 | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 11 / 42 |  | | Tribal labour at work on the main canal which will carry water 450 kms to western dry zones like Kutch. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 12 / 25 |  | | Tribal women at work on the main dam wall at Sardar Sarowar. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 13 / 42 |  | | A woman standing ankle deep in a waterhole dug in a dry river bed in drought prone Kutch, Piprala Village. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 14 / 42 |  | | Devraj Bhai’s family survive on one crop per annum in drought stricken Kutch. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 15 / 42 |  | | Farmer Babur Ranjeet depends on scarce rain for one annual crop in Kutch, Gujarat. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 16 / 42 |  | | Herds of cattle driven along the dusty banks of the river to drink in Gujarat’s dry zone. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 17 / 42 |  | | Boy drives cattle along a dusty road at dusk in the dry season, Gujarat. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 18 / 42 |  | | Dwarfed by giant banyan trees the figure of a woman fetching water in pots. In remote central regions the river courses through unspoilt areas of luxuriant vegetation that harbour wild life and many species of birds. This spot falls within the submergence zone and is likely to vanish beneath rising waters. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 19 / 42 |  | | Fishermen lifting their net in the Narmada Sagar submergence zone, Madhya Pradesh. | | | | Environmental Photography · Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | 20 / 42 |  | | A boatman punting through a maze of waterways in the Narmada Sagar submergence zone. | | | | | | | | | | | Environment - Narmada River, Valley of the Dammed | The Narmada River runs through central India from a spring at Armakantak in Madhya Pradesh and travels west 800 miles to emerge into the Indian Ocean at Bharuch. | The Indian Government project begun in the 1980s to construct large numbers of dams along the course of the river sparked a contentious and ongoing debate about models of development. | In spite of two and a half decades of protest from those who defend the rights of the indigenous people who live along its banks and in adjacent forests and valleys of the submergence zones, most of whom are tribal people (Bhils, Gonds, Tadvis) the original inhabitants of India known as adivasis, the government remains committed to the 50 year project and its plan to build more superdams, 30 large dams, 135 medium dams, and around 3,000 smaller ones, with canals and dikes along the entire course of the river. | | | | The resulting power and irrigation is supposed to fuel India’s industrial growth and bring water to India’s dry zones, such as Kutch in the far west. Critics say the displacement of millions of already marginalized people from their ancestral lands, and the costs to the environment outweigh the exaggerated benefits of a highly centralized scheme. | | Big Dams world-wide have their critics, who see them as power symbols, prestigious temples to economic progress, in lieu of more democratic decentralized water resource management that would benefit local communities and cause less damage to the environment. Meanwhile the struggle in the valleys and hills of the Narmada River continues. | | | | | | |
