JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

DEVELOPMENT OF DAMS IN INDIA

SUBMITTED BY

ZUHAIR SIDDIQUI

SEM-IV (REGULAR)

SUBMITTED TO

PROF. RASHEED C.A.

Public Projects
Introduction;

Public project is a multi-dimensional concept in economics and politics, touching on multiple

arenas including: recreation (parks, beaches), aesthetics (trees, green space), economy (goods
and people movement, energy), law (police and courts), and neighbourhood (community
centres, social services buildings). Essentially, it represents any constructed object that
augments a nation's physical infrastructure.

Municipal infrastructure, urban infrastructure, and rural development

usually represent the same concept but imply either large cities or developing nations'
concerns respectively. The terms public infrastructure or critical infrastructure are at times
used interchangeably. However, critical infrastructure includes public works (dams, waste
water systems, bridges, etc.) as well as facilities like hospitals, banks, and
telecommunications systems and views them from a national security viewpoint and the
impact on the community that the loss of such facilities would entail.

Furthermore, the term public projects have recently been expanded to include digital public
infrastructure projects. The first (US) nationwide digital public works project is an effort to
create an open source software platform for e-voting (created and managed by the OSDV).

Reflecting increased concern with sustainability, urban ecology and quality of

life, efforts to move towards sustainable municipal infrastructure are common in developed
nations, especially in European Union and Canada (where the FCM InfraGuide provides an
officially mandated best practice exchange to move municipalities in this direction).

Types of Public Projects;

1. Municipal buildings- Schools and Hospitals

2. Transport infrastructure- Roads, Railroads, Bridges, Pipelines, Canals, Ports, and Airports

3. Public spaces- Public squares, Parks, and Beaches

4. Public services- Water supply, Sewage, Electrical grid, Deforestation and Dams
DAMS;

Dams are massive barriers built across rivers and streams to confine and utilize the flow of
water for human purposes such as irrigation and generation of hydroelectricity. This
confinement of water creates lakes or reservoirs. Dams are massive barriers built across rivers
and streams to confine and utilize the flow of water for human purposes such as irrigation and
generation of hydroelectricity. This confinement of water creates lakes or reservoirs.
Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such
as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower
is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to
collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams
generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as
floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into
specific land region.

The first known dam was built in 2900 B.C. across the Nile River to protect the city
of Memphis from flooding. Dam build was continued into the time of the Roman Empire,
after which dam construction was literally lost until the 1800s. Dams are a structure also seen
in nature - beavers build dams to keep the water deep enough to cover the openings to their
homes, protecting them from predators.

Reasons to build a dam:

1. Generation of hydroelectricity

2. Irrigation; These are often diversion dams, which stop a river’s natural course so that water
can be sent off to a different place.

3. Control flooding; these are called detention dams, which are constructed to either stop or
slow the amount of water in a river.

According to Patrick McCauley, campaigns director of the International Rivers Network,

over 800,000 dams have been constructed worldwide for drinking water, flood control,
hydropower, irrigation, navigation, and water storage. But since the 1950s, the peak of the
big dam era, perceptions of dams and dam building has changed. Once symbols of
development, dams today symbolize, as shown in this website, not progress but
environmental and social devastation.

The first known dam was built in 2900 B.C. across the Nile River to protect the
city of Memphis from flooding. Dam build was continued into the time of the Roman
Empire, after which dam construction was literally lost until the 1800s. Dams are a structure
also seen in nature - beavers build dams to keep the water deep enough to cover the openings
to their homes, protecting them from predators.

ADVANTAGES OF DAMS;

1. Water Stored in dams are used for irrigation.

2. Generation of electricity from the water released through dams.

3. Renewable source of energy. Whenever electricity needed it can generated from the stored
water.

4. No pollution occurs during generation of electricity. Clean source of energy.

5. Hydroelectricity produced by dams does not produce any waste product.

6. The hydroelectricity power plants are long lasting and maintenance cost is low compared
to others.

7. Flood control by holding water.

8. Supply of water to less rainfall areas.

9. Picnic spot (Boating) etc.

DISADVANTAGES OF DAMS;

1. The cost of construction is very high.

2. Sometimes takes decades for construction of dams.

3. High standard materials are required to build dams.

4. Regular maintenance of dams is necessary.

5. Relocation of people living in the surrounding areas of dams. Hence loss of farms and
land.

6. The flow of river water is disturbed and may disturb the habitat of wild life.

7. Risk of flood if dams break by earthquake.

Water Policy after Independence;

With independence began what is known as the era of planned development. The industrial,
land forest and water policies had to be changed accordingly. Higher productivity was one of
the principles on which all these policies were based. The Five Year plans kept repeating that
productivity and distributive justice had to be combined in national development. Drinking
water, Drought-Prone Area Development, small farmers' development, became parts of this
double approach to water management.

