Badwani, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.).
Kashiramkaka, is a farmer and a project affected person from the village Ekalra in Badwani District, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) which falls in the submergence zone of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Kashiramkaka has been in the forefront of the Nimad Bachao Andolan in the 1970s and later in the Narmada Bachao Andolan since its inception. A popular leader, he is known to everyone simply as `Kaka’
Excerpts presented in the clip below are taken from a two and half hour interview with him. In the clip, Kaka traces the history and politics of the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) from its constitution in 1969, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister to its working during Morarjibhai Desai’s Prime Ministership and declaration of the NWDT award in 1979, while the Janta Party was still in power.
Kaka also talks in detail about the Nimad Bachao Andolan, and about the intense resistance against the SSP that followed the 1979 NWDT award. As a member of the Congress party, Kaka had a close view of the politics of the Congress as well as the Janata Party and its subsequent implications for the project affected areas in M.P. . Kashiram Kaka helps us understand the emergence of a fierce resistance against high dams on the Narmada in the 70s, its subsequent collapse, the politics involved and the legacy it has left behind for the area and its people.
Interview Duration:
00:30:45
Language:
Audio in Hindi, Subtitles in English
Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video