Environmental Movements

Environmental Movements
• Detoriation of India’s environment is now well established. Human
consequences have led to shortage of natural resources in daily life
of most of the Indians.
• Forms of livelihood for example of women and men in rural areas
who are engaged in fishing, weaving baskets, sheep rearing, etc.
depend largely on nature.
• But gradual change in the occupation with men from rural areas
moving to cities for jobs have led to what Ramachandra Guha terms
as ‘ecological refugees’.
• Guha finds exhaustion of resources is not only a problem faced by
the rural people of India but also by the urban population.
Ex- He finds urban population complain about shortage of water, power, living
space, food etc.

• Guha points out that shortages in resources in turn lead to sharp

conflict between competing groups of resource users. For example:-
• Poor against the poor – fight over a single patch of forest or for getting
water from tap (in urban areas).
• Rich against the rich – where wealthy farmers from states like Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu fought over the river Kaveri.

• Guha finds another type of conflict where rich were against poor in
case of Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river in Central India.
History of Narmada Bachao
Andolan (NBA)
https://gurumavin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Narnada-canal.png accessed on 26th January 2019
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=imgres&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj4mp3khY7gAhXKu48KHfd0ACgQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narmada.org%2Fsardarsarovar.html&psig=AOvVaw1-
lOAflI4Y6wKyKCpZtozs&ust=1548681360233224 accessed on 26th January 2019
• The Narmada Bachao Andolan began with disputes that were going
on between different states like Gujarat, M.P. and Maharastra
regarding sharing of water.

• In this context in 1969 the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal was

formed. This Tribunal gave decision that 30 major, 135 medium and
3000 small dams along with increase of the height of Sardar Sarovar
Dam could be constructed.

• With this construction it was believed that 40 million people would

get better irrigation facilities and more electricity.
• The Sardar Sarovar project was first visioned by the deputy P.M. of India,
Dr. Sardar Vallabhai Patel and the foundation stone was laid down by Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961.

• The Planning Commission of India approved the project in 1988.

• The movement against the construction of dam on Narmada river gained

momentum in 1989.

• In 1990 villagers to be displace by the construction of the Sardar Sarovar

dam built on the Narmada river in Central India assembled in a peaceful
dharna on Gol Methi Chowk, New Delhi. Shri. V.P. Singh was the then
Prime Minister of India.
• The environmental movements have been concerned with stopping
activities that destroy the environment and impoverish the local
communities.
• For ex- Large dams on Narmada or magnesite mines in inner Himalayas.
• The protestors were mostly peasants and tribal from Madhya
Pradesh (then undivided) which contained majority of villages
supported to be affected by the construction of dams.
• Adivasis, farmers, environmentalists brought in social movement
against large dam that was supposed to be built on Narmada river
that flows through Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra
districts.
• Sardar Sarovar dam was the focal point of the movement.
• According to Guha, Narmad Bacaho Andolan operated on several
flanks- strong media campaign, court petition, lobbying of key
players (World Bank). These can be classified under four headings:-

• Show of strength – demonstration or ‘pradarshan’, shouting slogans, singing

songs. The aim here is to assert presence in the city, which is the locus of
local, provincial or national power. The demonstrators carry a message that
is at once threatening and imploring telling the rulers (city people) about
their presence and demand.

• Disruption of economic life – ‘hartal or bandh’ (shut-down strike) through

more millitant acts of protest.
• Ex- Forcing shops to be closed, pulling off the buses, bringing normal life to stand still.
Rasta roko (road blokade) are more coercive than persuding techniques where
aim is to disrupt economic activity across wide area.
• Dharna – ‘ sit-down-strike’ used to stop work at a specific dam site or mine.
Here the target is figure of authority rather than a site of production.
• Ex- Surround (gherao) the public figure/official.

• Bhook hartal – indefinite hunger strike undertaken by charismatic leader of

popular movement.
• Ex- Sunderlal Bahuguna of Chipko and Medha Patkar (NBA).
Here the courage and self-sacrifice of the individual leader is directly counter
posed to the claiming to the legitimacy of the State. Fast is carried out by the
leader in open space/public space and reported in media with the detoriation of
the health of the individual leader the State is forced to gesture of submission.
• Guha points out the above mentioned four vocabularies of protest which
make up the environmental movements.

• Apart from these methods new/innovative vocabulary was also reflected by

Guha in his article by Narmada Bacho Andolan (NBA) activits and
participants who resorted to jal samadhi (water burial) where they refused to
relocate from the villages to be scheduled to be submerged.

• NBA raised slogans like ‘destructive development’ to highlight how

development even after independence have flown primarily to the urban-
industrial complex.

• The environmental movement returned to Gandhi’s vision of free India

where ‘villages’ formed the centre of economic order.