Medha Patkar releasing the book - 245 villages : A Narmada Tutorial

The presentation started with a brief discussion on the initial stages of India’s development. Some trends like the replacement of the traditional knowledge by Nehruvian mode of development, deterioration of village level structures, and focus on macro management of problems were discussed. Development as identified with urbanization and industrialization emerged as one of the key issues.
 
In continuation, the pre-independence era was discussed with reference to the administrative structure and vision of the lawmakers and general public. The penetration of the British laws to the root level of the legal and administrative structure of India emerged as an important area of the discussion.
 
Some examples of present day scenario, like the current economic policies, which lead to MNCs dominating Indian economy, and the ways to bypass the laws, emerged as clear pointers to our bondage of one form or the other. It was stressed that people are still being neglected and recent draft notification on Environmental Impact Assessment is a clear example of the same.
 
The presentation revealed some thought-provoking facts about the general standard of living in India. For e.g., 93% of India’s working population doesn’t have any support system like pension. These include farmers, artisans, rural entrepreneurs, and private sector employees.
 
The adivasis, who protect the forests and other natural resources, are the first affected in any development project - be it the building of large dams or inter-linking of rivers. As many as 135 dams need to be questioned; five big dams should be immediately stopped. Sardar Sarovar Dam is not only undemocratic but also unscientific. It has affected not just 245 villages and more than 45,000 families but everything around them - Forests, rivers, tributaries, land, horticulture and agriculture - killing the very capital that generates revenues.
 
AID’s role in the development of India, thus, merged as a natural outcome of the discussion. The discussion emphasized the role of the educated people like AID volunteers who can access and study feasibility reports and highlight weak points in them. Thus, it stressed the need and the importance of the information and awareness-raising campaigns of the AID volunteers, in general, and AID Delhi volunteers, in particular, to provide logistic support to people’s movements in Delhi by meeting politicians on behalf of people and arranging logistics for people coming from far-off places.
 
AID Delhi volunteers can play a significant role by participating in numerous movements active in Delhi, such as awareness campaign for better public transport, and Right to Information (RTI). Volunteers can provide active support by translating RTI act and the RTI website to Hindi.

Medhaji also released the book - 245 villages : A Narmada Tutorial which captures the plight of the people affected by the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada valley.