Yet China's irrigation and water-supply problems persist. Despite deepening criticism internally and abroad, Chinese leaders pushed ahead with the project. Consultation is not part of the Communist Party of China's vocabulary. But, as the report notes, decisions are similarly arbitrary in India. Planners are often ignorant of non-dam alternatives.
People facing resettlement have no recourse to resolve their grievances.
The commission's report comes as a timely boost for Indian dam opponents. Villagers waging a 12-year struggle to block the Narmada project suffered a serious setback in October when the Indian Supreme Court ruled that construction could go ahead. With its emphasis on civic participation and holistic evaluation, activists cite the report as vindication of their cause. All the same, many people in Gujarat state, which suffered its worst drought of the century this year, welcome the court ruling. For them the dam carries the vision, held out by government leaders, of transforming the parched land into lush wheat fields.