• by IPS Correspondents (new delhi)
• Saturday, December 31, 1994
• Inter Press Service

NEW DELHI, Dic 31 (IPS) - SOUTH ASIAN GREEN ACTIVISTS ENTER THE NEW YEAR ON THE ROLL, HAVING GAINED THE EDGE IN THEIR CAMPAIGN AGAINST SKEWED DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES IN THE LOW-INCOME REGION.

SOME GOVERNMENTS HAVE ALREADY STARTED RETHINKING THE 'BIG IS BEAUTIFUL' APPROACH TO PROSPERITY WITH POPULAR PROTESTS SWAYING PUBLIC AND POLITICAL OPINION.

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION, DEFORESTATION AND BIG DAMS ARE BEING INCREASINGLY VIEWED AS THREATENING THE HEALTH AND LIVELIHOOD OF THE MORE THAN ONE BILLION SOUTH ASIANS, MOST OF THEM TOO POOR TO EAT TWO FULL MEALS A DAY.

IN INDIA, THE NINE-YEAR-OLD CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE MAMMOTH SARDAR SAROVAR DAM NOTCHED UP A MAJOR WIN THIS MONTH WHEN THE COUNTRY'S APEX COURT VIRTUALLY ORDERED A REVIEW OF THE SCHEME, SETTING ASIDE EARLIER RESTRAINTS ON SUCH AN EXERCISE.

INDIA'S THREE-BILLION-DOLLAR SARDAR SAROVAR PROJECT OVER THE NARMADA RIVER IN WESTERN INDIA AIMS TO BRING INDUSTRIAL PROSPERITY, FARMING AND DRINKING WATER TO LARGE PARTS OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN INDIA.

THE ANTI-DAM CAMPAIGN, KNOWN BY ITS HINDI ACRONYM NBA, SAYS THE BENEFITS OF THE SCHEME ARE EXAGGERATED AND IT WILL WORSEN THE LOT OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED NARMADA VILLAGERS. IT IS SUPPORTED BY AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL REHABILITATION UNDER THE SCHEME THAT FOUND THESE ASPECTS FLAWED.

THE NBA HAS FOUND AN UNLIKELY ALLY IN A DAM BENEFICIARY STATE GOVERNMENT WHICH WANTS THE PROJECT SCALED DOWN TO SLASH ITS SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL COSTS.

THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH WHERE MOST OF THE 200,000 INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO BE DISPLACED BY THE SARDAR SAROVAR LIVE, HAS EVEN SET UP PANELS TO PROBE THE BENEFITS OF THE SCHEME AND OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN RESETTLING NARMADA VILLAGERS.

INDIA'S JUDICIARY ALSO CAME TO THE RESCUE OF THE TAJ MAHAL WHEN ACTING ON THE PETITION OF AN ACTIVIST, A LOWER COURT ORDERED THE CLOSURE OF INDUSTRIAL UNITS WHOSE EFFLUENTS ARE SPOILING THE MARBLE MONUMENT.

ANTI-DAM ACTIVISTS IN THE SMALL HIMALAYAN KINGDOM OF NEPAL WERE ELATED AFTER A WORLD BANK PANEL IN MID-DECEMBER ADVISED A PROBE INTO A BREACH OF BANK TERMS IN IMPLEMENTING THE COLOSSAL ARUN III PROJECT BEING BUILT ACROSS A STEEP MOUNTAIN GORGE.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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