Where is the money

What I found most poignant about the recent dharna by the Narmada Bachao Andolan was a mail that they later sent out asking for financial help. They detailed the fact that the people of the valley had garnered a lot of resources but ultimately the cost of the struggle exceeded these. The bills of the tent that was rented for the dharna in Bhopal were pending. Eventually it always comes to this question of being unable to get enough funds to fight the state. The most troublesome part of course is getting money to fight cases. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has been lucky to get the best of lawyers to fight for it free. Others like I have not been so lucky. I have continually had to pay through the nose for getting quality legal support. In fact these days I have had to stop field work totally so as to be able to earn money to fund the heavy expenses of the many cases that are pending against the members of the many adivasi organisations with which I am associated. It is when one stands in court that one gets a true understanding of how daunting is the task of fighting for the rights of the down trodden. If the NBA with so much support is in dire straits it is not difficult to imagine how bad the situation is with other smaller fry. That is why while the NBA has managed to survive and become the longest running environmental mass movement in India others have petered out very soon after their inception.