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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

MEDHA PATKAR

(Born: 1st December, 1954)

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Medha Patkar 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 NAPM, including Anna Hazare.
Medha Patkar was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra to Indu and Vasant Khanolkar, a trade union leader and freedom fighter. She was raised by politically and socially active parents. Her father actively fought in the Indian Independence Movement. 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 was often known for her extreme views on growth of country and liberalization.
Medha Patkar is a well known social activist of India. Prior to becoming a social reformer, she completed her M.A. in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). She left Ph. D. in the midst and got actively involved in the agitations conducted by tribals and peasants of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. This paved way for the formation of the organization named Narmada Bachao Andolan


AWARDS AND HONORS

  • She was a recipient of Right Livelihood Award (1991)
  • M.A.Thomas National Human Rights Award (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.
  • She was also a Commissioner to the World Commission on dams.

OTHERS:
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, whose construction she fought for two decades.