Foundation Course I

Module IV
Environmental Management

Environmental movements in India: case studies

Bishnoi Movement:
Bishnoi Movement was started around 260 years back in the early part of the 18th century in
Rajasthan by the Bishnoi community. A large group of them from 84 villages led by a lady
called Amrita Devi laid down their lives in an effort to protect the trees from being felled on
the orders of the Maharaja (King) of Jodhpur.
About Bishnoi Movement
 The Bishnoi movement is one of the first organized proponents of eco-conservation,
wildlife protection, and green living.
 The Bishnois are considered the first environmentalists of India. They are born nature
lovers.
 In the history of environmental movements, this was the movement that, for the first
time, used the strategy of hugging and embracing trees for their protection.
 The famous Amrita Devi’s movement is considered to be among the pioneering efforts
for environmental protection.
 King Abhay Singh of Jodhpur, in the 1730s, when building his new palace, ordered his
soldiers to cut down the trees for wood in Khejarli village.
 As a symbol of protest, Amrita Devi stood against the soldiers and fought for the life
of trees by clinging onto them.
 Her three daughters, Asu, Ratni, and Bhagu also stood by their mother.
 Supporting them, the other people of this community also stood up for the trees and
wrapped their arms around the trunks.
 The soldiers continued to axe the trees down, without paying heed to the requests of
the people.
 The prime reason behind opposing tree cutting was embedded in the cultural belief
of the Bishnoi community as described in the principles of their sect, advocating the
protection of trees and wildlife conservation.
 Another reason was immediately related to their rural livelihood, as they depended
on the forest for the supply of fuelwood and fodder.
 Bishnoi from Khejarli and other villages came to join this agitation and hugged the
Khejri trees one by one to protect trees being cut at the cost of their head.
 In this movement, 363 Bishnois laid down their lives for the protection of Khejri trees
in the Khejarli village of Rajasthan.
 This movement has left an indelible mark on the memories and a long-lasting effect
on the psyche of the people.
The movement had four major objectives:
 Conservation of bio-diversity to ensure eco-friendly social life for the community.
 Promoting personal hygiene to ensure a healthy life.
 Advocacy against cutting of trees.
 Preservation of biodiversity and animal husbandry.
The success of Bishnoi Movement
 After this incident, the maharaja gave a strong royal decree preventing the cutting of
trees in all Bishnoi villages.
 The concept of tree-hugging and tree huggers has roots in the history of Bishnoism in
the year of 1730 A.D.
 This movement and sacrifice not only inspired the Chipko Movement in the 20th
Century which was led by Sunder Lal Bahuguna but also the Government of India in
the form of the “Amrita Devi Bishnoi Wildlife Protection Award” and Government of
Rajasthan in the form of “Amrita Devi Bishnoi Smrithi Paryavaran Award” for
contributing to the protection of wildlife and environment conservation respectively.

