Unit 3 Environmental Movements in India

UNIT 3 : ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

UNIT STRUCTURE

3.1 Learning Objectives

3.2 Introduction
3.3 Meaning of Environmental Movement
3.4 Chipko Movement
3.5 Appiko Movement
3.6 The Silent Valley Movement
3.7 Chilika Bachao Andolan
3.8 Narmada Bachao Andolan
3.9 Let Us Sum Up
3.10 Further Reading
3.11 Answers To Check Your Progress
3.12 Model Questions

3.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit the learners will be able to –

l explain the meaning of environmental movement
l know about different environmental movements
l evaluate the impact of the movements in the society.

3.2 INTRODUCTION

The green politics or green movement or environmental movement

can be defined as a social movement for the conservation of the
environment or for the improvement of the state policy especially inclined
towards the environment. Here, in this unit an attempt has been made to
give a brief history of the Environmental Movements in India that will
enhance your knowledge about how the mass movement can save the
atrocities against the environment.

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3.3 MEANING OF ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

Any socio-political movement for the conservation or improvement

of the state of the environment is defined as environmental movement.
Some other popular terms like ‘green movement’ or ‘conservation
movement’ are also alternatively used for the same. These movements
favour the sustainable development and management of natural resources.
The movements apply various public policies to protect the environment
from different dangers. Major concerns of the movements are ecology, health
and human rights, awareness, protection of the future consequences etc.
Most of the environmental movements are highly organized and
institutionalized. Environmental movements are started by local people that
brought a global impact as a whole.

3.4 CHIPKO MOVEMENT

The Chipko movement was a forest conservation movement started

in 1970s in Uttarakhand and then at other parts of the foothills of Himalayas.
It led many future environmental movements all over the world. This non-
violent movement inspired many similar eco-groups to slow down
deforestation, expose injustices, increase mass awareness to save trees,
increase ecological awareness etc. The movement practiced methods of
Satyagraha where both male and female activists from Uttarakhand played
a vital role. Some of the famous women who fought for the protection of
forests were Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Suraksha Devi, Bachni Devi, Dev
Suman, Mira Behn, Sarala Behn, Amrita Devi and others. This ecofeminism
movement aimed to protect and conserve the trees and forests from being
destroyed. The word ‘Chipko’ means ‘to embrace’. The villagers hugged
the trees and protected them from wood cutters. It was based on Gandhian
philosophy of peaceful resistance to achieve the target. The movement
was first started in the Chamoli district in the year 1973.
The first Chipko action took place in 1973 and got popularity in
many districts of the Himalaya in Uttar Pradesh. The villagers hugged the
trees and thus saved them by putting their bodies in the way of the wood
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cutters’ axes. The protests in Uttar Pradesh achieved a major victory in

