Social movement

Topic: Civil Society, Pressure Groups, NGOs and Self-help Groups · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

A social movement is when many people act together over a long time, in a loosely organised way and mostly outside formal institutions, to bring about a change in society or policy, or to stop one. It matters because it lets ordinary citizens shape public decisions between elections. Chipko, Silent Valley and the Narmada Bachao Andolan led to forest bans, a national park and new resettlement law.

Explanation

Three key features

• Sustained: it lasts for years. A one-day protest is not a movement.
• Loosely organised: it may have no single office, membership list or constitution.
• Outside institutions: it works mostly outside Parliament, courts and parties.
• It uses marches, sit-ins, hunger strikes, petitions and songs.
• It goes to courts or lawmakers only later.

Old and new social movements

• Old social movements were built around class, nation or peasants.
• Examples: the national movement, peasant revolts and trade-union struggles.

• They mainly fought over who owns and controls economic resources.

• New social movements have grown since the 1970s. They centre on environment, gender, identity and rights rather than class.

• Civil-society groups often lead them. Civil society is the space between the family and the State, where citizens form their own groups such as NGOs, associations and campaigns.
• Rajni Kothari called them "non-party political formations". These groups do politics, meaning they try to change public decisions, but they are not parties and do not contest elections.
• The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) was formed in 1992 as a network of such movements. Medha Patkar was one of its founders [3].

Life cycle of a movement

1. Emergence: people feel a grievance, but their action is scattered.
2. Coalescence: leaders, slogans and a shared goal appear.
3. Institutionalisation: the movement builds organisations, networks and legal teams.
4. Outcome: one of three endings: - Success: its demand becomes law. - Co-optation: the State or a party takes in its leaders or ideas. - Decline: it loses energy and fades.

How movements change policy

• Agenda-setting: they make the media and Parliament talk about an issue.
• Litigation: they go to court, for example through a public interest petition.
• Law: their demands become Acts and rules. Examples are the forest felling ban of 1980 and the resettlement norms of 2013.
• Diffusion: a movement's method can spread to other regions. Chipko's tree-hugging spread to the Western Ghats as Appiko.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base: "social movement" is not a term used in the Constitution. Movements depend on the Fundamental Rights to free speech and expression, to assemble peacefully without arms, and to form associations (Article 19(1)(a), (b) and (c)). They reach the courts through writ petitions under Articles 32 and 226.
• Chipko movement (from 1973):
• It began in 1973 at Mandal village in the Alaknanda valley, Garhwal (then Uttar Pradesh, now Uttarakhand). Villagers hugged trees to resist a commercial logging permit [1].
• The forest department had given ash trees to a sports-goods firm. The same villagers had been refused those trees for their own farm tools.
• At Reni (1974), women led by Gaura Devi hugged trees to stop the felling.
• Chandi Prasad Bhatt led the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS). Sunderlal Bahuguna followed Gandhi's idea of satyagraha (peaceful resistance based on truth) [2].
• Result: in 1980 the government put a 15-year ban on green felling (cutting living trees) in the UP Himalayas. The Forest Conservation Act, 1980 came in the same year. Under that Act, forest land cannot be used for non-forest purposes without the Centre's prior approval.

• Significance: it linked forest protection with local needs such as fodder, fuel and small timber [1]. It also became a world symbol of grassroots, non-violent environmental action [1].

• Appiko movement (1983): Panduranga Hegde led it in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka. It took Chipko-style tree-hugging to the Western Ghats, against commercial felling and monoculture plantations.

• Silent Valley movement (Kerala):
• It opposed a hydel (hydroelectric) dam on the Kunthipuzha river that the Planning Commission had approved [2].
• Those who opposed it included the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), scientists, and the poet Sugathakumari.

• The project was dropped in 1983. The area became Silent Valley National Park in 1984 [2].

• Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA):

• It emerged in 1985 (NCERT says "late 1980s") against the Narmada Valley Development Project, mainly the Sardar Sarovar dam [3][4].
• It was led by Medha Patkar and Baba Amte. Its grievances were displacement, poor rehabilitation and the flooding of forests [3].
• Morse Review (1992): found that both the Government of India and the World Bank were responsible for the project's failures. It also found that the project went ahead without the data needed to judge its effects [5].
• 1993: at India's request, the World Bank cancelled the rest of its loan [5][6]. In the same year it set up an independent Inspection Panel to hear complaints that the Bank had broken its own policies [5].
• Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India (October 2000): in a 2:1 judgment, the Supreme Court let construction continue on one condition. Rehabilitation had to keep pace with each rise in the dam's height. The dissenting judge wanted proper environmental clearance and rehabilitation before more construction.
• 17 September 2017: the dam was dedicated to the nation at Kevadia, Gujarat. Its height is 138.68 metres [7].
• Legacy: the LARR Act, 2013 made a social impact assessment (SIA, a study of how a project affects people) compulsory [8][9]. It also requires Gram Sabha consent in Scheduled Areas and the consent of 80% of affected families when land is taken for private companies [9].

Don't confuse with

• Pressure group: a pressure group is formal, with members and office-bearers, and it pushes the narrow interest of one group, as FICCI or a trade union does. A social movement is loose and aims at broad change in society or policy.
• Political party: a party seeks office by winning elections. A social movement never contests elections. This is why Kothari called movements "non-party political formations".
• Protest or agitation: a one-day protest is a single event. A social movement is sustained over years.
• Old vs new social movement: old movements are about class, nation or peasants. New movements (since the 1970s) are about environment, gender, identity and rights.

Prelims Hooks

• Chipko: began 1973, Mandal village, Garhwal (now Uttarakhand). Gaura Devi led the women at Reni (1974). Chandi Prasad Bhatt led the DGSS.
• Appiko (1983) was in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka (Western Ghats) under Panduranga Hegde. Chipko was in the Himalayas. Questions often swap the two regions or leaders.
• Silent Valley: the river was the Kunthipuzha. KSSP and Sugathakumari led the campaign. The project was dropped in 1983, and the area became a national park in 1984 [2].
• NBA timeline: Morse Review 1992 → World Bank loan cancelled and Inspection Panel created 1993 [5] → NBA v. Union of India 2000 (2:1), construction allowed with rehabilitation keeping pace.
• "Non-party political formations" comes from Rajni Kothari. NAPM was formed in 1992 [3].
• LARR Act, 2013: SIA is compulsory. Gram Sabha consent is needed in Scheduled Areas, and 80% of affected families must consent for private-company acquisitions [9].

Mains Points

• Movements deepen democracy between elections.
• Chipko, Silent Valley and the NBA show citizens setting the agenda through protest, science and the courts.
• Their gains include the 1980 felling ban, the 1984 national park and the SIA and consent rules of 2013.

• This supports the view of civil society as a bridge between citizens and the State.

• Development vs rights.

• Large dams such as Sardar Sarovar bring water to four states (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) [7], but they also displace tribal and rural people.
• NBA (2000) shows the courts deferring to government policy.

• A balanced answer argues for rehabilitation before land is flooded, plus independent monitoring.

• Limits and reform.

• Movements can lose energy, or the State and parties can co-opt them. Critics say some campaigns delay public projects.
• Reform: hold real public hearings and SIAs early, so disputes are settled before construction and not in court.
• The Morse Review led to the Inspection Panel [5]. This shows that local movements can also make global lenders answerable.

Related concepts

• New social movements
• Chipko movement
• Appiko movement
• Silent Valley Movement
• Narmada Bachao Andolan

Read more

• Social movements and the environmental movements