As in other resources, so also in water, the policy reflects the pressure

coming from different sectors. And where there is pressure from contradictory forces, there is
often an inclination to choose the strongest. This has happened in the forest policy, in land
management and was bound to happen also in water management. Higher productivity was
essential. Only 9 per cent of the country's cultivated land was irrigated in 1950, and it was
important to increase the area under irrigation. Moreover, other forms of energy, mainly
electricity, were needed and water had to be exploited for this purpose too.

In this quest for fast development, it was assumed that the western model was the only one
available. The technology was, therefore, imported and major dams were build in order to
make the natural resources and productive as possible. Little efforts were made to study
indigenous systems and to update them rather than replace them.

Slowly but surely, focus shifted towards the big farmers, since production had to
be increased. This was done through the hybrid seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and
mechanization. Since dam water could not be made available to everyone, the farmers were
encouraged through subsidies to develop their own irrigation systems. Tube-wells became the
norm for the farmers, who could afford them.

India has a ground water potential of 42.3 per cent and only 23.73 per cent of it is used. But
what has happened in recent decades is overexploitation of deep tube-wells and neglect of
shallow sources. The number of tube-wells bored has increased from around 5,000 per year in
the 1950s to around 2, 00,000 per year today. Because of this, the water table has decline in
many parts of India and open wells have dried up. The Central Water Board has identified
645 blocs where this has reached serious proportions.

MAJOR 5 MEGA DAMS OF INDIA;

1. TEHRI DAM, UTTARAKHAND:-

Tehri Dam located on the Bhagirathi River, Uttarakhand. Tehri Dam is the highest dam in
India, with a height of 261 meters and the eighth tallest dam in the world. The high rock and
earth-fill embankment dam first phase was completed in 2006 and other two phases are under
construction. The Dam water reservoir use for irrigation, municipal water supply and the
generation of 1,000 MW of hydroelectricity.

•Height: 260 meters

•Length: 575 meters

•Type: Earth and rock-fill

•Reservoir Capacity: 2,100,000 acre·ft

•River: Bhagirathi River

•Location: Uttarakhand

•Installed capacity: 1,000 MW

2. BHAKRA NANGAL DAM, HIMACHAL PRADESH:-

Bhakra Nangal Dam is a gravity dam across the Sutlej River Himachal Pradesh. Bhakra
Nangal is the largest dam in India, with a height of 225 meters and second largest Dam in
Asia. Its reservoir, known as the “Gobind Sagar Lake” it is the second largest reservoir in
India, the first being Indira Sagar dam.

•Height: 226 meters

•Length: 520 meters

•Type: Concrete gravity

•Reservoir Capacity: 7,501,775 acre·ft

•River: Sutlej River

•Location: Punjab and Himachal Pradesh

•Installed capacity: 1325 MW

3. SARDAR SAROVAR DAM, GUJARAT :-

Sardar Sarovar Dam also known as Narmada Dam is the largest dam to be built, with a
height of 163 meters, over the Sacred Narmada River in Gujarat. Drought prone areas of
Kutch and Saurashtra will get irrigate by this project. The gravity dam is the largest dam of
Narmada Valley Project with power facilities up to 200 MW. The dam is meant to benefit the
4 major states of India Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

•Height: 163 meters

•Length:1,210 meters

•Type: Gravity Dam

•Reservoir Capacity: 7,701,775 acre·ft

•River: Narmada River

•Location: Gujarat
•Installed capacity: 1,450 MW

Indian government has approved the proposal to raise the dam’s height from 121.9 metres to
138.7 metres, making it the second highest dam in the world after Grand Coulee in the US.
The dam was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17, 2017.