1980 with a 15-year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests of the
state by order of Indira Gandhi. The similar ban was also implemented in
Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh later. The movement spread to all the
corners of the country as well, like Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka,
Rajasthan, Bihar and to the parts in central India.
The Chipko Movement gained popularity under Sunderlal
Bahuguna, an eco-activist, who spent his whole life to protest against the
destruction of the forests and the Himalayan mountains by the government.
He made appeal to the Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi, to ban
the cutting of tress. Bahuguna was opposing construction of a proposed
Himalayan dam on the river near Tehri. In 1989 he began the hunger strikes
to draw political and national attention to the danger effects of the dam
and in due course the Chipko Movement, Save Himalaya Movement were
started in that place. Bahuguna ended a fast after 45 days in 1995 after
the Indian government promised to make a review of the Tehri dam project.
But the promise was not kept and he began another fast, which was broken
after 74 days after getting a personal undertaking to conduct a thorough
review by the Prime Minister. The environmentalist told the Prime Minister
that the Himalayan glaciers were receding at an alarming rate. In case if
this was not checked, the glacier feeding the Ganges would disappear
within the next 100 years. Another leader of the movement was Mr. Chandi
Prasad Bhatt. In 1964, the prominent environmentalist and Gandhian social
activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt founded a cooperative organization ‘Dasholi
Gram Swarajya Sangh’ (popularly known as Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal
or DGSM). It was formed to foster small industries for rural villagers by
using the local resources. But, when 200 people in the region in 1970
were killed because of the industrial logging which was linked to the severe
monsoon floods, DGSM became a strong force to oppose the large-scale
industry. The villagers started to protest against deforestation by hugging
trees and gained a huge popularity.
Protests were done in different villages like Chamoli, Mandal etc.
throughout the region. But, one of the major protests occurred in 1974
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near the village of Reni, where more than 2,000 trees were marked to be
cut. But, the women of the village, led by Gaura Devi, refused to move out
of the forest and forced the loggers to withdraw. The incident prompted
the state government to form a committee to investigate the status of
deforestation in the Alaknanda valley and ultimately banned the commercial
logging in the area for 10-year. The Chipko movement emerged as a
peasant and women’s movement for forest and environmental rights, though
the protests were decentralized and autonomous. In 1978, in the Advani
forest of Tehri Garhwal district, another famous activist Dhoom Singh Negi
fasted to protest the auctioning of the trees and other resources of forest.
There the local women tied sacred threads around the trees and read
from the Bhagavad Gita. In other areas, chir pines that produce resin were
bandaged to protest their exploitation. In Pulna village of Bhyundar valley
(1978), the women confiscated the tools and other equipment of the loggers’
and issued receipts for them for claiming after leaving the forest. Between
the years 1972 to 1979 approximately 150 villages were involved with the
Chipko Movement. It resulted in 12 major and many minor protests in
Uttarakhand.
Chipko Movement was the outcome of many decentralised and
local autonomous initiatives. Its leaders and activists have primarily the
village women, acting to save their means of subsistence and their
communities. The women were also supported by the men and some of
them have given wider leadership to the movement too. The incident also
inspired other rural women, who in 1970’s launched such similar movements
in different parts of India. They actively participated in the movement to
stop deforestation and its future consequences. The movement created
different project-oriented protests. It included the entire ecology of the region
and started the Save Himalaya Movement. Bahuguna marched 3,100 miles
across the Himalayas to bring the movement to prominence between 1981
and 1983. Later many protests were observed on the Tehri dam on the
Bhagirathi River and various mining operations were also seen. More than
one million trees were planted in the region. In 1987, the Right Livelihood
Award was given to the Chipko movement.
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3.5 APPIKO MOVEMENT

The Sahyadri Range, popularly known as the Western Ghats is the

home of a tropical forest ecosystem. This tropical forest constitutes a
potentially renewable resource and also a very fragile ecosystem which
demands special attention. But, just like other parts of the world, this region
has also experienced some adverse situations due to deforestation. It has
affected adversely the hydroelectric dams, reservoirs and agriculture. Such
deforestation in the Western Ghats has created numerous problems like
drought, watershed degradation, insufficient power and water supply etc.
in the southern part of India which has adversely affected the whole
economy of that region. The movement involved mainly the four hill districts
of Karnataka, and also the Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu and to Goa
Province.
The Planning Commission of Central Government has recognized
the “high depletion” of natural resources in the Western ghats in its Seventh
Plan document. In 1950, this forest covered more than 81% of the
geographical area of the district. The government declared this district as
a ‘backward’ area and initiated the process of ‘development’. Some major
industries like a pulp and paper mill, a plywood factory and a chain of
hydroelectric dams were constructed in this regard. But, these industries
have overexploited the natural resources of the forest and the dams have
also submerged huge-forest and agricultural areas. In 1980, the forest
had shrunk to nearly 25% of the district’s area. The local villagers were
displaced by the dams. The natural mixed forests were converted into
teak and eucalyptus plantations which dried up the water sources.
Development of paper, plywood and power and destruction of tropical
natural forests has caused irreversible changes in the ecosystem of the
forests.
The Appiko Movement was started to save the Western Ghats by
spreading its roots all over southern region of India. The popular slogan of
this movement can be stated in Kannada as ‘Ubsu’ (save), ‘Belesu’ (grow)
and ‘Balasu’ (rational use), which means ‘To save, to grow and to use

