The River, Our Culture, Our Life

On a sultry hot typical Jharkhand summer afternoon, we sat around a small four legged table, trying to shade ourselves from the sun. As we shifted between the shadowy patches that the walls, windows and trees  had carved out for our convenience inside the room, we struggled as a group to come to a consensus on what we wanted to say about the river Damodar. All of us from mixed backgrounds with different histories, locations, lifestyles and education levels had encountered a diverse mix of ideas and conflicts in perspectives and understanding which we had to work around.

We tried to brainstorm on all the issues that are affecting those who live along the banks of the river. There was pollution, scarcity of water and increased toxicity of old water sources, the animals and birds in the area were fast disappearing. Some of us felt that 90 percent of the people living in the area are actually impacted by water pollution.  Some members in the group also felt that people residing on the banks of the river are not fully aware of the pollution levels in the river. How do we begin dialogues in the community on the same? Can our research process help to initiate these dialogues with community?

Were not many of these things already well studied and highlighted by several researchers, activists and actors in civil society in the past several years? There have been repeated protests, scientific studies, political campaigns, intellectual writings and research on the Damodar, and yet has not the pace of change been very slow? The responses lukewarm and in fits and starts. As we approached the dead end of the argument, one of the women in the group shared ‘We will not discuss the Damodar as a polluted or destroyed river, for us Damodar is our life and we have come to cherish and revere it. We must let people know that.’ Damodar is not just a river, it is our culture, it is our lifeline. If the Damodar dies, we too will die, we concluded.

We decided to thus facilitate in bringing those voices of common people residing around the river, and their perspectives and understanding on how the Damodar brought in a core identity and sense of self for them.

By Sayantoni Datta

Krishna Shankar Kumar

The Poster Maker

Krishna Shankar Kumar was born in Kasmar, Bokaro. There were two sources of inspiration for Krishna which urged him to begin painting on social issues: his father, who was actively engaged in social work, and the thoughts and ideologies of the Arya Sarmaj. Krishna started painting at a very young age till he began work as an artist for an NGO named AID in Jharkhand in 1985-86. Krishna has chosen ‘posters’ as a medium to communicate to his audiences. as he feels that its the shortest and quickest way in which several messages can be taken to the viewer.

Krishna’s contact details :09199297877

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Introduction

Welcome to Damodar Bokaro. This site is devoted to the tales, legends, stories, music, history and life around the Damodar. The river Damodar is one of the most important sub basin systems in the Ganga-Brahmaputra catchment area. The Damodar basin is a major provider of water and energy to large industries and cities in West Bengal and Jharkhand.

The oldest dam, the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), several steel plants such as the Bokaro Steel Plant(BSP) and  collieries are situated in and around its catchment area. With this excessive human interference and threats of water scarcity due to climate change(reduced precipitation levels and high evapo transpiration) coupled with unprecedented industrial activity, not only has the Damodar come to be known as the world’s most polluted river, it is also now a slowly ‘dying’ one.

We bring to you a journey and tales of resistance, the cultural expressions and the rich natural and cultural heritage and life around the river.