Medha Patkar Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Medha Patkar

• Medha Patkar is an Indian social activist chiefly known for her work on several critical political and economic issues escalated by the people including tribals, Dalits, farmers, labourers, and women confronting unjustness in India. She is a former Tata Institute of Social Sciences student, a multi-campus public research university in Mumbai, India.

• In 1985, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) was founded by Medha Patkar to struggle for the justice of locally displaced people. The Narmada Valley Development Project (NVDP) proposed the construction of thousands of dams on the Narmada river and its tributaries, and it was approved by the Indian government in 1979. On 9 August 1985, the Narmada Valley Development Project (NVDP) was passed by the Madhya Pradesh government to begin construction. It was a large-scale plan to dam the Narmada river, and its tributaries in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Reportedly, the construction of this dam displaced and affected a large number of local people of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.
  

  Medha Patkar in Mumbai during Narmada Bachao Aandolan

• In 1985, several farmers, Adivasis, farmers, fish workers, labourers, and other local people, located in the Narmada valley, actively participated in the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan movement’ along with Medha Patkar. Numerous renowned Indian intellectuals including environmentalists, human rights activists, scientists, academicians, artists who stand for justice and sustainable development also endorsed this virtuous cause that was started under the leadership of Medha Patkar.

• During the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan movement’ in 1985, Medha Patkar questioned the government of India regarding the strategy of linking rivers in India as a remedy to solve the water shortage while constructing dams over the rivers. One of the biggest dams in Gujarat, India, on the Narmada river is Sardar Sarovar Dam, the construction of which started in April 1987. Reportedly, the renowned Indian intellectuals had questioned the local government of Gujarat over the social and environmental undemocratic planning, and the struggle made by the non-violent people for their properties and land. Later, the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam led to the submergence and displacement of more than 40,000 families residing in these submergence areas.
  

  Social activist Medha Patkar along with villagers and dam oustees of Sardar Sarovar dam from Nimad region of Madhya Pradesh

• In 1985, Patkar visited the affected areas and the villages in the Narmada valley, Madhya Pradesh that were to be submerged after the completion of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in southeastern Gujarat, one of the largest planned projects.

• Under the leadership of Medha Patkar, since 1992, ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ trust has started Jeevanshala – The ‘Life Schools’ with about 5,000 students passed out and many graduated. It is said that some of the students from these schools have won many awards and many of them are under training in athletics. Under the guidance of Medha Patkar, ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ has established two small hydro projects, on the river Narmada, which were submerged due to the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam in 1985. Reportedly, over the last 30 years, NBA has been working in various sectors including rehabilitation and environment protection, health, employment guarantee, Right to Food, and Public Distribution systems all over India.

• In an interview, Medha Patkar’s mother revealed that when Medha was at the TISS, once, she finished reading 250 books in one month.

• In 1992, Medha Patkar founded an organisation called ‘The National Alliance of People’s Movements’ (NAPM, an alliance of common people in India). The issues related to socio-economic justice, political justice, and equity are the main focus areas of NAPM. The objective of this movement facilitate unity and strength in the movements of people in India, and fight and question against the oppression of the government so as to work towards justice alternatives. In 1998, Medha Patkar was the representative of the World Commission on Dams (a research institute on the social, political, environmental, and economic aspects and impacts of the development of large dams globally).
  

  Medha Patkar during Narmada Bachao Andolann in 1992

• In 2005, the struggle for housing rights in Mumbai began when the government of Maharashtra demolished 75,000 houses of poor people in the Mumbai area. The slum-dwellers and those who were cheated by the builders in various re-development and rehabilitation projects started a mission in 2005 to oppose the unauthorised construction of high profile buildings. Around the same time, Medha Patkar founded the ‘Strong people’s movement,’ and she raised her voice against the demolition of homes at Azaad Maidaan Mumbai in a large public meeting. As a consequence of this mass action and protest under the leadership of Medha, on the same sites, communities were re-built with shelter, water, electricity, sanitation, and livelihood.