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rationally’. The Appiko movement was highly inspired by the famous Chipko
Andolan of Uttarakhand in the Himalayas where the natives saved the
trees by hugging them. The villagers of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka
also launched a similar movement to save their forests. In 1983
(September), the movement was basically started by the representatives
of a ‘Yuvak Mandali’. This group observed that in some easily accessible
areas, there was an excessive concentration of trees reserved for felling
which again caused excessive damage to other trees too. To save the
Western Ghats, the villagers of Salkani including all men, women and
children hugged the trees in the Kalase forest. In Kannada, ‘hugging’ means
‘appiko’. This movement created a new awareness among people.
Various techniques were used in Appiko Movement to raise
awareness among people. For this foot marches in the interior forests,
slide shows, folk dances, street plays, lectures, meetings etc. were
organized. The Movement also made an attempt to promote afforestation
on denuded lands of the region.
The villagers took interest in growing saplings and decentralized
nurseries. In 1984-1985, 1.2 million seedlings were grown by people in the
Sirsi area. It was done with the help and cooperation of the forest department.
The department supplied the plastic bags for growing saplings. Appiko
activists have grown saplings only to meet their own needs only.
The villagers also initiated a process of regeneration in barren
common land. The Yubak Samiti took the responsibility for the project and
the whole village was united to protect this land basically from grazing,
lopping and fire. Again, the forest department focused in resorting the
mechanized planting of exotic species. It used a huge amount of fertilizers
on these plantations though this was quite harmful for the soil and the
trees in the area. These two techniques were mainly performed under the
movement: firstly, the forest department’s method which is a capital
intensive, and secondly, the techniques of the local people of growing
through regeneration which is a natural process for sustainable
development of the soil.
Another activity in the Appiko Movement was related to the rational
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use of the ecosphere through introducing alternative energy sources which

again helped to reduce the pressure on the forest of Western Ghats. The
activists constructed 2,000 fuel-efficient hearths, which saved fuel-wood
consumption by almost 40%. The activists did not wait for any government
subsidies since there was a spontaneous demand from the people. These
hearths were even installed in many hotels of urban areas to reduce
firewood consumption. Different gas plants were also constructed to reduce
pressure on the forest. The Appiko Movement made an attempt to change
people’s attitudes towards the degradation of environment.
Appiko Movement revealed the constructive phase of the people’s
movement. This phase tried to rebuild the depleted natural resources. It
aimed to establish a harmonious relationship between man and nature
and also to promote sustainable [Link] movement achieved a
fair amount of success. The state government banned felling of green
trees in some forest areas and only dead, dying and dry trees were allowed
to cut to meet local requirements. It also influenced the government to
change its forest policy which included ban on clear felling, no further issuing
of concessions to logging companies and moratorium on felling of green
trees of the Western Ghats.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 1: What is environmental movement?
................................................................................
.............................................................................
Q 2: Mention any one objective of Appiko Movement?
.....................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................

3.6 THE SILENT VALLEY MOVEMENT

Silent Valley Movement was a battle against the state to protect an

evergreen rainforest. It is situated in Palakkad district of Kerala and contains
country’s last substantial stretch of tropical evergreen forest. The name
Silent Valley gained an epic dimension, when the Save Silent Valley Movement

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stirred by different NGO’s, scientific communities and conservation activists

