Skewed Calculus

Skewed Calculus WHATEVER be the immediate outcome of the ongoing confrontation between the proand anti- Narmada interests, it will undoubtedly have served to change the angle of political and social vision on the issue of large dams, in fact not just dams but all large projects supposedly being created for 'public' good. And the Gujarat government's uncouth display of strength, underwritten by industrial and landed interests on the one hand and high profile Hindu religious sects on the other, represents an ominous definition of just who are Chimanbhai Patel's 'people of Gujarat; In a sense the confrontation has served to focus attention on an issue much larger than development projects: the widening gulf between the interests of the people and of governments under our present political arrangements.