4. HIRAKUD DAM, ORISSA:-

Hirakud dam built across the Mahanadi River in tribal state Orissa. Hirakud Dam is one of
the longest dams in the world about 26 km in length. There are two observation towers on the
dam one is “Gandhi Minar” and another one is “Nehru Minar”.

The Hirakud Reservoir is 55 km long used as multipurpose scheme intended for

flood control, irrigation and power generation. It was one of the major multipurpose river
valley projects after Independence.

•Height: 60.96 meters

•Length: 25.8 km

•Type: Composite Dam

•Reservoir Capacity: 4,779,965 acre·ft

•River: Mahanadi River

•Location: Orissa

•Installed capacity: 307.5 MW

5. NAGARJUNA SAGAR DAM, ANDHRA PRADESH:-

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is the world’s largest masonry dam with a height of 124 meters, built
across Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh. Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is certainly the pride of
India-considered the largest man-made lake in the world. The 1.6 km long with 26 gates dam
was symbol of modern India’s architectural and technological triumphs over nature.

 Height: 124 meters

 • Length: 1,450 meters

• Type: Masonry Dam

• Reservoir Capacity: 9,371,845 acre·ft

• River: Krishna River

• Location: Andhra Pradesh

• Installed capacity: 816 MW

DISPLACEMENT AND REHABILITATION OF THE PEOPLE;

Displacement: Who pays the Price?

The big earners and the better-off classes have gained access to water, and in the process,
have deprived the small farmers, the poor and the housewives of access to the resource. The
price of the big dams has been paid by the rural poor, particularly the tribal, the Scheduled
Castes and the other landless category of people. They have paid the price in terms of their
dislocation and consequent dispossession in the event of meagre compensation by the State
for their losses. The exact figures of the numbers displaced are not available. But preliminary
estimates indicate that around 140 lakh persons have been displaced by dams alone between
1951 and 1990. And, out of 845 Million people, it comprises 1.66 per cent of the country's
total population in 1991.

The displaced are rarely the beneficiaries of the schemes. More than 40 per cent of those
displaced by these schemes are the tribal, who form only 7.85 per cent of the total population
of the country. Another 40 per cent are from the scheduled castes and other landless
categories. None of them benefits from the dams and other development schemes that has
come to displace them

It is not merely that they do not get the benefit of these schemes but also
that their situation deteriorates. All these studies indicate that fewer than 30 per cent of the
persons displaced by these schemes has been rehabilitated even 30 years after their
displacement. Most of them are forced to rehabilitate themselves. Some of them do it by
resorting to environmentally destructive practices, such as, cutting trees for sale as firewood,
for charcoal and timber.

Many others migrate to the cities to fill the slums and are exploited
further. A large number of them become bonded labourers. It is estimated that such bonded
labourers form more than quarter of the 5 million construction workers in the country. Thus
those who pay the price of the development are deprived not merely of access to water, but
also of their freedom and of their right to live as human beings

Strategy for the strong;

When it comes to planning a strategy, its concentration seems to be primarily on irrigation

and hydropower, i.e. on what the British called "scientific management" of water whose
benefits have till now reached only the powerful. The policy statement speaks of the needs to
exchange water between the rivers, and to utilise the existing resource to the maximum. Not
once are women mentioned in the statement. Though, in the division of labour in the country,
they are responsible for ensuring the regular supply of water to the family.

Similarly, focus is on irrigation dams, most of which will be in the forest areas,
particularly in those areas inhabited by the tribal. While passing references made to the need,
to give priority to the development of the tribal no concrete policy has been worked out either
in this document or elsewhere for the rehabilitation of the displaced persons. Finally, the
policy statement does not give any importance to dry and arid zones. Water utilisation is,
thus, only for those who can afford irrigated lands.

