The right to life, livelihood and protection from immiseration and exploitation of communities displaced along the Narmada was pitted against the right to water that the dam was expected to reach to the people in parts of Gujarat; it was also pitted against the enormous amounts of money that had already been expended on the dam. Even the right of the victims of the Bhopal gas disaster to receive compensation was pitted against the bureaucratic imperative of winding up the processing of claims.
Jukumu la serikali katika upangaji wa mipaka tofauti ya mali ya maji ikiangaza mto Nile ni: Kuandika waziwazi kuhusu nguvu za mazingira zinazohitilafiana katika eneo la maziwa makuu. Maafikiano, sheria za wanyama mwitu na mashauri yanayoangaziwa ya jinsia na kufanya sheria na mashauri ya matengeneo; kufikia uzuifu na umiliki wa ardhi na mali, kupigania mazungumzo kuu na kubadilisha mtindo juu ya haki za wanawake hadi kwa mali na ardhi. Mgogoro kati ya desturi na isiyo ya kawaida na kutilia nguvu chama na matokeo yake kwa haki za wanawake katika shughuli za ukulima na jamii ya wafugaji.