ABSTRACT
The adivasi areas of Dharampur and Dangs are hilly and forested with hardwood trees, with many small rivers flowing east to west across the hilly terrain. The colonial views of forests first as a commodity to be exploited and then a scarce resource to be protected were alien to the adivasis. The new restrictions on the use of forestlands rankled not just the ordinary adivasis but also the chiefs who felt a loss of control over what they considered their forests. The series of events that would lead to the formation of the Nar Par Adivasi Sangathan began in 2010 when the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) came to the area to conduct a topographical survey for the Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Project. In 1997, the two NBA activists, Lakhanbhai and Anandbhai, along with Sujataben, had formed the Paryavaran Surakhsha Samiti. Their main focus has been to educate and mobilize adivasi communities about environmental issues affecting their lives and livelihood.