• In an interview, in 2006, Medha’s mother revealed the facts about her daughter, Medha, that how she got involved in Narmada Movement. Her mother said that Medha went to visit the displaced people of Narmada valley while pursuing her studies at TISS, and the pitiable conditions of the poor people influenced her so much that she took up their cause since then. She further added that Medha had been fighting for the rights of the displaced people through her organization ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan.’ She explained,
  

  She was studying at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and had taken a study tour of the Narmada valley in the early 1980s. The pitiable conditions of the people affected by the dam water in Gujarat that had submerged their villages moved her so much that she took up their cause. She has been fighting for the rights of the displaced people ever since, under her organization named Narmada Bachao Andolan, which has grown into a massive movement over the years. It’s a national coalition of environmental and human rights activists, academics, and project-affected people, working to stop several dam projects in the Narmada valley and fighting for the rehabilitation of all displaced people.”

  Medha’s mother added the activities Medha did in her leisure time when she was young. She revealed,

  Medha was a very good dancer and used to draw very well. She used to take part in dramas too. She was a very active child in school and college. All that was long ago…”

• In 2007, ‘Nandigram land grab’ was a failed project of the communist Government of West Bengal, which raised violence and protests by the communists in the state. In 2007, ‘Nandigram land grab resistance movement was initiated under the leadership of Medha Patkar against the step taken by the communist party of West Bengal, to acquire the properties and land of the local residents to convert it into a special economic zone (SEZ). Around the same year, the local people who had laid their lives in large numbers during state violence in ‘Nandigram land grab resistance,’ won the battle with the support of social activist, Medha Patkar. During the movement, Medha raised slogans to support various actions related to basic human rights including mass mobilization, right to complain at various national forums. She built the support of renowned intellectuals and various citizens across India.

• In 2008, at Singur, West Bengal, Medha Patkar protested against the construction of a factory by Tata Motors (India) to manufacture their $2,500 car, the Tata Nano. Allegedly, CPI(M) activists assaulted Patkar’s caravan while she was on her way to Nandigram at Kapaseberia in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal. In October 2008, as a consequence of this mass action and protest under the leadership of Medha, Tata announced that the production of the Nano would be established in Sanand, Gujarat, and the construction of the factory would be ended at Singur, West Bengal.

• In 2009, in Madban village in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, Patkar was condemned by other social activists in India after she refused to participate in the protest against the proposal of the construction of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project. This project, if built in India, would be the largest nuclear power generating station across the world.

• Medha Patkar, along with other activists, registered in PIL in the High Court of Mumbai in 2012. Medha blamed the property tycoon Niranjan Hiranandani for building luxury flats instead of affordable houses in Mumbai region. In an agreement with the state and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, Hiranandani signed a lease for the 230 acres of land at the rate of Re 1 per hectare in 1986. According to the current market price, the amount of the scam will be around Rs. 450 billion. The Maharashtra High Court judges said while responding to the PIL,
  

  We appreciate the elegance of the construction and the intent on creating an architecture marvel for the city of Mumbai, we see the specific intent of wholly ignoring the most vital, and perhaps the only, condition in tripartite agreement (to create affordable houses of 40 and 80 sq m).”

  Niranjan Hiranandani, in the judgment of 2012, was directed to build 3,144 houses for the low-income groups before any other construction by Hiranandani gardens. This scam is popularly known as the ‘Hiranandani land scam.’

• On 7 June 2012, Medha Patkar was arrested for protesting against the indigenous Koliwada fisher people’s forced demolition from their traditional home in Mumbai. According to the news channels and newspapers, the land would be used for a lucrative development project in Mumbai.
  

  Medha Patkar before being arrested by the Mumbai Police in 2012 protest against the demolition of Koli Homes in Mumbai

• In 2013, Medha Patkar, along with more than 500 slum dwellers, set on an indefinite fast to protest against the demolition by the local government that took place on 2 and 3 April in the Golibar area, Mumbai, Maharashtra. This demolition evicted 43 houses and displaced more than 200 people in the Golibar area, Mumbai. During the protest, approximately 50–100 years old communities and thousands of families demanded participatory housing rights. Later, as a consequence of this protest, an inquiry was conducted by the High Court Mumbai that gave partial solutions when Patkar blamed corruption charges on the builders in the city’s slum rehabilitation scheme.
  

  Medha Patkar while ending her indefinite fast on the 9th day after an agreement was reached between Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan and the Government of Maharashtra at Golibar

• In 2013, Medha Patkar, along with the local villagers, filed a PIL in Supreme Court against the ‘Lavasa project,’ and she protested for the environmental damage in Nagpur, Maharashtra, the worst-hit farmer suicide state in the same year. Lavasa is a project by Hindustan Construction Corporation that aimed to build a town near Pune, Maharashtra, stylistically based on the model of an Italian town. Reportedly, it was controversial due to various reasons including procurement of land, loans acquired to begin it, and harm to the environment. Earlier, Lavasa Project was condemned by P. Sainath (an Indian journalist and author) for its unjust use of water.

