Damming the Narmada
Claude Alvares & Ramesh Billorey
Third World Network
ISBN: 967-99908-8-5 196 pages 14.21.5cm
Third World: US$6.00
Others: US$9.00

The Narmada Dams Project is going to be India's greatest man-made environmental disaster. It will uproot over a million people and destroy 350,000 hectares of forest, leading to the extinction of valuable plant species and the mass slaughter of wildlife.

This book gives a detailed study of the dams' impact and exposes the large-scale manipulation and fraud that led to the approval of the project by the Indian Government. When it was first published in 1988, the Indian Government banned it.

The World Bank which initially agreed to fund the Narmada project pulled out in early 1993 when the Indian Government failed to meet certain conditions. However the project seems to be continuing, amidst hunger strikes and strong protests from locals and opponents to the project.

CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction

PART 1 The Narmada Project and Why It Should Be Cancelled

Chapter 1 The Narmada Project - Background
Chapter 2 The Human Tragedy
Chapter 3 Environmental Impact
Chapter 4 Benefits Costs
Chapter 5 Alternatives
Chapter 6 Conclusion

PART 2 Interviews with Narmada Project's Top Officials

Chapter 1 Implications of Narmada Sagar and Sardar Sarovar Projects, interview with S C Varma, Chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority, on 29 August 1987
Chapter 2 Calculation of Benefit-Cost Ratio, interview with Dr S P Plant, Economic Evaluation Officer, Narmada Valley Development Authority, on 1 September 1987

Important Related Documents

Appendix 1 Status of Sardar Sarovar and Narmada Sagar in July 1987
Appendix 2 Facts which were suppressed
Appendix 3 Environmental Aspects of Narmada Sagar and Sardar Sarovar Multi-Purpose Projects
Appendix 4 Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) Project
Appendix 5 Dams and Development: An Environmentalist's View
Appendix 6 Salient Features of the Project Impact Area
Appendix 7 Plant Species with Medicinal Value Present in the Proposed Submergence Region of Sardar Sarovar Project
Appendix 8 Loss of Archaeological Monuments
Appendix 9 Alternatives to Major Dams
Appendix 10 Political Economy of Irrigation: A Note
Appendix 11 Assessment of Socio-Cultural Effects of Big Dam in India
Appendix 12 News Clippings on Narmada Project
Appendix 13 Writ Petition against Sardar Sarovar Dam - Extracts