ABSTRACT
Ecologically rational decision making in such a context, facilitated through the use of policy tools such as EIA, is possible to the extent that EIA recognizes the legitimacy-and inseparability-of class issues and environmental agendas that underlie conflicts over nature use in India (see, for example, Guha, 1988). How does EIA work in the Indian setting? To what extent can EIA allow for institutional reform that makes possible equitable, ecologically rational, and gender-sensitive resource use? In what ways does the EIA process deal with specific political, social and economic contexts of a Third World country such as India? And how do we explore the complex interlinkages of gender and EIA in such a context? The study of the SSP is particularly appropriate to address these questions. The SSP received considerable attention from the World Bank for its environmental and social impacts, especially since protests about the project escalated. Activists and NGOs working with displaced people have succeeded in mobilizing them to challenge both resettlement measures and the larger development project the SSP epitomizes. An analysis of this project allows an examination of whether the political awareness of the affected people, particularly women, influenced their input into the assessment process. As a first step in the study of the SSP, this chapter chronicles the history and politics of the SSP.
