Narmada River, India
The 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 the Indian Ocean at Bharuch. The Indian Government project began in the 1980s to construct a large number of dams along the course of the river sparking a contentious and ongoing debate about models of development.
In spite of over three decades of protest from those who defend the rights of indigenous people living 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 fifty 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 a semi-desert region 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 worldwide have their critics, who regard 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.
The story was first published by The Smithsonian Magazine, Washington D.C.
Sunrise over Narmada River, Temple of Aheliya Bhai Holkar, Maheshwar.
Gond tribal girls bathing under Kapildhara Falls at the source, Shiva Ratri festival, Madhya Pradesh.
Water is life. Early in the morning a woman fetches water from the Narmada near Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. The river provides for millions of families like hers who live along its banks, many of whom are tribals living in the valleys and forests of Central India.
A sandbank on the Narmada at Kalghat shaped by the waters into an almost perfect 'map' of India with Sri Lanka at its south eastern tip.
A sadhu (holy man) on a pilgrimage along the length of the river to the source, a journey of several weeks. In India rivers are held to be sacred and in addition to providing water and irrigation are of immense cultural significance.
Pilgrims at Kapildhara Falls, Shiva Ratri.
Swimmer dives into waterfalls at Marble Rocks, a beauty spot threatened by submergence, Jabalpur.
The bathing ghats of the temple at Mandla. Rising waters created by the dams threaten many cultural sites.
Tadvi tribal girl from the Satpura Hills in the Sardar Sarowar submergence zone.
Tribal labour at work on the main canal that will carry water 450 kilometers to western dry zones like Kutch.
Tribal women at work at the main dam wall at Sardar Sarowar.
Camel and rider crossing the salt plain in the Rann of Kutch.
Devraj Bhai's family survive on one crop per annum in drought stricken Kutch.
Farmer Babur Ranjeet depends on scarce rain for one annual crop in Kutch, Gujarat.
Herds of cattle on the dusty banks of the river.
Boy drives cattle through golden light of evening dust.
Dwarfed by giant banyan trees a woman fetches 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 place is threatened by the submergence zone.
A boatman punting through a maze of waterways in the Narmada Sagar submergence zone.
Bullocks swim alongside the ferry crossing the Narmada at Baladi, Harsud District
Tribal women harvesting in the fertile valley near Barwani. In this broad plain of the Narmada basin a geological fault ensures soil retains productivity whether the rains are heavy or light. But rising waters from the dams threaten to submerge large tracts of this fertile agricultural land.
A mother holds her one hour old baby while her sister-in-law helps in this Rathwa Bhil tribal household in Hapeshwar in the Satpura Hills.
Bhil tribal girls at Hapeshwar.
Bhil tribal girls of the Rathwa clan at the Spring Festival in Kawant, Gujarat.
Bhil tribals dance through the streets in Kawant.
Tribal flute players at the Spring festival, Kawant
Tribal war dance in submergence zone declares militant opposition to the dams
Bhil Rathwa tribal boy smeared with ash to enact the dance of an evil spirit that is banished during the Spring Festival in Kawant.
Women protest against Sardar Sarowar Dam
Bhil tribal boy, Barwani.
Two tribal girls near Armakantak.
Girl filling pots with water from a stagnant pool.
Villagers fetch water from a well in the submergence zone.
A family construct a new house after being evicted from their ancestral village in the submergence zone.
Young Bhil tribal girl in rehabilitation project.
Mother and child in rehabilitation centre.
Displaced family in government rehabilitation centre.
Sun sets over Bhil village in the submergence zone that will be flooded when the dams are completed.
What future for the people of the Narmada River Valley?