Sardar Sarovar Project Affected Village: Mal
Resettlement site Vadchil/ Shobhanagar,
Maharashtra
This clip is the listing of traditional varieties of fish in the river Narmada before it turned into a reservoir of stagnant water due to the building of the massive Sardar Sarovar Dam.
This listing is narrated by Girdhar Guruji, founding member of Narmada Jeevanshalas/ schools and an adivasi leader of the NBA. With his immense knowledge and skills, at one point, Girdhar Guruji became one of the driving forces in overseeing the working of all Jeevanshalas. So respected is he as a teacher that now, people far and near know him as Girdhar Guruji (teacher).
Girdhar Guruji was keen that the children in the Narmada Jeevanshalas learn about the traditional verities of fish before the free flowing Narmada turned into a stagnant pool of reservoir and damned by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. It is important that there is a record of the traditional varieties of fish, as per the memory of the people, particularly since the Sardar Sarovar Dam has had a huge adverse impact on the freshwater fish once available in abundance in the free flowing Narmada. This listing is also important because the government has failed in conducting proper and detailed studies of fisheries/ the fish available in the Narmada and the impact the building of a series of dams on the river has had on them.
Interview duration: 0:01:13
Language: Hindi and Pawari with subtitles in English