Possible Alternatives;

Alternative to this situation of marginalisation are possible. Only the Western model of
sophisticated technology and engineering marvels is so far taken as the norm in planning
development strategies in India. Dams are thought of as the only possible source of water.
Consequently, the tribal and other rural poor are displaced in order to supply irrigation. Water
to the farmer in the coastal area, to the industry and for household consumption in cities. The
following are some of the suggestions.

i) Desalinisation of water explanation:

A suggestion is that as India has a 6,000 km. long coast-line, it should be possible to
desalinate water for use in the coastal areas or even in its immediate hinterland. The present
desalination technology is extremely expensive because it belongs to the 1950s. There is no
reason why research should not be done on new low-priced technology for desalination
which can solve the water problem of most of the coastal areas and several other regions in
the hinterland.

ii) Increase Use of Solar Energy:

Similarly, another suggestion is that most regions in India have 300 days of sunshine in a
year. But the solar energy has only marginal importance in today's energy policy today.
People are displaced since the electric power is generated through hydel dams and thermal
plants. The present solar technology is expensive. In fact, in 1988 the creation of the
infrastructure for 1 megawatt (mw) of solar electric power coast Rs 4 crores as against Rs 3
crores for thermal plants and Rs 2 crores for hydel power. But very little research is being
done on solar technology meant for the 1990s. What we have belongs to the 1970s. Instead of
displacing more people and depriving the poor of access to water and livelihood itself, it is
impartment to invest on energy saving devices such as, solar power.

iii) Diversion of Polluted Water as Fertiliser:

The pollution of water, too, is preventable. The industrial, as well as, human wastes are
diverted to rivers and to the sea, thus, polluting the water that human beings need for their
survival. Instead, it can be treated and use as fertilizer, resulting in both savings of foreign
exchange and unpolluted water. Quite a bit of the foreign currency wasted for importing
fertilizers either in its finish form or as raw material can thus be saved while reducing water
pollution.
iv) Ban on wastage of Water:

Much water that can be made available to the poor is wasted in the cities to water its gardens,
to clean middle class houses, etc electric power is wasted for street lighting. Do not think that
we are against watering a garden, cleaning a house or lighting a street. All this is necessary
and must be done. They suggest that it should be done in a more environment-conscious
manner. One sees no reason why sewage treatment plants, should not become the norm, why
biogas thus produced should not light the city street. All this is necessary and must be done.

Tipaimukh and Barak River (Ruonglevaisuo & Tuiruong River) As we all know that, the
proposed Tipaimukh Dam would be a hungry lion, the people inhabiting the Hmar Area
would, automatically be victimised by the construction of the Dam. The Barak River
(Tuiruong) is the life line and their mother who gives them all domestic needs in season and
out of season.

For the Hmars and other tribes living on the bank of this river for the last more than
200 years or so, the river has been the carrier of uncountable source of income and wealth to
the people, an in return this river carries away poverty. As then Nile serves Egypt, Thames in
England, the Barak serves the Hmar Area and it can rightly be called 'the Gift of the Hmar
Area'. The people sell their agricultural products in Silchar and carry their domestic needs
through this river; their economic activity entirely depends on this river. Therefore, the
construction of Tipaimukh Dam means the destruction of the economy of the Hmars.

The MoU was signed between the Government of Manipur and the NEEPCO, Shillong on
January 9, 2003, another MoU with NHPC in 2010. Some people living the Barak valley
specially enlightened and educated groups know the fact that they should face a big problem,
but they cannot stand against the strong current of the Barak river. Above everything what
concerns the Hmars most is the treasured land 'Hmar Area ' which is inhabited by their
forefathers from time immemorial.

The Government's final decision for the construction of the Timaimukh Dam is
really a knell to the affected people of Tipaimukh Sub Division. Economically or politically,
the Hmars, inhabitants of Tipaimukh Sub-Division will certainly be exploited by the
outsiders who are more advanced. Half of the population will leave the place for some
economic and political reasons, almost half of the land, orchards, gardens and public jhum
land will either be submerged by water or will be acquired for township, colonies or other
types of construction.

The people in Tipaimukh Sub-Division fear that most of the jobs thus generated will be
technical in nature which requires special skill which they do not possess. After a lapse of
maybe 20 years, people in this area will be economically or politically exploited by the influx
of the outsiders who are more advanced than them. Thangsawihmang, Adviser, Affected
Area Committee and Writer said that, "This would certainly take place as rain comes in June
every Year. This prediction to the Hmars is not probability but certainty."

Once again if the concerned company neglected who the victims are, the
Tipaimukh Dam Project will not succeed. Even happening in the same District the Khuga
Dam Affected people do not get proper compensation likewise is the future of the inhabitant
of Tipaimukh. So, the said company and the victim to be should have a proper common
understanding, since it is partly based on the people living in the area.