Arundhati Roy's Power Politics: Big Dams in India

Introduction

This paper examines Power Politics by Arundhati Roy, specifically addressing several questions regarding the construction of Big Dams in India. The Big Dam projects are especially contentious to the author, and as she writes about her opposition to the projects, it becomes clear that she is passionate about her country and its future.

Supporters and Opponents of Big Dam Construction

As with any controversial large-scale project, the building of Big Dams in India has attracted both vocal supporters and determined opponents, each with a variety of reasons for their positions. Those who support the construction include power companies hoping to generate electricity from dam turbines and, of course, the construction firms that stand to profit from the work. Anyone with a financial stake in the dams views them as progress India vitally needs. This includes, remarkably, a trash-incineration company with no prior dam-building experience that sought to build one of the Big Dams.

Those opposed to the projects cite most often the severe environmental costs — millions of acres of viable land flooded by the reservoirs created behind the dams — as well as the enormous human toll. As Roy states, "Big Dams in India have displaced not hundreds, not thousands, but millions — more than thirty million people in the last fifty years. Almost half of them are Dalit and Adivasi, the poorest of the poor" (Roy 20). As the growing reservoirs displace these communities, the Indian government has done virtually nothing to help them relocate or find new livelihoods. Roy further charges that the government has never systematically studied the effects the dams have had on India or its people, and so construction continues without any real understanding of the projects' usefulness or effectiveness.

The Role of Protest and Free Speech

The opposition to the dams coalesced into a protest movement aimed at advancing the interests of displaced communities and educating the world about what was happening in India at the expense of the environment and its people. Often, protest is the only form of objection that receives meaningful attention from the media and from government, making it one of the most effective tools for driving change. That is partly why Roy wrote this book — to put her protest on record so that others could learn the truth about what was happening with the Big Dams. Without it, many people might never have known.

Roy also frames the book as a defense of the free speech necessary for protest. She questions the assumption that only credentialed experts, along with their "dubious politics" (Roy 27) and special interests, are qualified to comment on important civic matters. Protest, she argues, is a vital part of the democratic process — and one that often produces the most tangible results, which is precisely why dam opponents turned to vocal, public opposition.

Conclusion

Roy's Power Politics makes clear that India's Big Dam projects are not simply a local environmental or political issue. They involve international corporate interests, questions of democratic accountability, and the rights of millions of the country's most vulnerable citizens. Through passionate argument and well-documented evidence, Roy calls on readers both inside and outside India to take the human and environmental costs of these projects seriously, and to recognize that silence in the face of injustice is itself a political choice.

References

Roy, Arundhati. Power Politics. Cambridge, MA: Southend Press, 2001.