The Hindu Business Line : The Narmada oustees — Not everything is down the river

Continuing his journey through Madhya Pradesh, Sharad Joshi meets the oustees of the Sardar Sarovar project and offers a solution to their problems.

A LITTLE imagination at the right time could have saved lots of tears and crores of rupees in the matter of the Narmada Dam and the Sardar Sarovar Project.

Moving along the northern bank of Narmada, from Bharuch towards Amarkantak, I met throngs of peasants, mostly tribals, whose land had come under submergence of the Sardar Sarovar. They all looked lost and bewildered, as many more will, affected by other dams in Madhya Pradesh. Badwah is the highest point threatened by submergence as of now. The Kissan Coordination Committee (KCC) — the umbrella organisation of all non-political farmers' outfits — has announced a National Farmers' Rally to comprehensively review the situation of payment of cash compensation and the programme of resettlement of the peasants affected by the rising Sardar Sarovar and its backwaters. The situation is highly volatile and can explode any moment.

In the early stages of implementation of the project, the authorities offered cash compensation for the land coming under submergence. Calculated on the basis of land revenue assessment of the parcels acquired, the amounts offered were paltry. In many cases, the land revenue was paid not by the tribal peasants in whose names the land stood in the records of the Revenue Department but by the members of the community that had migrated from Gujarat and had ample resources at its command. In such an arrangement, the titular holders were the poor absentee landlords, while the actual exploitation was done by the moneyed tenants whose names did not appear on the revenue records at all — clearly a tenancy relationship gone topsy-turvy.

The authorities could not have taken cognisance of the informal relationship. But they negotiated with the nominal or titular tribal owners on the basis of land revenues paid by third parties. In most cases, the paltry sums of compensation were accepted by the tribal owners as a kind of windfall. For them, the land that was submerged had not been a source of pecuniary income in their living memory.

The real losers were the cultivators who stood to lose the land they were using but now left without a chance to claim any compensation whatsoever. This class turned to the only course of action open to it. It began providing moral and material support to the agitators of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) who, even while working on the environmentalist agenda of opposing the dam itself, demanded satisfactory compensation for the displaced. The tribal owners wanted heftier compensation; the moneyed tenants wanted the whole project scrapped. The NBA convinced the tribals to demand Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per acre. The tribals thought the demand was far-fetched but hoped the NBA leaders could push it through rather than submit to voluntary drowning or Jal Samadhi in the rising waters.

The bureaucracy took advantage of the lukewarm interest of the titular owners in the matter and made them accept as compensation sums that were far lower than the estimated value of the land, calculated at the official stamp value — a hypothetical price presumed while calculating the amount of stamp-duty due in cases of actual sale or purchase. Further, the payment was made not in one lumpsum but in petty instalments. Even this trickle dried up soon enough. And what was collected went in weddings and such other expenses, and the tribals were left with nothing to acquire any income-yielding asset, even if they had the imagination and motivation.

Had this mode of compensation continued, the tribals would have lost interest in the matter, and the NBA its gun-fodder. It, therefore, started demanding compensation in kind — land for land. This was well received by the tribals in the hope that they would get to cultivate after decades land in their own name. By now, they had developed a cultist faith in the NBA. The Andolan continued to promise Jal Samadhi rather than compromise on the opposition to the Narmada Dam.

Their demand-in-kind was accepted with unexpected alacrity by the Gujarat government.

Once the NBA and the babus entered, the resettlement plan became progressively generous. Those who held less that five acres — the minimum holding under law — were to be given a minimum of five acres. If the affected party had more than one major son and if the share of each son came to less that five acres in the submerged land, each was to be allotted five acres. Soon claims began to made on behalf of grandsons as well. Further, cash payments were made for acquisition of bullocks and agricultural implements. The package was further sweetened by a grant of Rs 10,000 for construction of farmstead, and governmental help in levelling and improving the substitute land. This certainly was the best ever resettlement package offered to the project-affected people anywhere in the world. It was the combined interest of the bureaucracy and the agitators that brought about this wonder. All the same, credit must go to the NBA for drawing full advantage of the cupidity of the babudom.

This could have been the end of the resettlement issue for the Sardar Sarovar Project. That would not have pleased the actual exploiters of land under submergence. The NBA shifted the stand and opposed the dam on environmental grounds — their prime agenda. To keep the agitation's momentum, those effectively resettled in Gujarat were persuaded to go on protesting against the allocation on one ground or other. The workers of NBA went round the resettlement colonies exhorting their followers to demand relocation to more valuable land near Baroda and Ahmedabad that would have better resale value.

Then, the Supreme Court pulled the rug from under the feet of the NBA by approving increase in the height of the dam and ordering that the affected persons would have to settle for cash compensation if they could not be given alternative land of that met their approval.

The clock has turned a full cycle now. Those who accepted cash compensation in the early stages are now thirsting for compensation in kind with full benefits in Gujarat. They are prepared to raise, by whatever means, money to return the compensation received earlier — though not with interest. Those resettled in Gujarat are far from content. They face a palpable hostility from the old inhabitants of the adjoining villages who resent the "son-in-law treatment" given to the resettlees and their perceptibly greater opulence and conditions as regards schooling, playgrounds, parks, water, electricity, roads, etc.

The Supreme Court judgment has taken the wind out of the NBA sails. There is no more talk of Jal Samadhi. The farmers are in bad state — mentally and financially.

Is there a solution to this imbroglio? There is. The affected farmers have themselves shown the way out. The submerged land remains under water for only a part of the year.

Right now, in November, one sees narrow strips of land where farmers continue to sow maize, grams, jowar and sundry vegetables during the period when the land is not under water but gets assured supply of water. One sees hundreds of pipelines jutting out of the riverbed lifting water to irrigate crops.

The point is that the land coming under submergence is not out of use. It can still be used for part of the year. A further advantage is that the banks of the Narmada both south and north are classical parikrama territory — the only exercise of circumambulation of a major river in the world. Scenically, the area is breathtaking with the pristine Narmada flowing between the Vindhya and Satpura peaks. The land marked for submergence on both the banks has great potential as tourist attraction, both Indian and foreign.

If a corporation of farmers is helped by the government to clean up the numerous bathing ghats, to provide clean cheap hotel facilities (of the ITDC type), and to provide clean drinking water the enterprise could mop up massive revenues including in foreign exchange. The establishments could be franchised with the stipulation that the franchisees take care of the landscape and the pathways.

The total cost of the project would be much less than the amounts spent on resettlement and losses caused due to hold-up of construction because of the NBA agitation. The project-affected people will surely be glad to find an economic activity.

The million-dollar question is: Will the governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra show the necessary imagination and enterprise and will the agitators put the interests of those affected above their personal ambitions of fame and gain?

(The author is Founder, Shetkari Sanghatana. He can be contacted at

sharad@mah.nic.in)

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