The Late Prabhakar (ji) Mandlik 

Narmada Ghati Navnirman Samiti (NGNS), Indore, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.).

1–2 minutes

Prabhakarji, a Senior Gandhian leader and founding member of the Narmada Ghati Navnirman Samiti (NGNS), talks in detail about the formation of NGNS, the people’s organisation that emerged in the early 1980s which comprehensively questioned the large dams on the River Narmada.

He talks about the active members of NGNS like Shri Kashinath (ji) Trivedi; about the Narmada parikrama (circumambulation) carried out by NGNS, which was a padyatra covering the submergence villages on both banks of the Narmada on the issue of dams; about how the NGNS spread  to the Indira Sagar Dam area; and about the challenges faced by NGNS. Prabhakarji’s interview helps us understand the emergence of the early resistance against big dams on the River Narmada in M.P., the activities that were taken up in that period and the people who played an important role in it. 

The interview is also important in understanding the subsequent emergence of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. 

Prabhakarji Mandlik at his residence in Indore, Photo credit: Nandini Oza

Interview Duration:
0:32: 12

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

To know more about the Narmada Ghati Navnirman Samiti and the issues it raised around high dams on the River Narmada, refer to the booklet titled, ‘Narmada Ghati Navnirman’, which is a compilation of letters written by its founding member, Late Kashinath (ji) Trivedi in the 1980s, see here