Ashish Kothari

Ashish Kothari is one of the leading environmentalists of the country and the founding member of Kalpavriksh, an organisation established in 1979 which works on issues related to  environment and justice.

In 1983, as a member of Kalpavriksh and Hindu Nature Club, Ashish and his other colleagues undertook a journey along the Narmada River from its mouth Bharuch in Gujarat to its source at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh to understand the implications of large dams on the river. This journey  led to the publication of the report, ‘Narmada Valley Project – Development or Destruction’, in the Economic and Political Weekly of 2 June 1984, authored by Ashish and Rajiv Bhartari. This is one of the first reports on the Narmada Dams and their environmental implications. 

In these selected parts of a longer interview, Ashish talks about the Narmada dams, the journey along the Narmada River he undertook in the early eighties, and the important people working on the issue of dams and displacement at the time, which included the Arch-Vahini, Gujarat; the Centre for Social Studies, Surat, Gujarat; and the organisations in Madhya Pradesh working on the issue of water logging in the Tawa dam command area. Ashish helps us understand the emergence of the environmental issues and questions around the Narmada dams in the early eighties and the subsequent emergence of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. 

Interview Duration:
00:50:59

Language:
Audio in English, Subtitles in Hindi

Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video