Chipko Movement

The Chipko Movement was initiated by Sunderlal Bahuguna in 1973. It was a conservation
movement, an uprising against the felling of trees and maintaining ecological balance.
Chipko Movement Facts
 The Chipko movement, also called Chipko Andolan or ‘hug the tree movement’ was
started by Bahuguna at the foothills of the Himalayas in 1973.
 It was a non-violent social and ecological movement by rural villagers, particularly
women, in India.
 Chipko Andolan is best remembered for the collective mobilization of women for the
cause of preserving forests, and the change in attitude regarding the status of self in
society.
 The non-violent agitation of the movement originated in Uttar Pradesh’s Chamoli
district (now Uttarakhand) and quickly spread throughout the Indian Himalayas.
 The main objective of the Chipko Andolan was to protect the trees on the Himalayan
slopes from the axes of contractors of the forest.
 It aimed at resisting the mass deforestation using Gandhian ways of Non-violent
resistance and satyagraha through the act of hugging the trees to guard them against
being cut down for commercial purposes.
 The Hindi word ‘chipko’ means “to hug ” or “to embrace” wherein the villagers hugged
the trees and encircled them to prevent being hacked. It reflects the demonstrators’
primary tactic of embracing trees to impede loggers.
 The movement led to a ban on commercial felling of trees above 30 degrees slope and
above 1,000 MSL (mean sea level) in 1981.
 The biggest victory of the Andolan was
 People became aware of their rights to forests
 How grassroots activism can influence policy-making regarding ecology and shared
natural resources.
 Though the protests of the Chipko movement were largely autonomous and
decentralized, it emerged as a peasant and women’s movement for forest rights.
 The Chipko movement is essentially called a women’s movement. The movement
appealed to women because women suffered the most due to floods and landslides,
which were caused due to a rise in deforestation in the face of urbanization. Chipko
Andolan stands out as an eco-feminist movement.
Chipko Andolan – Background
 Chandi Prasad Bhatt, the environmentalist and Gandhian social activist, In 1964
founded a cooperative organization, Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh, later renamed
Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSM).
 DSGM encouraged the development of small industries for rural villagers, using local
resources.
 The Mandal became the force of opposition against the large-scale industry when
industrial logging was linked to the severe monsoon floods that killed more than 200
people in the region.
 The government denied the villagers access to the small number of trees they needed
to make agricultural tools and allotted an even bigger plot to a sports good
manufacturing company.
 This outraged the villagers and then the first Chipko Movement started in the upper
Alaknanda Valley in 1973.
 On hearing the denial of the villagers’ appeal by the government, Chandi Prasad Bhatt
led the masses in the forest and embraced the trees to prevent logging.
 The government, after many days of protest, cancelled the company’s logging permit
and granted the original allotment requested by DGSM.
 The landmark event of the protest happened in March 1973 where peasant women in
Chamoli district of Uttarakhand reclaimed their forest rights from the State Forest
Department and prevented the trees from being cut down. Read about the Forest
Right Act, India (FRA), 2006 on the given link.
 With the success, a local environmentalist, Sunderlal Bahuguna, spread the Chipko’s
tactics with people in other villages throughout the region.
 Another instance of Chipko Andolan occurred in the village of Reni in 1974, where
more than 2000 trees were planned to be cut.
 From the surrounding villages of a nearby city, the government summoned the men
for compensation, ostensibly to allow the loggers to proceed without confrontation.
 They met the group of village women, led by Gaura Devi, who refused to move out of
the forest and eventually the loggers were forced to withdraw.
 The action in Reni village ultimately led to a 10-year ban on commercial logging in the
area.
 The movement was grounded in Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha (resistance
without violence).
 Between 1972 and 1979, it is believed that more than 150 villages were involved with
the Chipko movement, which resulted in 12 major protests and many minor
confrontations in Uttarakhand.
 In 1980, when Sunderlal Bahuguna’s appeal to Indira Gandhi (then Prime Minister) led
to 15 years ban on commercial felling of trees in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. This is
when the Chipko Movement became a great success.
Demands of Chipko Movement
The demands of the Chipko Movement are as follows:
 Complete stoppage of cutting trees for commercial purposes.
 The traditional rights should be recognised on the basis of the minimum needs of the
people.
  Making the arid forest green by increasing people’s participation in tree cultivation.
 Formation of village committees to manage forests.
 Development of the forest-related home-based industries and making available the
raw materials, money and technique for it.
 Giving priority to afforestation in the light of local conditions, requirements and
varieties.
Impact of Chipko Movement
 The protest of the movement became more project-oriented. It expanded to include
the entire ecology of the region, ultimately becoming the “Save Himalaya” movement.
 A massive reforestation effort led to the planting of more than one million trees in the
region.
 In response to the lifting of the logging ban in the Himalayan region, the protest
resumed in 2004 but was unsuccessful in its reenactment.
 The movement later also inspired the “Appiko Chaluvali” or the “Appiko Movement”,
which is the Southern Indian version of the “Chipko Movement”.
 The green-felling ban was also extended to forests in the Western Ghats and the
Vindhyas.
Significance of Chipko Andolan
 It was a movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles.
 The movement grabbed attention from across the world.
 It led in the proper direction and inspired in time many similar eco-groups by –
increasing social awareness and ecological awareness the need to save trees and slow
down the rapid deforestation, exposing vested interests, demonstrating the viability
of people power.
 Inspired similar movements against environmental degradation.
 Though many of the leaders of the movement were men, women were the mainstay
and backbone of the movement. It has been an ecofeminism movement.
Success of Chipko Movement
The Chipko protests in Uttar Pradesh achieved a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on
green felling in the Himalayan forests of that state by the order of Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then
Prime Minister of India. Since then, the movement has spread to many states in the country.
Three important aspects were responsible for the success of the Chipko movement. They
include:
 The close links between the livelihoods of the local people and the nature of the
movement.
 The nature of agitation. Unlike other environmental movements, Chipko has strictly
adhered to the Gandhian tradition of freedom struggle, i.e., non-violence.
 The simplicity and sincerity of the leaders like Sunderlal Bahuguna and their access to
national leaders like Mrs Indira Gandhi, other politicians and officials also helped to
the success of the movement to a large extent.

