FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

Without being truly modern, India is producing all the cultural contradictions of post-modern
subjectivities, desires, aspirations, and the structure of struggles. This emerging social
representation of contemporary Indian society is defined more and more by the process of
competing demands and confrontations. In India the social contradictions engendered by the
process of late unfinished modernity and development, the early manifestations of post-
modernity, generate new conflict and sharpen existing ones. The contemporary conflict have
come to centre more on the questioning constitutional right and privileges; the need for the
redefinition and transformation of social values and norms; and emotive articulation of issues
relating to cultural heritage and symbols. The central social conflict in India generally emanate
from the contradictions of the simultaneous process of the late arrival and still unfinished
process of modernity, and the early manifestations of the forces of post-modernity.

The revolution in information technology, globalization of market forces, mobility and

circulation of commodities, enormous multiplication of the number of institutions and agencies
of production, control and dissemination of knowledge, accentuate the social contradictions in
Indian society.

The major issues rose by the protesters and the media were mainly focused on the depletion of
water and its contamination. Government departments, International and National media
personnel and a few independent social organizations had conducted investigations on these
lines which depicted the seriousness of the problem to a great extend. The test results of the
well water and the sludge have proved the cause and effect of the problem beyond doubt.
However, problems related to livelihood, health, employment and legal rights are not addressed
or studied so far.
The major demands of the protesters are the immediate closure of the plant and adequate
compensation to all those who have suffered heavy loses due to the unethical functioning of the
Company. Although the demand for the compensation has not yet gathered momentum,
discussions on that line are very active among the leaders of the struggle and other social
activists. Of late the Panchayat had taken a very active role in spearheading the struggle and
even moving it in the court. The State Government due to various political and other pressures
did not show any positive response to the demands, rather took a passive and at times a pro-
company stand which indirectly helped the Company to continue its activities undeterred.
Plachimada is not just a local issue, but a global one. It shows how large multinationals get
away with huge profits at the expense of people, putting their right to life precious national
resources like land, water and forest at stake. The poor without potable water and the rich with
cola consumerism are a pathetic pathological human right’s contradictions (Iyer 2004). When
millions of liters of water are indiscriminately assaulted by multinationals everyday, it is
nothing less than ‘multinational terrorism’. The rationale and objectives such terriorism and the
ensuing development paradigm need to be questioned vigorously. The world definitely needs
an alternative development path that is democratic in nature. This is the realm of civil society.
Not only that, a strong civil society alone can save the world from the claws of corporate
globalization. This is the messaged emerges from plachimada (lakshmi devi)

The victory of the plachimada movement is major step in reversing corporate hijack of our
precious water resources. It provides both inspiration and lessons for building water democracy
in other part of India and in the rest of the world.(vandana siva ).
Anantha Krishna iyer article for conclusion:-

REFERENCE for introduction chapter:

1. Rest of the text: Post-Graduate Department of Sociology S.N.D.T. Women's University
Churchgate Campus,Mumbai 400 020 February 15-16, 2001

Reference for chapter two:

Jon Shefner, Moving in the Wrong Direction in Social Movement Theory , Theory and
Society , vol.
24, no. 4, August 1995, pp. 595-612.

Jennifer Somerville, Social Movement Theory, Women and the Question of Interest ,
Sociology , vol.
31, no. 4, November 1997, pp. 673-695.
Steven M. Buechler, New Social Movement Theories , The Sociological Quarterly , vol. 36,
no. 3,
Summer 1995, p. 447.

Singh, Rajendra 2001, Social Movements, Old and New: A Post Modernist Critique, Sage
Publications, New Delhi pp……….
Jogdand G.P and Michael S.M (ed) 2003 Globalization and social movements: struggle for a
human society, Rawat Publications, Michigan.

Gadgil.M and Guha R. 1995 Ecology and equity: the use and abuse of nature in contemporary
India, Routledge, London.

APPENDIXES FOR CHAPTER THREE

1. Table 1. Rainfall Data 1998 to 2002 ( mm )

APPENDIX 16

The following should be seen as examples, not a complete list, of the NGOs, committees and
groups of people that have been in some way or another involved in the struggle against Coca-
Cola in Plachimada.

