Shripad Dharmadhikary, Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, India

Personal background

Shripad Dharmadhikary is the founder of Manthan Adhyayan Kendra. He completed his graduation in 1985 with a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He worked for a couple of years with industry and then was a full time activist of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) for 12 years. NBA is the mass organisation of people affected by large dams on the Narmada river in India. He was closely associated with the World Commission on Dams from its inception to its follow up UNEP-Dams and Development Project.

NGO, movement or network

In 2001, Shripad set up the Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, a centre to research, monitor and analyse water and energy issues. He is the coordinator of the centre. Manthan’s two major themes of work are (a) large dams, irrigation and hydropower and (b) Privatisation and commercialisation of water and power in India.

He has recently completed a study on hydropower dam building in the Himalayas for International Rivers titled Mountains of Concrete. Other publications include Unravelling Bhakra, the report of a three year study led by him of the Bhakra Nangal project.

Current campaigns

Currently, Manthan is working on the issues and impacts of privatisation of the water sector in India, including a study of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that is being pushed in the water sector, and the implications – financial, economic, social, environmental and access - of large scale privatisation of hydropower.