with social awareness resulted in the decision to abandon a hydroelectric
project in that area. At first the decision was made by the British government
to build a dam across the river, which originates from the forest. Sairandhri,
a place near the Kunthipuzha River was identified as an ideal site for
electricity generation in the year 1928. But the project was not implemented
at that time. In 1951, the state government first conducted a survey for
hydroelectric project and in the year 1973 the Planning Commission of India
approved the plan of the project. That created the controversy on whether
to opt for the conservation of nature or to promote development.
The Silent Valley harbours approximately 108 varieties of Orchids,
various medicinal plants, some rare flowering plants, 23 mammalian
species, 3 endangered species like Tiger, Lion-tailed Macaque, and Nilgiri
Langur. To protect an evergreen tropical forest, the Silent Valley, a social
movement was started in 1973 by the Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad
(KSSP) and an NGO led by school teachers. Save Silent Valley movement
was started to save the valley from being flooded by a hydroelectric project.
The river Kuntipuzha flows 15 km southwest from Silent Valley. It takes its
origin in the lush green forests of the valley. In 1970 Kerala State Electricity
Board (KSEB) proposed a hydroelectric dam across the river which runs
through Silent Valley. It submerged 8.3 sq km of the evergreen forest. The
Planning Commission approved the project at a cost of about 25 crores.
After the announcement of dam construction it created a great
concern about the endangered lion-tailed macaque and the issue was
brought to public attention. Romulus Whitaker was probably the first person
to draw public attention to the remote area. In the year 1977 the Kerala
Forest Research Institute conducted a study on the area and proposed to
declare it as a biosphere reserve.
The KSSP effectively aroused public opinion by publishing a techno-
economic and socio-political assessment report on the Silent Valley
hydroelectric project. They published a campaign booklet titled ‘The Silent
Valley Hydroelectric Project – A Techno-Economic and Socio-Political
Assessment’. The movement attracted different eminent figures of the
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nation like the poet activist Sugathakumari, Dr. Salim Ali, an ornithologist of
the Bombay Natural History Society, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, an agricultural
scientist and others. Save the Silent Valley campaigns and meetings were
organized to draw the attention towards saving the valley.
A writ petition was also filed before the High Court of Kerala, against
the clear cutting of forests in the hydroelectric project area and the court
ordered to stop to the clear cutting of trees and to save the forest. In 1979,
the Government of Kerala passed ‘Protection of Ecological balance Act of
1979’ and declared the exclusion of the hydroelectric project area from the
forest. In 1980 (January), the High Court of Kerala lifted the ban on clear
cutting, but then the Prime Minister of India requested the Government of
Kerala to stop further works in the project area. Later in the month of
December, the Government of Kerala declared the Silent Valley area,
excluding the hydroelectric project area, as a national park.
Several Committees had been appointed by the Central and State
Governments, among which Dr. M S Swaminathan Committee and Dr.
MGK Menon Committee strongly opposed the project citing the
environmental impact. In the year 1982, a committee was formed with Prof.
M. G. K. Menon as chairman and Madhav Gadgil, Dilip K. Biswas and
others to decide if the hydroelectric project could be carried out without
any ecological damage. The committee submitted its report in 1983. After
studying the report carefully the Prime Minister of India abandoned the
Project permanently. On 15 November, 1984 the Silent Valley forests were
declared as a national park and the boundaries of the park were limited
and no buffer zone was created. Later on 7th September 1985 the Silent
Valley National Park was formally inaugurated and after a year on 1st
September 1986 it was inaugurated by Rajiv Gandhi. The park was
designated as the core area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
In between, several campaigns were led by the different activists
through poems and drama, stories and articles, speeches and meetings.
The success of the ‘Save Silent Valley’ movement inspired many similar
agitations, including the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and also protests
against the Tehri Dam. Today, the virgin forests and the unparalleled beauty
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of the national park bear silent testimony of the achievement of some

environmentally conscious individuals and their combined efforts.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 3: Where is the Silent Valley located?

.................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
Q 4: Who inaugurated the Silent Valley National Park?
.....................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
Q 5: Give the meaning of the term ‘Chipko’
.....................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
Q 6: Name some women activists of the Chipko movement.
.....................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................

