Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the organization to condemn the dam as unscientific and unnecessary
for electricity needs within the state. It criticized the Electricity Board
for selling surplus electricity to neighboring states instead of supplying
power to the people of Kerala. The KSSP argued that the dam would not
only submerge the biodiverse forests of Silent Valley but bring litle eco-
nomic benefit to Kerala. Members of the KSSP simultaneously engaged
in mass campaigns to convince the public and international groups to
oppose the dam, and they agitated against the state and national govern-
ments. Prominent international conservation organizations, such as the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), supported the
KSSP and even wrote leters to national oicials, pleading with them to
halt plans for dam construction.41
Due to the KSSP's efforts, the proposal for the dam was ultimately de-
feated. Then, in 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi turned Silent Valley
into a national park. The Save Silent Valley Campaign was one of the first
successful anti-dam movements in India, and it propelled Kerala's envi-
ronmentalism into the spotlight.42 It also stimulated and laid the ground-
work for action around other environmental issues in the state, from pro-
testing against Coca-Cola for excessive groundwater use and pollution to
shuting down the Gwalior Rayons factory for polluting the air and water
with industrial chemicals.
The success of the Save Silent Valley Campaign also thrust the KSSP
into the limelight, earning it “global acclaim as a flagship civil society
organization in India and the third world,”43 and its growing fame soon
drew the atention of the LDF-led state government. But irst the organi-
zation itself underwent a few changes, turning it into an ideal partner to
assist with decentralization. Specifically, the Save Silent Valley Campaign
radicalized the KSSP.
I had the opportunity to hear about these changes directly from
M. K. Prasad—a leader in the Save Silent Valley Campaign, self-identiied
Marxian, and member of the KSSP since 1967—who was instrumental in
starting an environmental activist wing within the organization.
“W hat led you to join KSSP?” I asked him on one occasion in his Thiru-
vananthapuram office.
Prasad answered: “I was fascinated by [KSSP], because this KSSP orig-
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