Are Dams Political Symbols? With Its 18 October 2000 Judgment, The Supreme Court Allowed Construction To Resume On The Sardar Sarovar Dam. But Controversy Still Rages Around The Dam, And Any Chance Of Debate Between The Widely Differing Opinions On It Is Drowned In Angry Rhetoric. Where Does That Leave The Common Man In The Affected States, Or Even Elsewhere In The Country? Seeking Answers, Activist And Journalist Dilip D Souza Searches Beyond Polemics For An Understanding Of The Narmada Project. Analysing Documents Put Out By The Dam Authorities Themselves, The Author Builds His Simple Thesis--That Regardless Of Conflicting Feelings On The Dam, The Way It Has Been Conceived And Is Being Built Should Be A Matter Of Grave, General Concern. He Finds A Pervasive Haziness In The Way Key Issues Recurring In This Material Are Addressed The Statements Of Aims (The Lifeline Of Kutch And Saurashtra ), The Numbers Of People Displaced, The Benefits Claimed For The Dam. Besides, There Are Innumerable Contradictions In The Figures Presented. Further, D Souza S First-Hand Experiences Among Affected People Only Underline This Gap Between Paper And Fact, And The Inescapable Conclusion He Reaches Is That Dams Are Being Built Less For Solving The Problems Of Water, Floods And Power, And More For The Sake Of Politics. Such Findings In Themselves, Besides The Alternative Strategies Described, Constitute The Strongest Case Against Dams Like The Sardar Sarovar. Passionate And Incisive, This Book Becomes A Searing Indictment Of The Type Of Development We Have Pursued Since Independence.

The Sardar Sarovar Project has been one of the most debated development projects of the past several decades at both an international level and within India itself. Cullet's volume brings together all the key documents relating to the project: including those pertaining to World Bank loans, the judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court and documents relating to specific local level issues - in particular environment and rehabilitation. The work includes an introductory section focusing on the history of the project, the involvement of the different actors, the impacts on the local population, and a general analysis of the controversy surrounding it. In providing an easily accessible source for all the main documents relating to this landmark project, this compilation will be a valuable resource for researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of International Environmental Law and International Development Law.

The victims of environmental destruction are often sidelined in eco-theology and environmental discourse. Movements for ecological justice fail to take into account the voice of those at the grassroots. 'Alternatives Unincorporated' presents an environmental ethics that begins with those on the margins. Using the key example of the Narmada Dam in India and the popular resistance movement which built up against the project, the book examines the collective action of subaltern communities in caring for their local environment. The book frames these movements as theological texts that inform a life-affirming earth ethics. The aim of the book is to challenge prevailing social and ecological dynamics and to affirm the interconnectedness of social justice and environmental action.

Postcolonial Green brings together scholarship bridging ecocriticism and postcolonialism. Since its inception, ecocriticism has been accused of being inattentive to the complexities that colonialism poses for ideas of nature and environmentalism. Postcolonial discourse, on the other hand, has been so immersed in theoretical questions of nationalism and identity that it has been seen as ignoring environmental or ecological concerns. This collection demonstrates that ecocriticism and postcolonialism must be understood as parallel projects if not facets of the very same project—a struggle for global justice and sustainability. The essays in this collection span the globe, and cover such issues as international environmental policy, land and water rights, food production, poverty, women’s rights, indigenous activism, and ecotourism. They consider all manner of texts, from oral tradition to literary fiction to web discourse. Contributors bring postcolonial theory to literary traditions, such as that of the United States, not typically seen in this light, and, conversely, bring ecocriticism to literary traditions, such as those of India and China, that have seen little ecological analysis. Postcolonial Green boasts a global geographical breadth, diversity of critical approach, and increasing relevance to the issues we face on a world stage. Contributors Neel Ahuja, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill * Pavel Cenkl, Sterling College * Sharae Deckard, University College Dublin * Ursula K. Heise, Stanford University * Jonathan Highfield, Rhode Island School of Design * Alex Hunt, West Texas A&M University * Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee, Warwick University * Patrick D. Murphy, University of Central Florida * Bonnie Roos, West Texas A&M University * Caskey Russell, University of Wyoming * Rachel Stein, Siena College * Sabine Wilke, University of Washington * Laura Wright, Western Carolina University * Sheng-yen Yu, National Taipei University of Technology * Gang Yue, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill/Xiamen University

Drawing on interviews with journalists, media pictures and public opinion surveys in both UK and India, the authors outline the differing cultural, religious and political contexts which form the `world views' of North and South.

India is everywhere - Indian studios produce animated features and special effects for Hollywood movies; Indian software manages our health records; and Indian customer service centres answer our calls. A country of English speakers and a free-market democracy, with the youngest population on Earth, India is not only the fastest growing market for the next new thing, but a source for the technological innovation that will drive the global economy. Yet, India is also in a race against time to bring the benefits of the twenty-first century to the 800 million Indians who live on less than £1 per day, and it must do so in a way that is environmentally sustainable and politically viable on a scale never before achieved. If India succeeds, it will not only save itself, it may save us all. If it fails, we will all suffer. As goes India, so goes the world. Like CHINA, INC, published in 2006 by S&S, PLANET INDIA will capture and catalyze the growing interest in this rising power. With in-depth research, interviews and provocative analysis, Mira Kamdar offers a penetrating view of India and its cultural and economic impact on the world. From Bollywood to the Indian diaspora to India's effect on global politics she reports on the people, companies and places shaping the new India. Kamdar examines the challenges India faces while celebrating India's tremendous vitality and the opportunities this Asian democracy has to shape its own and all of our destinies.

Edited by two well-known scholars of development-induced involuntary displacement in India, this book brings together fourteen well researched and relevant essays by academics, researchers and practitioners with extensive first-hand knowledge and experience of the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) process in India.

This is the joyful yet heartbreaking true story of four friends who walk a 21- day pilgrimage from the sea to the source of Melbourne’s Yarra River. There is no path for most of the way, but offers of campsites and boats, and free access to private lands, illustrates the generosity shown to pilgrims even in modern times. The Comfort of Water: A River Pilgrimage, Maya Ward’s lyrical exploration of her river as it winds through the city and the wild is a revelation, a testament to the fact that the greatest of worlds are often at our doorstep. Maya's telling of her own journey and that of her fellow walkers is seamlessly woven together with ecological and cultural history, the revelation of the pilgrim’s path and the unknowable depth of Aboriginal myth. Through trekking this Wurundjeri Songline, this ancient, ever-renewing river, she discovers rich possibilities of belonging, and shares how a river can nourish the passion and resilience required to transform our world.

This comprehensive history of modern South Asia explores the historical development of the Subcontinent from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day from local and regional, as opposed to European, perspectives. Michael Mann charts the role of emerging states within the Mughal Empire, the gradual British colonial expansion in the political setting of the Subcontinent and shows how the modern state formation usually associated with Western Europe can be seen in some regions of India, linking Europe and South Asia together as part of a shared world history. This book looks beyond the Subcontinent’s post-colonial history to consider the political, economic, social and cultural development of Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka and Nepal, and to examine how these developments impacted the region’s citizens. South Asia’s Modern History begins with a general introduction which provides a geographical, environmental and historiographical overview. This is followed by thematic chapters which discuss Empire Building and State Formation, Agriculture and Agro-Economy, Silviculture and Scientific Forestry, Migration, Circulation and Diaspora, Industrialisation and Urbanisation and Knowledge, Science, Technology and Power, demonstrating common themes across the decades and centuries. This book will be perfect for all students of South Asian history.