• In 2014, during ‘Save Sugar-Cooperatives Mission,’ Medha Patkar organized and conducted protests to save the Sugar-Cooperative sector in Maharashtra, India, when she came to know that the Sugar-Cooperative sector was falling into the hands of the cabinet politicians including ten ministers from the Maharashtra cabinet. During the protests, she blamed the government of Maharashtra for selling the assets of the Sugar-Cooperative sector at throwaway rates to the politicians, who were interested in the prime plots of land, old equipment, and machinery of sugar co-operatives. Later, a case is still pending against the Girna Sugar factory (accused) at Malegaon, Nasik, Maharashtra, and the members of the Chhagan Bhujbal Family (accused) in the Supreme court of India. Apparently, the local farmers who were the donors of the cooperative land had re-occupied and cultivated the unused land of the factory.

• On 25th June 2014, Medha Patkar went to Jantar Mantar in Delhi and addressed the people in the rally. During the rally, she spoke on the status of ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ during the Bhartiya Janta Party governance in India.

• In 2013, In Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, Patkar strongly opposed the land acquisition in Kovvada of Ranasthalam Mandal for setting up a proposed 6,600 MegaWatt nuclear power station, and she titled it ‘Kovvada Nuclear project’ mission. While imposing allegations on the local government, she stated that the ‘Kovvada Nuclear project’ would be a catastrophe for the environment and the local residents.
  

  Activist Medha Patkar while opposing a nuclear power plant coming up at Kovvada village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh

• In September 2014, Medha Patkar claimed that the leaders and officials from Japan and China were visiting India as they wanted the land to be reserved for them in India. In an interview, in 2014, she said that the situation would be worst than that of the British era. She described,
  

  Why Japanese officials and Chinese presidents are visiting India? Only because, they want the land in the country to be reserved for them. That is what the Modi government is doing. The Bill, which was introduced in the Assembly by the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government yesterday and taken up for discussion today, would lead to “hurried, hasty and undemocratic grabbing of land” and the situation would be worst than that of British era.”

• In 2014, Medha Patkar requested the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to return the land at Singur, West Bengal, to the local farmers. This land was earlier acquired by the government to set up the Tata Nano project which was halted owing to the protests by the Medha in 2008. In an interview, in 2014, Medha made this appeal to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee under the new Land Acquisition Act of the Indian constitution.

• Medha Patkar contested as an Aam Aadmai party (AAP) candidate in 2014 from northeast Mumbai. In 2014, through a video, Medha Patkar appealed to the people of northeast Mumbai, by stating various reasons, that they should elect her as an Aam Aadmai party candidate in the Lok Sabha elections.

• In March 2015, Medha Patkar formally resigned from the Aam Aadmai party. After the resignation as a party candidate and worker, in an interview, she stated that the dismissal or expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan (other party candidates) from the party’s national executive (NE) was not justifiable, but rather questionable, and condemnable. She expressed her views,
  

  I felt sad about the way party leadership is dealing with the serious concerns expressed by Prashant Bhushanji and Yogendra Yadavji. In spite of their contribution over the years towards building the party and its credibility across the country, the way they were treated and also expelled from NE, probably along with Anand Kumar and Professor Ajit Jha, is certainly not justifiable but rather questionable and condemnable.”

• Medha Patkar actively participates in various young activists’ movements and ceremonies in India including Martyrs’ Day. In 2015, Medha attended a campaign in New Delhi and delivered a speech on the brave soldiers of India who had lost their lives during the wars against the enemy countries, and she posted a picture of her on her social media account.
  

  Medha Patkar at Shahidi park while celebrating the Shahidi Divas with young activists in Delhi in 2015

• In July 2015, Medha Patkar was cross-examined by the defence lawyer in a case related to an alleged assault on her at the Sabarmati Ashram in 2002. In the incident, in 2002, after the Godhra riots (three-days inter-communal ferocity in the western Indian state of Gujarat, India), a peace meeting was going on 7 March 2002, at the Sabarmati Ashram, and a mob attacked the Sabarmati Ashram, vandalized the place, and allegedly assaulted Medha Patkar.

