ABSTRACT
Technologies and techniques have rarely in human history remained confined to geographical boundaries. The spread of ideas, commonplace even in the past, has only speeded up in the context of a global mass society. But the effectiveness of technology and techniques may vary depending on how well they are adapted to the specifics of local needs. A policy tool such as environmental impact assessment, which depends for its success on a number of complex, interrelated social, political, and cultural factors, may be able to fulfil its role of ensuring ecological rationality in decision making only when certain political and social conditions (for example, democratic norms, political will, accountability to the public, and sensitivity to diverse and often conflicting needs and issues) are met. Although EIA has been used in many Third World countries since the late 1970s, little attempt has been made to analyze the implications of class, culture, and gender for its implementation. I address this gap in the literature in this chapter through an analysis of interviews with bureaucrats, policy makers, academics, and activists involved with the Sardar Sarovar Project.