Appiko Movement:
Appiko Movement is one of the forest-based environmental movements in India. The
movement took place in the Uttara Kanada district of Karnataka in the Western Ghats. The
story of the movement is that for several decades the forest department had been promoting
monoculture plantations of teak after clear-felling the existing mixed semi-evergreen forests.
About Appiko Movement
 In September 1983, women and youth of the region decided to launch a movement
similar to Chipko, in South India.
 The movement was named Appiko which means “hug” in Kannada, symbolising
protection for the tree.
 The movement was founded and led by environmental activist Panduranga Hegde.
 The aim of the movement was to conserve the trees of the Kalse forests in Karnataka.
 Women and youth from Saklani and surrounding villages walked five miles to a nearby
forest and hugged trees there.
 They forced the fellers and the contractors of the state forest department to stop
cutting trees.
 The people demanded a ban on the felling of green trees.
 The agitation continued for 38 days and this forced the state government to finally
concede to their demands and withdraw the order for the felling of trees.
 Like the Chipko, the Appiko movement revived the Gandhian way of protest and
mobilisation for a sustainable society in which there is a balance between man and
nature.
Background
 In August 1983, the villagers of the Sirsi Taluk of Uttara Kannada requested the forest
department not to continue the felling operations in the Bilegal forest under the
Hulekal range.
 The forest department, however, did not pay attention to the request of the villagers
and the clear-felling of the natural forests by the contractors continued.
 The villagers felt the ill effects of this arrogance on the part of the forest department.
 There was severe soil erosion and drying up of the perennial water resources.
 In the Salkani village of Sirsi Taluk, people were deprived of the only patch of forest
left near this and surrounding villages to obtain biomass for fuelwood, fodder, and
honey.
 Moreover, the spice-garden farmers of Uttara Kannada, who were critically
dependent on leaf manure from the forests, were also badly hit.
Objectives of Appiko Movement
The Appiko movement succeeded in its three-fold objectives, which include:
 Protecting the existing forest cover
 Regeneration of trees in denuded land
 Utilizing forest wealth with proper consideration for the conservation of natural
resources.
Effects of Appiko Movement
 The Appiko movement saved the basic life sources for the people, that is, trees like
bamboo useful for making handcrafted items which they could sell for earning some
money for their livelihood.
 It also saved medicinal trees for their use by the local people.
 Further, the movement created awareness among the villagers throughout the
Western Ghats about the ecological danger posed by the commercial and industrial
interests to their forest, which was the main source of sustenance.
  Like the Chipko movement, south India’s Appiko movement also achieved successful
results.

Silent Valley Movement

Silent Valley Movement was a movement against the state to protect 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.
History
 The British named the area ‘Silent Valley’ because of a perceived absence of noisy
Cicadas.
 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 location on the Kunthipuzha River at Sairandhri was identified as an ideal
site for electricity generation.
 Initially, the decision was made by the British government to build a dam across the
river, which originates from the forest.
 In 1958, a study and survey of the area were conducted, and a hydroelectric project
was proposed by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).
 The plans for a hydroelectric project that threatened the park’s high diversity of
wildlife stimulated an Environmentalist Social Movement in the 1970s called ‘Save
Silent Valley’ which resulted in the cancellation of the project.
Significance of Silent Valley
 The valley is famous for many rare species of birds and animals.
 Birdlife International listed 16 bird species in Silent Valley as threatened or restricted.
 The mammals in the valley include Gaur, the largest of all wild cattle. There are at least
34 species of mammals at Silent Valley, including the threatened species of mammals.
 Over 128 species of butterflies and 400 species of moths live here.
 Silent Valley is identified as a region with high biodiversity and an important Gene Pool
resource for Recombinant DNA innovations by the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, ICAR (India).
About the Movement
 The movement was first initiated by the local people and was subsequently taken over
by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP).
 The KSSP effectively aroused public opinion by publishing a techno-economic and
socio-political assessment report on the Silent Valley hydroelectric project.
 The KSSP generated public opinion against the project.
 As a consequence, 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.
Conservation Status of Silent Valley
 In 1914 the forest of the Silent Valley area was declared a Reserve Forest.
 However, from 1927 to 1976 portions of the Silent Valley forest areas were subjected
to forestry operations.
  In 1983, the Central Government instructed the State government to abandon the
Project and on November 15, the Silent Valley forests were declared as a National
Park.
 On September 7, 1985, the Silent Valley National Park was formally inaugurated.
 On September 1, 1986, Silent Valley National Park was designated as the core area of
the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Jungle Bachao Andolan

