Medha Patkar wants Indian intellectuals to not only talk about communalism and securalism but also about the struggles of people of the land who depend on natural resources.
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00:00This nexus needs to be exposed because they carry forward without consultations, without
00:10democratic processes and processes of development planning.
00:40I think convincing more and more of intellectuals, at least the sensitive amongst them, the progressive
01:03people who cannot only talk about communalism and secularism but also must talk about the
01:10attacks on the natural resource based communities like farmers, fishmongers and others and take
01:18a firm and courageous stand in favour of the alternative technological paradigm and alternative
01:26worlds of development and not just talk in the international seminars on sustainable
01:32development or millennium goals. We also know that the international finance with the capital
01:40flow into such projects which really benefit the corporates and the financing institutions
01:48also to carry forward in some way or other also make a mess because they violate the
01:55laws of the land, they don't care for the ground level situation, they do not understand
02:02the socio-cultural and environmental aspects at the bottom level and they only look after
02:10their money lending businesses and those who join them as a nexus are from amongst other
02:18politicians, bureaucrats and institutions within the country. This nexus needs to be
02:27exposed because they carry forward without consultations, without democratic processes
02:35and processes for development planning so on and so forth. In Sardar Sarovar, the World
02:41Bank had to withdraw but it has not yet pulled out of the large bands, instead they have
02:49started financing sectoral projects rather than individual projects so that they cannot
02:55be caught hold of and declared as the culprits for whatever happens. So all these things
03:02really matter a lot and hence it is necessary that we fight multiple front struggles.