Dams and Development

Dams and Development PDF Author: Sanjeev Khagram
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501727397
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Big dams built for irrigation, power, water supply, and other purposes were among the most potent symbols of economic development for much of the twentieth century. Of late they have become a lightning rod for challenges to this vision of development as something planned by elites with scant regard for environmental and social consequences—especially for the populations that are displaced as their homelands are flooded. In this book, Sanjeev Khagram traces changes in our ideas of what constitutes appropriate development through the shifting transnational dynamics of big dam construction. Khagram tells the story of a growing, but contentious, world society that features novel and increasingly efficacious norms of appropriate behavior in such areas as human rights and environmental protection. The transnational coalitions and networks led by nongovernmental groups that espouse such norms may seem weak in comparison with states, corporations, and such international agencies as the World Bank. Yet they became progressively more effective at altering the policies and practices of these historically more powerful actors and organizations from the 1970s on. Khagram develops these claims in a detailed ethnographic account of the transnational struggles around the Narmada River Valley Dam Projects in central India, a huge complex of thirty large and more than three thousand small dams. He offers further substantiation through a comparative historical analysis of the political economy of big dam projects in India, Brazil, South Africa, and China as well as by examining the changing behavior of international agencies and global companies. The author concludes with a discussion of the World Commission on Dams, an innovative attempt in the late 1990s to generate new norms among conflicting stakeholders.

Dams and Development

Dams and Development PDF Author: Sanjeev Khagram
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501727397
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Big dams built for irrigation, power, water supply, and other purposes were among the most potent symbols of economic development for much of the twentieth century. Of late they have become a lightning rod for challenges to this vision of development as something planned by elites with scant regard for environmental and social consequences—especially for the populations that are displaced as their homelands are flooded. In this book, Sanjeev Khagram traces changes in our ideas of what constitutes appropriate development through the shifting transnational dynamics of big dam construction. Khagram tells the story of a growing, but contentious, world society that features novel and increasingly efficacious norms of appropriate behavior in such areas as human rights and environmental protection. The transnational coalitions and networks led by nongovernmental groups that espouse such norms may seem weak in comparison with states, corporations, and such international agencies as the World Bank. Yet they became progressively more effective at altering the policies and practices of these historically more powerful actors and organizations from the 1970s on. Khagram develops these claims in a detailed ethnographic account of the transnational struggles around the Narmada River Valley Dam Projects in central India, a huge complex of thirty large and more than three thousand small dams. He offers further substantiation through a comparative historical analysis of the political economy of big dam projects in India, Brazil, South Africa, and China as well as by examining the changing behavior of international agencies and global companies. The author concludes with a discussion of the World Commission on Dams, an innovative attempt in the late 1990s to generate new norms among conflicting stakeholders.

Dams and Development in India

Dams and Development in India PDF Author: Arun Kumar Nayak
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788131607800
Category : Dams
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book discusses dams and the dynamics of development. Dams as a project of development were pioneered by the US in the 1930s, and the success of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) model was replicated all over the world soon after the end of the Second World War. Almost all the rivers of developing countries were engineered and various dams and Multipurpose River Valley Development (MPRVD) plans were implemented on almost all the big rivers of the world, including India. However, many of these projects have failed to fulfill their intended objectives. Thus, this raises the question of the rationality of TVA and its execution in other parts of the world. Viewing these facts, this book argues that the MPRVD scheme was inextricably linked to the political economy of decolonization and nationalism rather than development. The integrated river basin management in India was largely promoted by many scientists, engineers, and statesmen, inspired by the United States. The book vividly describes the account of MPRVD on river Mahanadi (Hirakud Dam). Empirical scrutiny has shown that none of the objectives of the dam were fulfiled, even after fifty years of its completion. [Subject: Development Studies, Water Management]

Dams and Development in China

Dams and Development in China PDF Author: Bryan Tilt
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023153826X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
China is home to half of the world's large dams and adds dozens more each year. The benefits are considerable: dams deliver hydropower, provide reliable irrigation water, protect people and farmland against flooding, and produce hydroelectricity in a nation with a seeimingly insatiable appetite for energy. As hydropower responds to a larger share of energy demand, dams may also help to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, welcome news in a country where air and water pollution have become dire and greenhouse gas emissions are the highest in the world. Yet the advantages of dams come at a high cost for river ecosystems and for the social and economic well-being of local people, who face displacement and farmland loss. This book examines the array of water-management decisions faced by Chinese leaders and their consequences for local communities. Focusing on the southwestern province of Yunnan—a major hub for hydropower development in China—which encompasses one of the world's most biodiverse temperate ecosystems and one of China's most ethnically and culturally rich regions, Bryan Tilt takes the reader from the halls of decision-making power in Beijing to Yunnan's rural villages. In the process, he examines the contrasting values of government agencies, hydropower corporations, NGOs, and local communities and explores how these values are linked to longstanding cultural norms about what is right, proper, and just. He also considers the various strategies these groups use to influence water-resource policy, including advocacy, petitioning, and public protest. Drawing on a decade of research, he offers his insights on whether the world's most populous nation will adopt greater transparency, increased scientific collaboration, and broader public participation as it continues to grow economically.

