Articles by Mike Levien

The report of the Shunglu Committee appointed to verify rehabilitation measures accorded to families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project is riddled with several contradictions and glaring inadequacies. Though there is clear recognition of the incomplete process of rehabilitation, the report chooses to ignore the Supreme Court rulings on the issue as well as the assurances made by several state governments. Moreover, that the government chose to set up the committee even while it allowed construction to go ahead gives the lie to all its pious declarations of ensuring a judicious rehabilitation. On a wider level, the report symbolises once again the connections between "power" and "truth"; it is the project affected families that have been rendered marginal in shaping either the truth or the country's economic development.