Villagers from the Narmada River valley danced in celebration last week when they learnt that the Indian government was withdrawing from a loan agreement with the World Bank to complete the massive dam and irrigation project. The cancellation of the loan was a victory for the tribal people who have vowed to drown in their homes rather than be resettled, and for local and international environmental and human rights groups who have waged a seven-year campaign against the project.
After a scathing report on the project by an independent review team last year, the bank insisted that the Indian government must meet tough conditions - mostly concerning the resettlement of people displaced by the project and the effects of the project on the environment - by the end of March (This Week, 21 October 1992). The bank planned to send a team to India in April to check that the ...
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