Class - 12 political chapter - 7

 Rise of Popular Movements

Nature of popular movements

Chipko movement 

• The movement began in two or three villages of Uttarakhand when the forest department refused permission to the villagers to fell ash trees for making agricultural tools .
• Large issues of ecological and economic exploitation of the region where raised .
• The villagers demanded that no forest - exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and local communities should have effective control over natural resources like land , water and forests .
• They wanted the government to provide low cost materials to small industries and ensure development of the region without disturbing ecological balance. 
• The movement took up economic issues of landless forest workers and asked for guarantees of minimum wage 
• Women 's active participation in the Chipko agitation was a very novel aspect of the movement .
• The forest contractors of the region usually doubled up as suppliers of alcohol to men .
• Women held sustained agitations against the habit of alcoholism and broadened the agenda of the movement to cover other social issued .
• The movement achieved  a victory when the government issued a ban on felling of trees in the Himalayan regions for fifteen years, until the green cover was fully restored .

Party based movements 

• Popular movements may take the form of social movements or political movements and there is often an overlap between the two. 
• The nationalist movements , for example , was mainly a political movement.
• Trade union movement had a strong presence among industrial workers in major cities like Mumbai , kolkata and Kanpur .
• All major political parties established their own trade unions for mobilizing these section of workers .
• these movements did not participate in elections formally .
• They retained connections with political parties , as many participants in these movements , as individuals and so organisations ,were actively associated with parties .

Non - Party movements 

• In the 1970s and 1980s , many sections of the society became disillusioned with the functioning of political parties .
• In spite of the impressive growth in many sectors of economy in the first twenty years of independence , poverty and inequalities persisted on a large scale 
• Benefits of economic growth did not reach evenly to all sections of society .
• There also existed a gulf between the urban - industrial sector and the rural agrarian sector . A sense of injustice and deprivation grew among different groups .
• Many of the politically active groups lost faith in existing democratic institutions and electrol politics . They therefore chose to step outside of party politics and engage in mass mobilization for registering their protests .
• These organization came to be known as voluntary organization came to be known as voluntary organisations or voluntary sector organizations.

Features of voluntary organization 

• These voluntary organization chose to remain outside party politics .
• They did not contest elections at the local or regional level nor did they support any one political party .
• Most of these groups believed in politics and wanted to participate in it , but not through political parties .hence , these organizations were called 'non - party political formations'.
• They hoped that direct and active participation by local groups of citizens would be more effective in resolving local issues than political parties .
• It was also hoped that direct participation by people will reform the nature of democratic government .

Dalit Panthers 

Origins 

• In nineteen seventies , the first generation Dalit graduates, especially those living in city slums began to assert themselves from various platforms .
• Dalit panthers, a militant organization of the Dalit youth, was formed in Maharashtra in 1972 as a part of these assertions .
• In the post - Independence period , Dalit groups were mainly fighting against the perpetual caste based inequalities and material injustices that the Dalits faced in spite of constitutional guarantees of equality and justice .
• Effective implementation of reservations and other such policies of social justice was one of their prominent demands.
• Social discrimination and violence against the ex- untouchable groups continued in various ways . 
• Dalit settlements to be set apart from the main village .
• Legal mechanisms proved inadequate to stop the economic and social oppression of Dalits .

Activities 

• Activities of Dalit panthers mostly centered around fighting increasing atrocities on Dalits in various parts of the state .
• The government passed a comprehensive law in 1989 that provided for rigorous punishment for such acts .
• The larger ideological agenda of the panthers was to destroy the caste system and to build an organization of all oppressed sections like the landless poor peasants and urban industrial workers along with Dalits .
• The movement provided a platform for Dalit educated youth to use Their creativity as a protest activity .
• Dalit writers protested against the brutalities of the caste system in their numerous autobiographies and other literary works published during this period .
• In the post - Emergency period , Dalit panthers got involved in electoral compromises ; it also underwent many splits , which led to its decline .

Bharatiya kisan union 

• The social discontent in India society since the seventies was manifold .
• Agrarian struggles of the eighties is one such example where better off farmers protested against the policies of the state .

Growth 

• In January 1988, around twenty thousand farmers had gathered in the city of meerut , Uttar parades . 
• These agitating farmers were members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) , an  organization of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana regions .
• The BKU was one of the leading organization in the farmer's movement of the eighties .
• The cash crop market faced a crisis in mid - eighties due to the beginning of the process of liberalization of India economy .
• The BKU  demanded higher government floor prices for sugarcane and wheat , abolition of restrictions on the inter - state movement of farm produce, guaranteed supply of electricity at reasonable rates , waiving of repayments due on loans to farmers and the provisions of a government pension for farmers.

