Sardar Sarovar, the dam that set off a protest for 34 years

Abstract
 
In early September, Chikhalda, a small village in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, drowned. A week later, I saw what was left of the submerged village from a boat. The boatman first rowed over a stretch of flooded corn and wheat fields. As he turned the boat to the left, we glided over what used to be a tar road—a state highway connecting the nearby town of Kukshi to another small town, Barwani. The boat floated over a watery graveyard of shops that used to sell kachoris, samosas and sweets. We passed a bus stop where farmers, labourers, boatmen and shopkeepers would wait to be taken places. Further up, as we entered the main square of this drowned village, the boatman pointed to a bust of Mohandas Gandhi perched atop a blue pillar, also submerged.
 
Chikhalda, situated in the Narmada Valley, is just one of 178 villages of Madhya Pradesh that have been partially or completely submerged by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The Sardar Sarovar is the largest dam on the Narmada River.
 
How and why did these villages drown? 
 
This talk is a personal account of reporting about the flooding of 178 villages in the Narmada valley, and the loss and destruction faced by thousands of families in the Valley. It is also a tribute to the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the 34-year old social movement and their brand of non-violent activism for justice and human rights.

About the speaker

Nikhil is an independent journalist and human rights researcher based in Bangalore. He writes for  TheWire and The Caravan. He has over seven years of experience working in human rights research and campaigns. Nikhil is the author of the Amnesty International report Exploited dreams: Dispatches from Indian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. He has reported on the submergence of 178 affected villages and rights of displaced communities in the Narmada valley.