ABSTRACT
The controversy over the Sardar Sarovar Project has unfolded in a decade during which the development field has been undergoing a paradigm shift. This shift is emerging from the debate over sustainable development which presents an open challenge to traditional economics. The debate over the Narmada contributes to and sheds light upon the movement toward an emerging paradigm of sustainable development. Many Indian scholars have taken the view that the people of the Narmada valley are not really tribals but are, in fact, Hindus who are not fully integrated into Indian society. In India, "tribe" has been most frequently differentiated from "caste," purportedly describing groups that are or were in some way set apart from Hindu caste society. Some Indians and development officials have placed great significance on the presence of "non-indigenous" items as evidence that project-affected people were not "tribals."
