Dam all Dams!

The Government has taken a decision to increase the height of the Narmada dam. Illegal or not is for courts to decide. Give the luxury of time our judicial system has, by the time the courts decide, there will be no cows left to come home, since all of them would have been drowned in the swirling waters that would engulf the surrounding villages once the height is raised.

More importantly, my study shows that dams are no longer the "temples of India" or for that matter of the world as our first PM termed them.

They are perhaps an ecological disaster waiting to happen. They are a reason for earthquakes, they displace millions of people robbing them of their homes (33 millions in India alone at last count) and kill marine life. The life of a dam is only as long as the silt collected below allows it.

Here are two links to media articles on the view expressed here. 

One is from 'Smithsonian' website of the prestigious institute that bears that name. It is on the environment impact and modern scientific thinking about dams. 

The other takes you to the 'The Hindu' Decision on Narmada dam illegal: CPI (M) news story on the Narmada dam.

Refer Link

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-link-between-dams-and-earthquakes-4305816/?no-ist

A Link Between Dams and Earthquakes? | Science | Smithsonian The earth is big, and so are the tectonic plates—it doesn’t seem possible that anything humans could do to the earth would have an effect on those immense plates. But evidence is mounting that we cause earthquakes.I listened in fascination to a presentation from earthquake scientist Christian Klose...