Tehri Dam: Submersion of a Town, Not of an Idea

Despite local protests over two decades, the Tehri dam was finally built. There were people in the area who supported it because of the seemingly attractive compensation that was offered. The completion of Tehri marked the submersion of just a town and not of the idea that big dams are not the only solution to managing water resources. The lesson of Tehri is that any change in the politics of environment must entail a change in the environment of politics as well. We have to develop the art of transforming a movement into a catalyst for social and political change.