From: budaraju@cae.wisc.edu (Srinivas Budaraju)
Subject: Sardar Sarovar Project - An Overview - 4/7
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering
Distribution: world 
Date: 12 Oct 92 14:08:02 CDT

I.4. 	Human Rights Violations

There have been continuous reports of abuses by police and 
other governmental agencies against those agitating for 
adequate compensation or the abandonment of the project 
altogether [Asia Watch 1992, Udall and Kleiner 1992].  These 
include unprovoked use of physical force against non-violent 
protesters, indiscriminate arrests based on fabricated 
charges, failure to follow proper judicial procedures, 
failure to provide proper medical care and food to detainees, 
destruction of property of the affected people, harassment or 
forcible eviction of villagers from submergence zones, 
breaking up large rallies by beating the protesters and 
arresting leading activists, and so on.  As more and more 
villages come under submergence, confrontations near the dam 
are likely to escalate, resulting in further human rights 
abuses.  Such abuses constitute violations of freedom of 
expression and freedom of association, particularly as they 
appear to be designed to prevent those opposed to the project 
from organizing and disseminating information to those 
affected.  

The government has also resorted to some novel methods to 
deal with protesters.  Since October 1988, the Official 
Secrets Act (OSA) has been in place in and around the dam 
construction site, which makes it an offense to be present in 
the area "with the purpose of creating an obstacle." 
Communicating information about the project - even from 
outside the prohibited area - also constitutes an offense 
under the OSA.  Offenses under this act punishable with up to 
14 years imprisonment include approaching, inspecting, 
passing over or being in the vicinity of the dam site "for 
any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the 
State."

Like the activists and the villagers who have organized 
against the project, dam workers have been the targets of 
police abuse and other human right violations.  The workers 
were not allowed to organize or form unions and trade union 
representatives and lawyers are routinely denied access to 
the workers.  Workers who join unions are fired or 
transferred. 

A large number of specific incidents of human violations and 
police abuse are documented [Asia Watch 1992, Udall and 
Kleiner 1992].

I.5. 	Morse Commission Report

The World Bank, bowing to international pressure, took the 
unprecedented step of appointing an independent commission to 
review the SSP.  The committee consisted of four men: 
Bradford Morse, former administrator of the United Nations' 
Development Program and former undersecretary general of the 
UN; Thomas Berger, a Canadian lawyer known for his work on 
aboriginal and human rights; Donald Gamule, an environmental 
engineer with experience in water development issues; and 
Hugh Brody, an anthropologist and specialist in resettlement 
and rehabilitation issues.

The Commission, known as the Morse Commission, submitted its 
363-page report [Morse 1992] to the WB on June 23, 1992.  The 
report analyzes the SSP on the basis of officially stated 
policies on the one hand and the actual performance on the 
other.  Its method verifies internal consistency, or 
compliance with norms and standards derived from the 
government's own stated policies and covenants or specific 
commitments made to the WB as part of the credit agreements. 

The terms of reference for the Morse commission include the 
R&R plan and environmental impact of the project.  The report 
finds that the R&R plan is woefully inadequate, even though 
the Central government of India, the State governments of 
Gujarat, Maharashtra and MP, and the WB are duty-bound to 
implement a proper R&R plan.  The report says that the WB 
always placed the "approval of the project over compliance 
with the bank policy", and has willfully accepted vague 
assurances and promises as adequate and as recently as this 
year made attempts "to soften...criticism" and refrain from 
threatening "suspension of the loan".

The report contains a scathing indictment of the lack of 
adequate environmental and health safeguards.  The Commission 
reviewed the hydrology and the water management aspects of 
the project and found discrepancies of the order of 30% in 
the hydrological data and estimates of the likely water flow 
rates.  It concludes that the project "will not perform as 
planned with or without the upstream Narmada Sagar projects", 
since a 28% error in annual run-off of water would reduce the 
economic returns to zero.  And, since the Narmada Sagar is 
not built concurrently with the SSP, there will be a 25% 
decrease in power and 30% fall in irrigated area under the 
project.

The Morse report also concludes that 

o	the compensatory afforestation being undertaken by 
Gujarat "would lead to a steady decline in the quality of the 
forests"

o	the backwater effect of sedimentation in the upper 
reaches of the reservoir has not been considered by the 
planners

o	greater siltation, salinity, decreased water quality, 
greater pollution would result downstream

o	"an explosion of malaria" would take place

o	the Narmada Basic Development Project [which is meant to 
tackle all these problems] "adopts a piecemeal approach, 
falling far short of the work that the bank's missions have 
said is needed"

o	"there developed an eagerness on the part of the bank 
and India to get on with the job.  Both, it seems, were 
prepared to ease, or even disregard, bank policy and India's 
regulations and procedures."

I.6. 	Groups active on the Narmada issue

In Appendix A, we list a number of organizations and 
individuals who are actively involved in various projects of 
the Narmada issue [Kalpavriksh 1988].  We also list some 
relevant organizations outside India as well as a number of 
key Indian government officials.

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This report on the Sardar Sarovar Project is available through 
anonymous ftp from nacho.cs.wisc.edu (128.105.8.15) in directory pub.
If you want a hard copy of the report, send me e-mail.

-Srinivas				budaraju@cae.wisc.edu

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian