Padma Priyadarshini
Abstract
Unbridled economic development based on heavy industrialization has led to severe ecological degradation affecting our environment in many ways. Consequently, the late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed a mushrooming of environmental movements worldwide. India was no exception. This article attempts to understand the trajectory of broad rural environmental movements related to forests, water, and land in India and presents the dominant debates in the field. Specifically, it looks at four prominent movements: the âChipkoâ the âNarmadaâ, the anti-mining movement against âVedantaâ, and the âSeed protestsâ. The study argues that in the case of the broad rural Indian environmental movementsâ concerns, there is a shift from aristocratic preservation ethics to an increasing emphasis on local indigenous peoplesâ rights and ecological sustainability. Second, the movementsâ framing of concerns is based on a broader social perception of existing inequalities in society triggered by a model of development that has different consequences for different sets of people. Finally, the paper suggests that both transnational activism and educated middleclass activists influence and shape the trajectories of these movements in significant ways.