Word: patkar
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...MEDHA PATKAR...
...planner's dream: dams to harness central India's Narmada River. But Medha Patkar, a young, largely self-taught activist, was appalled by the price: huge amounts of land swamped, half a million villagers displaced and a lush river basin ruined. Leading hunger strikes, enduring beatings and vowing to drown herself in a flooded area, she got the World Bank to withdraw support of the key Sardar Sarovar dam and scared off investors from a second major dam. But the Indian government persists with the project, and Patkar fights...
...India's Medha Patkar is a passionate critic of big dam projects, especially the one scheduled for the Narmada Valley, which will submerge 245 villages and uproot 100,000 people. Taking a leaf from Mahatma Gandhi's book, she has organized hunger strikes, demonstrations, sit-ins, roadblocks and rallies. A measure of her success: the World Bank has ordered an independent review of the environmental impact of the Narmada dam and plans for resettling villagers, prompting foreign investors to delay releasing fresh funds...
...protests, Patkar has been beaten, arrested and banned from several villages. The former Bombay social worker faces 10 or so trials on offenses ranging from arson to kidnapping government officials. Patkar claims that the charges are trumped up and that she advocates only nonviolent civil disobedience...