3.7 CHILIKA BACHAO ANDOLAN

Chilika is Asia’s largest brackish water lake which lies on Bay of

Bengal in Orissa with an area of 1,200 sq. km. This water lagoon has been
a source of livelihood for the poor people residing in more than 100 fisher
hamlets surrounding the lake covering the districts of Puri, Khurda and
Ganjam of Odisha. Millions of migratory birds from the far corners of the
world can be seen here in winter. Chilika is a major attraction for nature
lovers too. But over the last few decades the area experienced conflicts
and violence.
Chilika Bachao Andolan was a movement by the people, mostly
fishermen, who posed a successful resistance to the Integrated Shrimp
Farm Project (ISFP). It was a joint venture of the Tata Iron and Steel Company
and Government of Orissa for prawn cultivation and export. Due to a rise in
demand of shrimp exports to USA, Japan and European countries, Indian

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industrialists and politicians tried to grab the opportunity to increase their

foreign exchange earnings. In the year 1986, the Orissa Government made
an agreement with the TATA to start a large aquaculture unit named Tata
Aquatic Farm Ltd. to lease 1400 hectares of land in Chilika for cultivating
prawn for a period of 15 years. At that time the government had 10% share
in the deal. It was opposed by the Janta Dal. But, in 1989 when Janta Dal
came into power, it changed the name of the farm into Chilika Acquatic
Farms Ltd. and increased their share to 49%. The entire output of the
company was to be processed and exported and the annual turnover from
the farms was decided to be of RS. 3000 lakhs.
This project was a threat to the livelihood of fishing communities
living around the lake. The fishermen were also supported by the non-
fishermen and various human rights activists. The Tata Project with Orissa
Government started a large shrimp culture complex in lake with a Rs. 30
crores turnover. As a result, a former Orissa Revenue Minister, Banka Behari
Das launched initially the Chilka Bachao Andolan. The andolan highlighted
that the project would damage the ecosystem in many ways, like it would-
l check the access of local fisherman to the lake
l take away a vast grazing ground
l pollute the lake and kill the marine life
l drive away the migratory birds
l Kill the dolphins with the bamboo gherries.
The local people were mobilized with the help of a group of radical
youth from Utkal University at Bhubaneswar known as Meet the Students
(MTS). It regularly visited the fishing villages and made them aware of the
issues that the shrimp industry would bring to them. They also involved the
Chilika Matsyajibi Mahasangha, a mass organisation of 122 revenue villages
in Chilika that works towards the protection of interests of the fishermen.
The Chilika Bachao Andolan (CBA) was formally launched in the month of
January 1992 to work as an extension of Chilika Matsyajibi Mahasangha to
spearhead the movement. Over the years, the protests and strikes turned
violent, where the local people broke the embankment of the project and as
a result were beaten and jailed by the police.
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On 29th May, 1999 over five thousand fishermen began to demolish

all the illegal prawn farms. Surprisingly, the police supported all prawn barons
and shot 3 fishermen dead and injured many other protesters. It was done
even after receiving the order of the Supreme Court (1996) to remove all
farms within 1000 metres of the lake. Again, India is a signatory to the Ramsar
International Treaty on wetland preservation where the lake Chilika is identified
as one of the world’s most important water bodies because of its unique
ecosystem. In October 1992, the central government refused to grant
environmental clearance to the Tata Project. In November 1993, a judgment
came from Division Bench of the Orissa High Court to protect the Chilika
Lake Ecosystem. The movement is a part of a wider campaign by the NFF
against the industrial acqua-culture. The Chilika (Regulation of Fisheries)
Bill, 2011 has been pending for 10 years, following opposition from local
fishermen. The Bill was first proposed in 2001 and has provisions to make
the illegal shrimp farmer get legal status to promote non-traditional fishing
in the lake. Even today, the issues are not resolved. The situation is same
as it was seen before two decades, and the fishermen are still fighting for
their livelihoods, the environment is being polluted and the protests remain
ignored.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 7: Who started formally the Chilika Bachao
Andolan?
..................................................................................
...............................................................................................................

