ENVIRONMENTAL

MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

ROSHNA S. RAGHAVAN

ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

It is a type of social movements that involves an array of

individuals ,groups and coalitions that perceive a common interest in

environmental policies and practices.Major environmental movements in

India are:Chipko movement, Appiko movement,

Narmada Bachavo Andolan, Save Salient Valley, Anti Plachimada

Movement, Anti Endosulfan movement

CHIPKO MOVEMENTIn the 1970, an

organized resistance to the destruction of forests spread through India and came to be known as the Chipko movement

The Chipko movement started in the state of Rajasthan. Amrita Devi with 84 villagers risked their lives to protect the forest trees from being felled on the order of the maharaja (king).In Khejarli village, 363 Bishnois died in 1730 AD while protecting green Khejri that are considered sacred by the community. Gradually, a rising awareness of the ecological crisis, which came from an immediate loss of livelihood caused by it, resulted in the growth of political activism in the region.

Both female and male activists did play pivotal roles in the movement including Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sundarlal Bahuguna, Govind Singh Rawat, Dhoom Singh Neji, Shamsher Singh Bisht and Ghanasyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs echo throughout the Himalayas.

GAURA DEVI

SUNDER LAL BAHUGUNA

CHANDI PRASAD BHATT

(NBA) is a social movement consisting of adivasis, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dams being built across the Narmada River, which flows through the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, all in India.

NARMADA BACHAVO ANDOLAN

Sardar]

Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is one of the biggest dams on the river and was one of the first focal points of the movement. It is one of the many dams under the Narmada Dam Project. The main aim of the project is to provide irrigation and electricity to people in these states.Their mode of campaign includes court actions, hunger strikes, rallies, and garnering support from notable film and art personalities. Narmada Bachao Andolan, with its leading spokespersons Medha Patkar and Baba Amte, received the Right Livelihood Award in 1991.

ARUNDHATI ROY

MEDHA PATKAR

The Anti-Coca Cola StrugglePlachimada is a little hamlet in Palakkad District, which is known as the ‘rice bowl of Kerala.’ The majority of the population consists of adivasis. The primary occupation is agriculture. About 80% of the villagers are engaged in agricultural labour, with 20% engaged in other labour activities.

In March 2000, Coca Cola, under its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited commenced operations at its bottling plant at Plachimada, in the southern state of Kerala. Over the next few years, the area surrounding the plant began to feel the plant’s hazardous effects, as groundwater was contaminated and toxic waste released. That followed was a long struggle by the people of Plachimada, interest groups, and NGOs, leading to the eventual shutdown of operations at the plant.

SAVE SILENT VALLEY MOVEMENT

Save Silent Valley was a social movement aimed at the protection of Silent Valley, an evergreen tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India. It was started in 1973 to save the Silent Valley Reserve Forest from being flooded by a hydroelectric project. The valley was declared as Silent Valley National Park in 1984.

The Kuntipuzha is a major river that flows 15 km southwest from Silent Valley. It takes its origin in the lush green forests of Silent Valley. In 1928 the Kuntipuzha River was identified as an ideal site for electricity generation. In 1970 K S E B proposes a hydroelectric dam across the Kuntipuzha River that runs through Silent Valley, that will submerge 8.3 sq. km of untouched moist evergreen forest. In February 1973, the Planning Commission approves the project at a cost of about Rs 25 crores.

Silent Valley is home to the largest population of world's rarest and most threatened primates lion-tailed macaque. After the announcement of imminent dam construction the valley became the focal point of Save Silent Valley, India's fiercest environmental debate of the decade. Because of concern about the endangered lion-tailed macaque, the issue was brought to public attention. Romulus Whitaker, founder of the Madras Snake Park and the Madras Crocodile Bank, was probably the first person to draw public attention to the small and remote area.

In 1977 the Kerala Forest Research Institute carried out an ecological impact study of the Silent Valley area and proposed that the area be declared a biosphere reserve.In 1979 the Government of Kerala passed legislation regarding the Silent Valley Protection Area (Protection of Ecological balance Act of 1979) and issued a notification declaring the exclusion of the hydroelectric project area from the proposed national park.

ANTI ENDOSULFAN MOVEMENT

Endosulfan was sprayed in the cashew plantations in Kasaragod District since 1976 till 2001 regularly thrice every year.The intensive use of Endosulfan resulted in a chemical disaster.

Endosulfan is a toxic organochloric pesticide of moderate mammalian toxicity which doesn’t accumulate in the tissues of man or animals to any significant extent. But diluted Endosulfan is slowly and incompletely absorbed in the GIT of warm blooded animals.

Problems due to endosulfan

Puberty delayed in boysGirls attain menarche

earlyInfertility among menMenstrual disorders are

frequentIt affects kidney and

liverBirth defectsLearning disability, low

IQ, scholastic backwardness

Even though the protest against Endosulfan still continues ,t he after effects also passes

to generations.