Sustainable Dam Development in India

Sustainable Dam Development in India PDF Author: Nirmalya Choudhury
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783889855183
Category : Dams
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description


The Greater Common Good

The Greater Common Good PDF Author: Arundhati Roy
Publisher: India Book Distributors (Bombay)
ISBN:
Category : Dams
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Article on Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) Project.

Dams and Development

Dams and Development PDF Author: World Commission on Dams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134898053
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 834

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Book Description
By the year 2000, the world had built more than 45,000 large dams to irrigate crops, generate power, control floods in wet times and store water in dry times. Yet, in the last century, large dams also disrupted the ecology of half the world's rivers, displaced tens of millions of people from their homes and left nations burdened with debt. Their impacts have inevitably generated growing controversy and conflicts. Resolving their role in meeting water and energy needs is vital for the future and illustrates the complex development challenges that face our societies. The Report of the World Commission on Dams: - is the product of an unprecedented global public policy effort to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together in one process - provides the first comprehensive global and independent review of the performance and impacts of dams - presents a new framework for water and energy resources development - develops an agenda of seven strategic priorities with corresponding criteria and guidelines for future decision-making. Challenging our assumptions, the Commission sets before us the hard, rigorous and clear-eyed evidence of exactly why nations decide to build dams and how dams can affect human, plant and animal life, for better or for worse. Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making is vital reading on the future of dams as well as the changing development context where new voices, choices and options leave little room for a business-as-usual scenario.

Dams and Development

Dams and Development PDF Author: World Commission on Dams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134897987
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
By the year 2000, the world had built more than 45,000 large dams to irrigate crops, generate power, control floods in wet times and store water in dry times. Yet, in the last century, large dams also disrupted the ecology of half the world's rivers, displaced tens of millions of people from their homes and left nations burdened with debt. Their impacts have inevitably generated growing controversy and conflicts. Resolving their role in meeting water and energy needs is vital for the future and illustrates the complex development challenges that face our societies. The Report of the World Commission on Dams: - is the product of an unprecedented global public policy effort to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together in one process - provides the first comprehensive global and independent review of the performance and impacts of dams - presents a new framework for water and energy resources development - develops an agenda of seven strategic priorities with corresponding criteria and guidelines for future decision-making. Challenging our assumptions, the Commission sets before us the hard, rigorous and clear-eyed evidence of exactly why nations decide to build dams and how dams can affect human, plant and animal life, for better or for worse. Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making is vital reading on the future of dams as well as the changing development context where new voices, choices and options leave little room for a business-as-usual scenario.

Dispossession and Resistance in India

Dispossession and Resistance in India PDF Author: Alf Gunvald Nilsen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136994319
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 518

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Book Description
This book deals with the controversies on developmental aspects of large dams, with a particular focus on the Narmada Valley projects in India. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork and research, the author draws on Marxist theory to craft a detailed analysis of how local demands for resettlement and rehabilitation were transformed into a radical anti-dam campaign linked to national and transnational movement networks. The book explains the Narmada conflict and addresses how the building of the anti-dam campaign was animated by processes of collective learning, how activists extended the spatial scope of their struggle by building networks of solidarity with transnational advocacy groups, and how it is embedded in and shaped by a wider field of force of capitalist development at national and transnational scales. The analysis emphasizes how the Narmada dam project is related to national and global processes of capitalist development, and relates the Narmada Valley movement to contemporary popular struggles against dispossession in India and beyond. Conclusions drawn from the resistance to the Narmada dams can be applied to social movements in other parts of the Global South, where people are struggling against dispossession in a context of neoliberal restructuring. As such, this book will have relevance for people with an interest in South Asian studies, Indian politics and Development Studies.

The Politics of Dams

The Politics of Dams PDF Author: Hanna Werner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780199458059
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is concerned with the construction of large dams in the context of post-Independence developmental politics in India. It deals with the aideological designsa that shaped the implementation of dams in India and juxtaposes them with alternative visions and their political opposition. The author combines a historical analysis of athe politics of damsa with an ethnography of the north Indian Tehri Dam and the recent debate on hydropower projects on the Ganges. The book shows that large dams are still at the heart of developmental discourse in India, an important topic not only for activists, but also for any academic and intellectual concerned with questions of livelihood, development, the environment, and alternative visions of amodern Indiaa. Grounded in reflections on the historicity of political language, the empirical study reveals the alogica of the discourse, that is, in how far it restricts or enables the critique of large dams, embedded as they are within an overwhelming and seemingly commonsensical developmental imagination in the postcolonial world. The author provides a number of case examples, which show that the critique of large projects can be formulated on the basis of the historical contingency of developmental perspectives and societal visions.

LARGE DAMS IN INDIA

LARGE DAMS IN INDIA PDF Author: THOUNAOJAM. SOMOKANTA
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781527503687
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description