office in Madhya Pradesh and continues to play a leading role in the movement.
Have they received proper rehabilitation and resettlement?
No. While people displaced due to conflicts or natural calamity can hope to return to their lands and homes someday, those displaced by development projects have nowhere to return as their homes and lands are permanently destroyed by such projects. A 2019 survey by NBA revealed that the rehabilitation claims of 31,593 families in Madhya Pradesh were still pending.
Actually, the laws and policies of rehabilitation have ignored the rights and special requirements of women impacted not just by the SSP but by all ‘development projects’. The forced displacement hit the women harder as they were particularly dependent on common property resources like rivers, forests, and grazing lands. But since there is no provision to provide these in the resettlement sites after displacement, women no longer had access to such resources.
Additionally, there are huge violations in implementing the policies, laws and provisions for rehabilitation mandated by the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal. For example, instead of land-based rehabilitation as directed, women in affected villages in Madhya Pradesh were given cash. This didn’t help.
(From left) Bagi, Jeblibai and Pervi,women leaders of NBA from Jalsindhi village, Madhya Pradesh.
Do you think governments at the State and national level have learned their lessons about the environmental impact of large dams?
It doesn’t seem so. While the government outwardly shows concern about the impact of large dams on people, environment and the rivers, it continues to push for dams even in very sensitive and fragile ecological zones. There is a push to term hydropower as a green energy source, without considering how large-scale and centralised hydro and non-fossil fuel-based energy production would have an adverse impact on land, people and the environment. The need is for equitable energy consumption, production and distribution.
Could the oral histories of the Narmada struggles have any lessons for sustainable alternatives for water and power generation?
Yes, of course. The NBA has been able to raise questions on who really benefits from such development projects and at what cost. It has also to a great extent successfully questioned the discourse that dams are temples of modern India.
Movements like the NBA have helped gain recognition and acceptance for the people’s right to question the process of development, their right to information, and their participation in policy decisions and implementation. Only this can help us move towards sustainable and equitable alternatives.
The interviewer is an independent journalist writing on development and gender.