3.8 NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN

Narmada Bachao Andolan is one of the most powerful mass-

movement that started in 1985. It was started against the construction of a
huge dam on the Narmada river. It is India’s largest west flowing river which
supports a large group of people with distinguished culture and tradition
ranging from the indigenous and rural population. The proposal of Sardar

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Sarovar Dam and Narmada Sagar was supposed to displace more than
250,000 people and thus the big fight started regarding the resettlement or
the rehabilitation of these people.
It is a multi crore project which will generate a huge amount of
revenue for the government. In the history of India Narmada Valley
Development Plan is the most promised and most challenging plan. The
proponents believed that it will produce 1450 MW of electricity and pure
drinking water to 40 million people. But the opponents believed that the
proposed hydro project will devastate human lives and biodiversity by
destroying the forests and agricultural land. It will also deprive thousands of
people from earning their livelihood.
The movement was led by one of the prominent leader Medha Patkar.
This movement has now been turned into an international protest. Protestors
are taking help from mass media, doing hunger strikes, massive marches,
rallies and also making different documentary films to bring awareness about
the issue. The protest is quite peaceful by natures, but still the protestors
were harassed, arrested and beaten up by the police many times. One of
the major objective of Narmada Bachao Andolan is to pressurize the World
Bank to withdraw its loan from the project.
After independence Jawaharlal Nehru started calling for the
construction of dams to aid in nation’s development. In the year 1978, the
Narmada Valley Development Project was approved by the Narmada Water
Disputes Tribunal which included 30 large dams, 135 medium dams, and
3,000 small dams. Among these the most controversial dam was the Sardar
Sarovar Project in Gujarat. In 1985 World Bank agreed to finance the dam
with a contribution of 450 million without consulting the indigenous
communities that were to be displaced. In 1987 the construction began on
the dam, and the injustices of the relocation program were exposed. There
was unavailability of land for redistribution, lack of shelters and low quality
amenities were provided.
As a result, local opponents and environmental activists founded a
cluster of NGOs. These NGOs allied in 1989 and formed the Narmada
Bachao Andolan (NBA) or the Save Narmada Movement which was led by
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Medha Patkar. Patkar had been organizing protest marches against the
dam since 1985.
NBA directly opposed dam construction and proposed various
alternatives for development including decentralized methods of water
harvesting. They demanded World Bank accountability for the displacement
of millions of people. The activists also campaigned against paying taxes
and denied the entry of any government official into villages. Lori Udall of
the Environmental Defense Fund worked with a U.S. Congressional
Committee to have an oversight hearing on Sardar Sarovar dam, where
Patkar could testify against the dam in 1989. In addition to working with
the Environmental Defense Fund, the NBA also worked with numerous
other human rights, environmental, and solidarity organizations including
the ‘Narmada International Action Committee’, ‘Friends of the Earth’, and
‘Japan’s Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund’.
In 1989, Baba Amte, another prominent social activist and moral
leader, led a 60,000 person anti-dam NBA rally in Madhya Pradesh that
faced submersion. After a year later in 1990, thousands of villagers marched
to the town of Badwani, threatening to drown in the dams rising waters
rather than be relocated and their slogan was ‘No one will move, the dam
will not be built’.
In May of 1990, NBA organized a 2,000-person, five-day sit-in at
Prime Minister V. P. Singh’s residence in New Delhi, and finally convinced
the Prime Minister to reconsider the dam project. In December 1990, five
to six thousand men and women began the Narmada People’s Progress
Struggle March, marching over 100 kilometers accompanied by a team of
seven-members, including Medha Patkar. They were stopped by the
Gujarati police and the confrontation lasted for nearly two weeks. The non-
violent marchers were beaten, arrested, and dragged into trucks in which
they were driven miles away.
On January 7, 1991, the seven-member team began an indefinite
hunger strike. It created a pressure on Washington. As a result the World
Bank announced to make an independent review of the Sardar Sarovar
projects. It may have been the first time in the history of the World Bank
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that a movement of common man influenced their policy decisions.