In the early 1980s, the Jungle Bachao Andolan took shape when the government proposed to
replace the natural Sal forest of Singhbhum District, Bihar (now Jharkhand), with commercial
teak plantations. The Jungle Bachao Andolan movement is said to have originated in Bihar
and slowly spread to states like Jharkhand and Odisha.
Contextual Background
 Jharkhand literally means “the land of forests”, and until a few decades ago most of
the present-day Jharkhand state, in fact, most of the Chotanagpur plateau, where the
young state lies, was covered by dense subtropical forests.
 The Chotanagpur plateau is also home to numerous indigenous peoples (in India called
Adivasi) who fought for the creation of a state of their own, a state for the indigenous
peoples, covering the historical “forest land”: Jharkhand.
 The Indian government finally conceded, and on 15 November 2000, the present state
of Jharkhand was created.
 It however consists only of what earlier formed the southern part of Bihar state, and
therefore only a fraction of the historical Jharkhand.
 Today, reserved forests in Jharkhand are also heavily degraded, some even completely
denuded.
 In its greed for revenues from timber the Forest Department of Bihar state, right after
independence also took control over the management of privately owned forests.
 Over the past decades, communities all over India have started to protect whatever
forests remain and to regenerate denuded forests.
 In Jharkhand, the Jungal Katai Andolan was launched as early as 1978, as a protest
movement against the devastation of forests in the Kolhan-Singhbhum area, mostly
inhabited by the Hos.
 The forest rights movement remained particularly strong in Munda and Ho inhabited
regions of Ranchi and West Singhbhum districts, and protests continued in a sporadic
manner until the emergence of the Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan (JJBA –
Jharkhand Save the Forest Movement) in 2000.
Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan
 Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan (JJBA) was launched as a grassroots movement for
the restoration of forest rights of the Adivasi, providing them with a common platform
for sharing experiences and coordinating their activities.
 JJBA emerged out of an initiative to launch a campaign for the restoration of forest
rights of the Adivasis in Jharkhand.
 The Adivasi communities gathered under JJBA have understood that they can protect
their forests in the long run only if their rights over their forests are recognised.
Achievements of JJBA
  The achievements of Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan (JJBA) go far beyond the goal
of “saving the forest”.
 JJBA has also turned out to be a popular movement, through which indigenous
peoples are asserting their rights and identities.
 The movement not only has a very clear target (forest rights) but has also developed
a simple strategy to achieve it. This strategy is called Community Forest Governance.
It is conceived as resting on “four pillars”.
The four pillars include:
 The traditional village council (Gram Sabha)
 The Forest Protection Committee
 The women’s cooperatives
 The youth forum (Bal Akhra)
Even though the approach is termed Community Forest Governance, the four “pillars” are
representing an encompassing community-based self-governance system combining the
traditional self-governance institution of the village council (Gram Sabha) with three new
institutions.

