Medha Patkar
| Medha Patkar | |
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 Medha Patkar in 2002 |
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| Born | 1 December 1954 Mangalore |
| Organization | National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) |
| Political movement | Narmada Bachao Andolan |
Medha Patkar 
pronunciation (help·info),(Marathi: मेधा पाटकर, born 1 December 1954) is an Indian social activist. She is known for her role in Narmada Bachao Andolan. She has also filed a public interest petition in the Bombay High Court against Lavasa along with other members of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), including Anna Hazare.
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Early life [edit]
Medha Patkar was born in Mumbai Maharashtra in Kudaldeshkar family to Indu and Vasant Khanolkar, a trade union leader and freedom fighter.[1] She was raised by politically and socially active parents. Her father actively fought in the Indian Independence Movement[citation needed]. Her mother was a member of Swadar, an organization setup to help and assist women suffering difficult circumstances arising out of financial, educational, and health related problems. Her parents' activism played a role in shaping her philosophical views. She did her M.A. in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Life [edit]
She was often known for her extreme view on growth of country and liberalization.[2]
Author Jacques Leslie devoted a third of his book, Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005), to a portrait of Patkar as she planned to drown herself in rising reservoir waters behind the Sardar Sarovar Dam, against whose construction she fought for two decades.
Awards and honors [edit]
- Right Livelihood Award, 1991
- M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award from Vigil India Movement, 1999
- Deena Nath Mangeshkar Award
- Mahatma Phule Award
- Goldman Environment Prize
- Green Ribbon Award for Best International Political Campaigner by BBC
- Human Rights Defender's Award from Amnesty International
Criticism [edit]
Patkar's refusal to participate in protest against a proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project, in her home region of Konkan, has made local activists there unhappy and sad. One Konkan activist accused her of highlighting issues to "further her own purpose", and then abandoning them.[3]
Though she is past employee of Tata Empire, Patkar also played a pivotal role in driving out the Tata Nano plant from Singur, West Bengal, ostensibly due to insufficient benefits to locals and use of fertile land for industry. However, the locals later appealed to Tata Motors to set up the plant at Singur accepting that they were misled.[4] At the height of the agitation Ratan Tata had made a caustic remark questioning the source of funds of the agitators.[5] In 2010 she and her associates were chased and thrown eggs and tomatoes at, by the tribal people in the Maoist violence-hit Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh, she later alleged at a press conference: "It was all a government-sponsored protest in Dantewada in police presence. Those who threw eggs and tomatoes were brought from a relief camp by the government."[6]
References [edit]
- ^ Sanger, Vasundhara (2006-04-19). "A mother speaks: I worry for her but I know Medha is right". The Times Of India.
- ^ "Medha Patkar: Biography" (PDF). Women in World History. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
- ^ [1] http://www.sunday-guardian.com/a/1671
|url=missing title (help). Retrieved 2010-12-29. - ^ "Singur locals asks Tatas to set up a plant, offer cooperation". [2]. 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
- ^ [3] http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_tata-has-some-values-medha-patkar_1195540
|url=missing title (help). Retrieved 2008-10-04. - ^ Patkar blames Chhattisgarh government for egg-tomato attack
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Medha Patkar |
- Friends of the river Narmada website
- Right Livelihood Award website
- Articles written by Medha Patkar
- Speech by Medha Patkar at the 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague, March 2000
- Interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, March 2009 (video, audio, and print transcript)
- National Alliance of people's movement official website
- National Alliance of people's movement Andhra Pradesh Chapter
- The Truth about Medha Patkar
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