On January 28, the fasters ended their hunger strike after 22 days.
But, NBA protesters claimed to stay in villages until drowning from the
Sardar Sarovar reservoir. In response, the government banned Patkar and
other activists from the villages during the monsoon season and prohibited
the villagers from holding any protest. The NBA denied the bans, and
hundreds of their supporters were arrested during the monsoon months, it
is known as ‘monsoon satyagrahas,’ hundreds of individuals refused to
move as rising waters entered fields and homes. Then the police physically
dragged people out of flooding areas in an attempt to stop the protest.
In June 1992 report by Human Rights Watch noted increase in
arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, beatings, rape and other forms of
physical abuses. Some reports also documented that Indian police shot
and killed individuals during forced relocation. Other NGOs worked to form
the Narmada International Human Rights Panel, which gathered support
of 42 different environmental and human rights NGOs representing 16
countries around the world.
The World Bank’s Independent Review, popularly known as the
Morse Commission, issued its report in June, 1992 which exposed the
Bank’s violation of its own policies and recommended drastic reform of the
relocation programs and environmental assessment. Then environmental
activists wrote an open letter to World Bank President, Lewis Preston,
which was published as a full-page advertisement in the London Financial
Times. It warned that if the Bank refused to withdraw funding for Sardar
Sarovar dam then NGOs would launch another campaign to cut government
funding of the Bank which was endorsed by 250 different NGOs and
coalitions from 37 countries. Similar actions were also taken by the activists
in the Washington Post and the New York Times. In February 1993, Peoples’
Referendum in the Narmada Valley, carried out by the group organized
over 22,500 families in opposition to forced relocation.
In place of the dams, NBA made a demand for an energy and
water strategy, based on improving dry farming technology, development
of watershed, small dams, irrigation and drinking water schemes and
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improved efficiency and utilisation of existing [Link] long struggle in the

Narmada valley has resulted finally in suspension of the work on the Sardar
Sarovar dam project through the movement as well as the Supreme Court’s
intervention. NBA questioned and compelled the World Bank that supported
the dam with a huge loan to review the Sardar Sarovar project. It also exposed
the fraud in the environment compliance reports and corruption in the
rehabilitation leading to a judicial inquiry. There are more than two lakhs
people in the area of this single dam with the best of agriculture and
horticulture and all community life going on with temples, mosques, trees,
schools, buildings [Link] has been effective in its multiple strategies at
the various executive, legislative and judicial level, campaigning against the
destruction and displacement caused by large dams and for the rights of
the affected people in that area.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 8: Who led the Narmada Bachao Andolan?

...............................................................................
...............................................................................................................

3.9 LET US SUM UP

l It is very important to create environmental awareness among people.

The existence of human beings is not possible if we don’t protect
the environment. The movements started by different activists were
conducted only to save our nature and our future.
l We discussed various movements here. All the movements had
some definite objectives. The activists used various methodologies
to reach the goal of protecting the environment.
l Different steps taken by the movements provide us knowledge about
protecting our own nature and surrounding without violence. We

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can learn about different peaceful activities to save the environmental

interest.
l Again, it is very important to study the impact of various activities of
those movements. It can be seen that no movement was easy to
conduct. The activists faced extreme level of challenges to reach
the objectives. But, their determination for such a holy activity brought
success in their path.

3.10 FURTHER READING

1) Sharma, R.A. (2009) Environmental Education: Components,

Problems, Management. Surya Publication.
2) Sharma, R.A..(2006).Environmental [Link]: [Link] Book
Depot.
3) Taj. Haseen (2011).Current challenges in [Link] Delhi:
Neelkamal Publications [Link].
4) Patil R. B. and Pawar S.N. (2005). Environmental Movements in India:
Problems and Prospects. Rawat Publications.

3.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR

PROGRESS

Ans to Q No 1: Any socio-political movement for the conservation or

improvement of the state of the environment is defined as
environmental movement.
Ans to Q No 2: To save the remaining tropical forests in the Western Ghats.
Ans to Q No 3: Silent Valley is located in the Palakkad District, Kerala.
Ans to Q No 4: Rajiv Gandhi.
Ans to Q No 5: Chipko means ‘To embrace’.
Ans to Q No 6: Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Suraksha Devi, Bachni Devi,

50 Environmental Education