Multiple Action Research Group (MARG), New Delhi.
Dr. Vasudha Dhagamwar, a lawyer, scholar, researcher, writer and an activist visited the tribal belt in the Maharashtra submergence areas of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in the early 1970s, even before the SSP was in the picture.
Dr. Vasudha Dhagamwar first worked on the issue of land rights of the people of villages in Akalkuva taluka, Maharashtra and subsequently on the issue of the SSP and displacement by the project in the early 1980s. Dr. Vasudha was one of early outsiders to have travelled and worked in the interior tribal belt of Akrani and Akalkuva in Maharashtra on the issue of tribal rights and law.
In her interview she talks of the area and the people in the region to be affected by the SSP in these early years. She talks about the functioning of the government officials and the World Bank around the issue of SSP back then. She explains the people and civil society organisations active in the area to be affected by the dam in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, like Arch-Vahini, Rajpipla Social Service Society, Centre for Social Studies, Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangathan, Narmada Ghati Navnirman Samiti, etc in the early days when the work on the dam had just begun. She talks about the involvement of MARG and its work in relation to the SSP in both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, her role in the early days before the formation of the Narmada Dharangrasth Samiti in Maharashtra and the subsequent formation of the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Interview Duration:
01:08:50
Language:
Audio in English, Subtitles in Hindi
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