You may have heard of Medha Patkar in connection with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). This movement was founded by Patkar as a people’s movement against the Narmada Valley Project, which proposed to build several multi-purpose dams across the Narmada River. Patkar undertook a 22-day fast that forced a review of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, one of the biggest projects of the NBA. This protest has been the focal cause in her 32-year long work in the field.
However, Patkar, who completed her MA in social work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, has been involved in numerous other protests and movements as well, such as fighting for housing rights of slum dwellers in Mumbai, fighting against illegal evictions, protesting against sugar cooperatives falling into the hands of politicians in Maharashtra and protesting against the Kovvada Nuclear project in Andhra Pradesh.
She has based her activism on two basic tenets in the Indian Constitution – the right to life and to livelihood. Her work challenges casteism, communalism and all forms of discrimination.
She was born on December 1, 1954 in Mumbai, Maharashtra to Vasant Khanolkar, a well-known freedom fighter and trade unionist and Indu Khanolkar a women’s activist. Given her family background, it is not surprising that she grew up to be highly motivated, tenacious and fearless.
She has won numerous awards such as the ‘Right Livelihood Award’ in 1991 and the ‘Mother Teresa Award’ for social Justice in 2014.
Picture Credit : Google
