There has been an explosion in well-researched books focusing on displacement due to development, mostly finding the fault lines in unsatisfactory resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) of those living along waterways or in traditional tribal forest lands. Assailed by on-ground activism and protests against displacement on the one hand, and driven by the ‘growth’ agenda of corporates (and, therefore, of governments as well) on the other, central and state governments are all too aware of the multiple challenges. Public hearings involving the affected people in the run-up to issuance of clearances for industrial projects in forest/agrarian belts are mere tokenisms, since they do not have vetoing rights. Pertinent questions on who really owns the waterways, the methodology for quantifying emotional displacement, and whether our laws are pro-displaced or pro-developer have all been raised by quite a few authors. Umamaheshwari’s book is the latest in this erudite club, but unlike other books of this genre, however, her book is also a passionate chronicle of popular resistance by the communities. Like a TV journalist’s vox-pop, her book is full of names, faces, voices, opinions,, fights, angst and disillusionment of the ordinary farmers, tribals and fisherfolk along the Godavari river facing the reality of displacement due to the proposed Indra Sagar (Polavaram) dam project. Communities, villages and families in the way are offered the R&R package.

Overwhelmed by such contemporary history, the author travels to many of these villages along the Godavari, researching what she calls the ‘people’s journey’ (“People’s history, in a larger sense, cannot help but be my history too,” she writes). Armed with a Konica T24 Reflex SLR camera (there are some excellent black and white photos), she recounts in fine detail her impressions and interactions with the people affected by the Polavaram project, and who are offered ‘a single settlement ‘(packaji). She records the changes on ground between the years 2006 and 2013. The official stand — the dam is needed to optimise the Godavari waters ‘wasting away to the sea’— is never far away from her work and she digs deep, going as far back as the British Raj to state that Godavari in spate or drought has always been a challenge, but people have learnt to live with the river. To the affected people, life along the river is simple: the Godavari comes, and the Godavari goes.

A journalist by profession, the author explains the problem very succinctly. According to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) excerpted by the author, the Polavaram project envisages conferring irrigation benefits across 7.20 lakh acres in the upland areas of West Godavari, Krishna, East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts, as well as water supply and hydel power generation (installed capacity of 960 MW), development of pisciculture and providing recreation benefits. Three hundred villages and 300,000 people will be affected. The author lists the flora and fauna that could be impacted by the project, specially in the Bhadrachalam and Palvancha divisions. Quoting from studies by professors and environmental experts, she meticulously lists out the threats to endemic mammals, migratory birds, herpetile species as well as biotic resources.

She successfully pulls the reader into listening to both sides of the argument by visiting those sites where construction work continues despite a Supreme Court order.

A stand-out of her work is her long years spent on ground because of which we get a clear picture that despite resistance, the project continues, notwithstanding the top-down approach of the project. For example, RR factored in schooling; however, newly constructed resettlement colonies fail to factor in school buildings, leaving the children no option but to trudge miles to designated schools (merged with the Right To Education scheme, whereby the resettled could avail of admissions). Another lacuna highlighted by the author is the mismatch in free health care and the partnering private hospitals located far away. Prior to the RR, a tribal could get medical help in PHCs nearby. After the resettlement, a patient examined in Rajahmundry would be referred to a hospital in Hyderabad, a long journey.

While the state’s history has changed with the birth of Telangana, the struggle against the Polavaram dam continues, with newer people getting on board and some older entities caving in, unable to bear up. With the reality of two states, Polavaram too has become a national project, the author notes adding, “At stake are Godavari and investments in Hyderabad. “Increasingly the debate on Polavaram will be the debate on industrial versus agricultural needs, as it will be on status of tribal communities in both these new states.” A sobering thought, especially with emerging media reports of a draft bill envisaging doing away with the consent of gram sabhas for felling of trees by industries in tribal forests. Umamaheshwari’s book is in that sense a warning bell that policy makers should pay heed to. One only wishes the author had toned down the featurish feel of the book in the early chapters. Also, the Polavaram project map appended at the end could have been more detailed. These however do not take away from the book’s worth as a relevant history of current day India.

WHEN GODAVARI COMES: People’s History of a River — A Journeys in the Zone of the Dispossessed: R. Umamaheshwari; Aakar Books, 28 E, Pocket IV, Mayur Vihar Phase I, Delhi-110091. Rs. 1295