Narmada Bachao Andolan - Save The Narmada Movement

Narmada Bachao Andolan – NBA is an Indian social movement led by native tribes, farmers,
environmentalists and human rights activists against the construction of a number of large
dams under the Narmada Dam Project across river Narmada. The river Narmada flows
through the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Know about the Major
Indian River System for relevant details.
Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is one of the biggest dams on the Narmada river and was one
of the first focal points of the Save the Narmada Movement. SSD is a part of the Narmada
Dam Project that aims to provide irrigation and electricity to people of the above states.
About Narmada River
 The river Narmada is the largest west-flowing river in the Indian peninsula, that arises
on the plateau of Amarkantak in the Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh.
 It covers the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan.
Its course is 1312 km to the Arabian Sea through lush forests, hills, agricultural regions
and rocky gorges.
 It has around 41 tributaries, surrounded by 3 mountain ranges of Satpura, Vindhya
and Maikal, and on the fourth side merges into the Arabian Sea.
 On its basin, the villages constitute 81% and comprise mainly tribal populations
consisting of Bhils, Gonds, Baigas and others whose primary occupation is agriculture.
 The Narmada basin is rich in its natural resources.
Narmada Bachao Andolan – How did it start?
Narmada Bachao Andolan is the most powerful mass movement, started in 1985, against the
construction of a huge dam on the Narmada river. As per the Narmada Dam Project, the plan
was to build over 3000 big and small dams along the river.
The proposed Sardar Sarovar Dam and Narmada Sagar were to displace more than 250,000
people. The big fight of the Save the Narmada Movement was over the resettlement or the
rehabilitation of these people.
Narmada Bachao Andolan – Key Points
 After the independence, India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, called for the
construction of dams on Narmada river to arrest excess water flowing into Arabian
sea passing through Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to aid local people and development
of the nation.
 Two of the largest proposed dams were Sardar Sarovar and Narmada Sagar.
 The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal approved the Narmada Valley Development
Project, which included 30 large dams, 135 medium dams, and 3,000 small dams
including raising the height of Sardar Sarovar dam.
 In 1985, after hearing about the construction of Narmada Dam Project, Medha Patkar
and her colleagues visited the project site and noticed that project work was being
checked due to an order by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of
India.
 In 1987, construction began on the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the people who were
going to be affected by the construction of the dam were given no information but
the offer for rehabilitation.
 In May 1990, Narmada Bachao Andolan organized a 2,000-person, five-day sit-in at
PM V. P. Singh’s residence in New Delhi, which convinced the Prime Minister to
‘reconsider’ the project.
 In December 1990, approximately 6000 men and women began the Narmada Jan
Vikas Sangharsh Yatra (Narmada People’s Progress Struggle March), marching over
100 kilometres.
 In January 1991, Baba Amte and the seven-member team began an indefinite hunger
strike (continued for 22 days) and committed to a sit-in unto death.
 The Sardar Sarovar Dam’s construction began again in 1999 and was declared finished
in 2006. The height of the project was increased from 138 meters to 163 meters. It
was inaugurated in 2017 by PM Narendra Modi.
Role Of World Bank in Narmada Bachao Andolan
 The World Bank began working on the Narmada Project after it got clearance from the
Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal.
 In 1985, the World Bank agreed to finance the Sardar Sarovar Dam with a contribution
of $450 million without consulting the indigenous communities that were to be
displaced.
 Medha Patkar and other protesters testified on the Bank’s role in Washington D.C in
1989. This led to a build-up of pressure on the Bank to set an independent review to
assess the situation at hand. A lot of support was withdrawn from the project after
this.
 World Bank, the financing agency for this project, announced it would institute an
Independent Review of the Narmada Dam Project.
 The Morse Commission was established to look into the construction of the dam, and
the environmental cost and human displacement in 1991. Their report clearly stated
that the Bank’s policies on environment and resettlement were being violated.
 The World Bank’s participation in these projects was cancelled in 1993.
NBA – Formation
 The leading spokesperson of Narmada Bachao Andolan was Medha Patkar and Baba
Amte who received the Right Livelihood Award in 1991.
  The mode of the campaign under NBA includes court actions, hunger strikes, rallies,
and gathering support from notable film and art personalities.
 Narmada Bachao Andolan was also joined by several NGOs with local people,
professionals, and activists as the founders with a non-violent approach.
 There were many groups supporting NBA such as Gujarat-based Narmada Asargrastha
Samiti, Madhya Pradesh-based Narmada Ghati Nav Nirman Samiti (Committee for a
New Life in the Narmada Valley) and Maharashtra-Based Narmada Dharangrastha
Samiti (Committee for Narmada Dam-Affected People).
 NBA’s slogans include – Vikas Chahiye, Vinash Nahin! (Development wanted, not
destruction) and “koi nahi hatega, bandh nahi banega!” (we won’t move, the dam
won’t be constructed).
 Success of Narmada Bachao Andolan
 For its consistent non-violent struggle, Narmada Bachao Andolan won the ‘Right
Livelihood Award’ that aimed at bringing justice to society at large.
 The issues of land for the displaced, the rehabilitation policy at a national level and
development planning without displacement have become national issues with NBA
interventions, influencing policymaking and mass movements.
 NBA has been effective in its multiple strategies at the executive, legislative and
judicial level, campaigning against the destruction and displacement caused by large
dams and for the rights of the affected people – farmers, labourers, fishermen and
others.
The achievements of the movements include:
 The exit of the World Bank from Sardar Sarovar in 1993
 Halt of Sardar Sarovar construction 1994-99
 Withdrawal of foreign investors from Maheshwar dam, 1999-2001