Medha Patkar

Short biographies of activists from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India

 South Asian Activists

1995: Supreme Court stopped the construction of project

2006: NBA continued to fight against construction after new height adjustments were made to dam.

In order for your work to be impactful and lasting, the people that you are trying to help have to be part of deciding what to do and how to do it. Only then will what you are doing be successful and satisfying.

The Gujrat Government said that they have moved over 7,500 families to a different location to live. The bad thing is, they are facing very serious problems.

- The people can not grow food on the land because the soil is not good. This is bad because they rely on farming to live. - The land is very soggy and too moist. - The government has given them land that is fragmented. - The drinking water is not safe for the people to drink, it is contaminated - Lastly they were not given enough land for their animals to roam and graze. They rely on their animals for survival.

Contaminated: to make dirty, polluted, or not usable by touching&nbsp;or by adding something to.

Fragmented: a decrease in some or all types of natural habitats in a landscape, and the dividing of the landscape into smaller and more isolated pieces. Fragmentation can be caused by natural processes such as fires, and floods, but is more commonly caused by human impacts.

Activism starts by noticing something unfair is happening.

Activism tries to make change in society or to stop change in society.

Forms of activism range from rallies, marches, strikes, sit ins, hunger strikes, or writing letters to politicians (people in power, that make big decisions)

Medha has been highly recognized for her work over the years and has won numerous awards including; the Right Livelihood Award (1991), the Goldman Environmental Prize (1992),&nbsp;Green Ribbon Award for Best International Political Campaigner (1995), Human Rights Defenders Award  (1999), M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award (1999).

Other awards include Person of The Year (1999), Deenanath Mangeshkar Award (1999), Kundal Lal Award for peace (1999), Mahatma Phule Award (1999), Bhimabai Ambedkar Award (2013) and Mother Teresa Award for Social Justice (2014).

This book was created in a South Asian Politics course at Lehigh University taught by Prof Nandini Deo (<a href="mailto:ndd208@lehigh.edu">ndd208@lehigh.edu</a>). We tried explaining some terms in the book with definition boxes to help build our readers' vocabulary! In creating this book we tried to reach out to Medha herself, but she is one of the most famous activist's in India and unfortunately we were unable to reach her. Readers who wish to contribute to the cause, can learn more and donate by clicking on the picture!!

What do activists do? Do you think Medha was successful? How can we balance growth with respect for the people and animals already living in an area? What did you learn?

Meet Medha Patkar! She is a social activist who has fought for the rights of ordinary Indians for her whole life.

The construction of the dam was seen as a problem by Medha because hundreds of native people lived next to and relied on river for survival. The dam increases the risk of that soil will be washed away, land degradation, and the loss of habitat for animals. The creation of the dam would flood the neighboring communities forcing the people to move.

Land Degration: Land degradation is a process in which the value of the environment is affected by a combination of human activity acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land seen to be undesirable. (not appealing)

The Indian Government wanted to put 30 dams on the Narmada River. The reason they wanted these dams was to provide power/electricity and water for drinking and irrigation to the people of India that lived downstream.

Irrigation: The supply of water to land or crops to help growth

In the end the dam was built by September of 2017. But Medha and NBA slowed it down and that delay led to better plans for the people's resettlement.

In this book we will focus on her effort to stop the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which was being built on the Naramada River in India.

Dam:&nbsp;A barrier that blocks flowing water or sends it in a new direction. People and animals build dams to control the flow of rivers.

Medha founded the Narmada Banchao Andolan (NBA), an organization that was created to fight the construction of the dam. &nbsp;

Actions by the organziation included marches, hungar strikes, rallies and gatherings.&nbsp;

All pictures are cited using hyperlinks. Feel free to click on any picture to locate its origins and to learn more about each picture. Information links are provided below.

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/narmada-bachao-andolan-nba/ https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?EbscoContent=dGJyMNLr40Seqa44zOX0OLCmsEmeqLBSrq64TK6WxWXS&amp;ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGusU6wqa5QuePfgeyx9Yvf5ucA&amp;T=P&amp;P=AN&amp;S=R&amp;D https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/narmada-issue-overview https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-school/medha-patkar-amplifying-the-commoner-s-voice/story-Xk8yq4xEWtsjEO0tnJE1MM.html https://indianexpress.com/article/india/narmada-bachao-andolan-police-stop-medha-patkar-nba-activists-from-entering-gujarat-4694016/ https://rightlivelihood.org/the-change-makers/find-a-laureate/medha-patkar-and-baba-amte-narmada-bachao-andolan/ https://www.ripublication.com/gjfm-spl/gjfmv6n9_12.pdf https://www.scoopwhoop.com/gujarats-sardar-sarovar-dam-conceived-before-independence-finally-inaugurated-by-pm-modi/ https://starsunfolded.com/medha-patkar/ https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/narmada-bachao-andolan-nba-forces-end-world-bank-funding-sardar-sarovar-dam-india-1985-1993 https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/medha-patkar-ends-hunger-strike-as-mp-agrees-to-review-stand/article29329947.ece https://thewaternetwork.com/article-FfV/medha-patkar-founder-narmada-bachao-andolan-nba-with-indian-youth-parliament-video-3fqhUE1_26V2KISPkcpGPQ https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/paragraphs/narmada-bachao-andolan-in-india/32981

NBA helped stop dam construction. In 1993 the World Bank withdrew its funding after great protests which resulted in delays in the project. With continued rallies for the stoppage of the dam, the Supreme Court halted construction in 1995.&nbsp;

World Bank: The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries.

Even though the dam was built, Medha is a great&nbsp;activist for her efforts in bringing awareness to the issue. Her work through her organization forced people to talk about the problems that went along with the dam being built.&nbsp;It created extra time for those impacted to plan how to deal with the consequences.&nbsp;Now governments think twice before building dams.

Even when you strive to achieve something, just because you don’t get the results you wanted, doesn’t mean that you didn’t have a positive impact. Medha was a great advocate for those impacted and her efforts benefited them in the long run even though she was unable to stop the dam from being built.&nbsp;They learned how to work together and to demand their rights.

1964: plans for the dam were put into work 

1989: NBA was formed and opposed construction

1993: the World Bank stopped giving money for the project

Click on the pictures and follow link to videos !!

Medha was born on 1 Dec 1954 in Mumbai. Her father, Vasant was a labor union leader and her mother, Indumati fought for India's freedom from the British.

Before becoming a social worker, she studied science at Ruia College, Mumbai. Then she completed her masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Medha and the NBA argued that the government overlooked the environmental impacts of the project. The completion of the Dam would result in the forced resettlement of 320,000 people.

Resettlement: The process of moving people to a different place to live, because they are no longer allowed to stay in the area where they used to live.

Imagine having to leave&nbsp;your home with no plan on where you would go next? NBA also said that the benefits of the dam were exaggerated. It would not actually help very many people. 

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