Characteristics 

• Activities conducted by the BKU to pressurize the state for accepting its demands included rallies , demonstrations , sit - ins and jail Bharo agitations .
• The BKU and organised massive rallies of these farmers in many district headquarters of the state and also at the national capital .
• Another novel aspect of these mobilizations was the use of caste linkages of farmers .
• Most of the BKU members belonged to a single community.
• The Organisation used traditional caste panchayats of these communities in bringing them together over economic issues .
• Until the early nineties , the BKU distanced itself from all political parties .
• It operated as a pressure group in politics with its strength of sheer numbers . 
• The organization , along with the other farmers' organizations across states , did manage to get some of their economic demands accepted .

Anti - Arrack Movement 

• It was a spontaneous mobilization of women demanding a ban on the sale of alcohol in their neighborhoods .

Origins 

• In a village in the interior of Dubagunta in Nellore district of Andhra pradesh , women had enrolled in the Adult Literacy drive on a large scale in the early nineteen nineties .
• It is during the discussion in the class that women complained of increased consumption of a locally brewed alcohol - arrack - by men in their families .
• The habit of alcoholism had taken deep roots among the village people and was ruining their physical and mental health .
• It affected the rural economy of the region a great deal .
• Women were the worst sufferers of these ill effects of alcohol as it resulted in the collapse of the family economy and women had to bear the brunt of violence from the male family .
• Women in Nellore came together in spontaneous local initiatives to protest against arrack and forced closure of the wine shop .

Linkages 

• The slogan of the anti - arrack movement was simple - prohibition on the sale of arrack .
• A close nexus between crime and politics was established around the business of arrack .
• The state government collected huge revenues by way of taxes imposed on the sale of arrack and was therefore not willing to impose a ban .
• Groups of local women tried to address these complex issues in their agitation against arrack they also openly discussed the issue  of domestic violence .
• These campaigns contributed a great deal in increasing overall social awareness about women's questions .

Narmada Bachao Aandolan 

Sardar sarovar project

• The project consisted of 30 big dams , 135 medium sized and around 3,000 small dams to be constructed on the Narmada and its tributaries that flow across three states of Madhya Pradesh , Gujarat and Maharashtra .
• Sardar Sarovar Project in Madhya Pradesh were two of the most important and biggest , multi - purpose dams planned under the Project .
• Narmada Bachao Aandolan , a movements to save Narmada, opposed the construction of these dams and questioned the nature of ongoing developmental Projects in the country .
• In the process of construction of the dam 245 villages from these states were expected to get submerged .
• It required relocation of around two and a half lakh people from these villages .
• Issues of relocation and proper rehabilitation of the project - affected people were first raised by local activist groups .

Debates and struggles 

• Since its inception the NBA linked its opposition to the Sardar Sarovar project with larger issues concerning the nature of ongoing developmental projects .
• Efficacy of the model of development that the country followed and about what constituted public interest in a democracy .
• It demanded that there should be a cost - benefit analysis of the major developmental projects completed in the country so far .
• Initially the movement demanded proper and just rehabilitation of all those who were directly or indirectly affected by the project.
• The movement also questioned the nature of decision - making processes that go in the making of mega scale developmental projects .
• The NBA insisted that local communities must have a say in such decisions and they should also have effective control over natural resources like water, land and forests .
• Considerations led the NBA to shift from its initial demand for rehabilitation to its position of total opposition to the dam .

Lessons from popular movements 

• The history of these popular movements helps us to understand better the nature of democratic politics .
• Popular movements ensured effective representation of diverse groups and their demands .
• Popular movements suggested new forms of active participation and thus broadened the idea of participation in Indian democracy . 

Critics 

• Critics of these movements often argue that collective actions like strikes , sit - ins and rallies disrupt the functioning of the government , delay decision making and destabilize the routines of democracy .
• Movements are not only about collective assertions or only about rallies and protests .
• Movement are also about making people aware of their rights and the movements are also about making people aware of theor rights and the expectations that they can have from democratic institutions .
• Social movements in Indira have been involved in these educative tasks for a long time and have thus contributed to expansion of democracy rather than causing disruptions .
• The relationship between popular movements and political has grown weaker over the years , creating a vacuum in politics .