• In 2016, Medha Patkar accused Maharashtra and Central governments of “failing” the common people’s demands on building affordable houses for the slum-dwellers in Mumbai. In an interview, while imposing the allegations on the government, she stated that she had a mega housing plan under which one-crore houses could be provided to slum-dwellers in Mumbai. She narrated the mega plan,
  

  The parties make tall promises before elections, but conveniently forget them after polls. All parties have promised to provide livable shelters in the city before election, but no government has done it so far. Now, we have chalked out a comprehensive plan on how one crore homes could be provided to needy people of the city, who are living in precarious conditions in slums. I appeal to the government to invite us so that we can present the blueprint of our mega housing plan. Respecting the poor class and running the country according to true spirit of Constitution is the best guarantee to establish an egalitarian society in country.”

• In 2017, Medha Patkar gave an interview on the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and in the interview, she explained the struggles she was doing along with the local Adivasis to frame the desirable change in the region. She explained how she was fighting for the communities that were residing on natural resources. She added that more than 40,000 families residing in these submergence areas of Sardar Sarovar to date.

• In June 2017, Madhya Pradesh police arrested and subsequently released 30 activists, including Medha Patkar, Yogendra Yadav, and Swami Agnivesh, in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, while they were on their way to Mandsaur to meet families of farmers killed in police firing. In June 2017, the protesting mob of the farmers were demanding a loan waiver from the government, which had allegedly set ablaze 25 trucks and two police vans that ultimately led the police to fire five farmers. ^[9]Hindustan Times

• In 2018, Medha fought and protested against the Minimum Sale Price (MSP), an agricultural product price, introduced by the Government of India to buy directly from the farmers, and she gave various newspaper interviews to raise a voice against it.
  

  Medha in a newspaper interview on MSP

• Medha is a public speaker and a motivator; specifically to the farmers and poor people of India. She has often seen keeping up to date the young generations of India as of the rights of farmers and poor people.
  

  Medha Patkar at IIT Bombay in 2018

• In 2019, Medha Patkar was sent a show-cause notice by Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, and they asked Medha for an explanation on pending criminal cases against her. Reportedly, Medha was applying for a passport. Patkar responded in an interview that she had submitted all the necessary documents. She remarked,
  

  I was acquitted of all the cases before applying for a passport. The cases were not registered against me alone…in Barwani (a town in Madhya Pradesh) we were charged for violating Section 144 during a peaceful protest called ‘mook rally’ (silent rally). I have submitted the necessary documents to prove my case. I don’t have to hide anything.”

• In 2020, Medha Patkar was seen supporting Kisan Andolan along with Bharatiya Kisan Union Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait and farmers leaders during the ongoing protest against the new farm laws in India, at the Ghazipur border in New Delhi, India.
  

  Bharatiya Kisan Union Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait along with activist Medha Patkar and farmers leaders during the ongoing protest against the new farm laws, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi

• Medha Patkar, as a social activist, has often seen supporting ‘Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha’ that was started on 11 April 1936 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
  

  Social activist Medha Patkar participates in ‘Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha’ at Azad Maidan, in Mumbai

• In 2020, CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar met social activist Medha Patkar and Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi during Nagrikta Bachao, Desh Bachao’ rally against CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act) and NRC (The National Register of Citizens), at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, Uttar Pradesh.
  

  CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar (C) meets social activist Medha Patkar (L) and Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi (R), during Anti CAA and NRC rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna

• In 2020, Medha Patkar, Irfan Habib, and Arfa Khanum Sherwani were spotted together to attend the public discussions on NRC, CAA, and NPR (the National Population Register) at Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh.
  

  Medha Patkar at Aligarh Muslim University in 2020

• On 5 June 2021, Medha actively participated in World Environment Day, and she posted her pictures while planting trees on her social media account.
  

  Medha while planting trees on World environment day in 2021

• Medha Patkar actively uses her social media accounts and attends live interviews and discussions every other day. On 10th June 2021, she interacted on the Lakshadweep issue in India with a media person.

Live Interaction with Medha Patkar (@medhanarmada) on Lakshadweep issue. #SaveLakshadweep https://t.co/mpO3UnDA6d

— AISF (@AISFofficial) June 10, 2021

• Medha Patkar frequently participates on several Indian News channels’ debate shows specifically related to the ‘violence on women and the fight for the rights of women and humans in India.’
  

  Medha Patkar at a live debate on an Indian news channel