Organisations against Coca-Cola

Adivasi Samkrashana Sangham (Adivasi Protection Front)

Adivasi Struggle Committee
All India Coordinationg Forum of Adivasis
All India Peoples Resistance Forum of Karnataka
All India Students Association
Coca Cola Virudha Samara Samithy (Anti Coca Cola Struggle Committee)
Dalit Liberation Party of Tamil Nadu
Jaayachandran (Tamil Nadu Green Movement)
Janakeeya Cheruthunilpu Vedi (local All India Peoples Resistance Forum)
Jananeethi
Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad (Kerala People’s Science Movement)
National Allience of Peoples Movement
National Front for Tribal Self Rule
Palanimalai Adivasikal Viduthalai Iyakkam of Tamil Nadu
Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties of Kerala
Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties of Tamil Nadu
Philip Morris Carbon Plant activists
Telangana Jana Sabha of Andra Pradesh
Vyavasayikal Thozhilalar Munnetra Sangam of Tamil Nadu
GLOSSARY
Adivasis Indigenous people, scheduled tribes
Bhook hartal Hunger strike
Dalits Outcasts, scheduled casts
Dharna Sit-down strike
Grama Panchayat Lowest level of government, add up to Block Panchayats
and District Panchayats
Grama Sabhas Ward assemblies at panchayat level
Hartal Shut down strike
Jail bharo andolan ‘Movement to fill the jails’
Pradarshan Demonstration
Panchayat Local government
Taluk Administrative division

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The questions to answer: for analytical chapter.

Jananeethi poses the following queries to the management of The Hindustan Coca-Cola
Beverages Pvt.Ltd.
1. How can a factory be set up in a land which is demarcated as Poonthal padam when the
Kerala land Utilization Act prevents it?
2. Is there a written permission from the competent authorities to erect a factory in this land?
3. Does the factory pay taxes?
4. Does the company comply with all the environmental regulations in generating electricity
using generators, as there is no power supply by the Kerala State Electricity Board to the
Factory?
5. Will the factory management publish a detailed report on the water scenario in the factory
compound - i.e. the total daily requirement of water and its sources, the number of bore wells
etc.
6. Is there a Pollution Control Board clearance for water, air and environmental friendly
operation?
7. What are the arrangements of waste management and what sort of waste has been generated
during the process?
8. Has there been any initiative or step from the side of the company to address the public
grievances subsequent to the deprivation of their drinking water and clean environment?

Changing world order and eruption of struggles:-

Plachimada struggle is a part of transformation of society from modernism to post-modernism.

The struggle is a part of transnational struggle against the increased privatization of water
resources all over the world.

The struggle is part of against the increased bureaucratization, commodification and

massification of social life.

Environmental destruction and leading protest:-

The environmental destruction that affecting people’s existence is expressive in plachimada.

Plachimada struggle is part of the environmental struggle of the poor people in south for
regaining land, forest and water.

Plachimada struggle is a part of environmental movement emerged in India during 1970’s.

It is a people’s struggle for protecting their livelihood.

Vulnerabilities of state action and the reactions of civil society:-

There is an increasing gap between state and civil society, so the struggle is against the
increased control of state over individuals life through state institutions such as legal court,
educational institutions etc.

The struggle is non-class and non-materialistic in nature (people from different social category
and different NGOs and INGOs are participated.

The struggle is not a part of the struggle of official political parties.

Plachimada struggle is part of an increased politicization of civil societies.

Plachimada struggle is a grass root actions of small group focusing local issue is part of NSMs.

Plachimada movement is a collective response of local people against the critical attitude
towards growth.

Failure of Indian legal system is expressive in Plachimada struggle.

Environment:
It is argued that ecological movement can no longer be considered merely specific and
particular happening, further it viewed as part of the unscientific development paradigm and
resources use. Bandopadhyay and Siva argue that the ecology movement has questioned the
validity of the dominant concepts and indicators of economic development in India.
. The model of rapid industrial development has produced winners and losers, where the
number of losers far exceeds that of the winners’ but where the environment and those directly
depend on it are the biggest losers.
The colonial intervention in the natural resource management in India led to a conflict over
vital renewable natural resources.
The NBA is the people’s movement has succeeded in generating a debate across the
subcontinent which has encapsulated the conflict between two opposing style of development,
one, massive destruction of people and environment in the quest for large scale
industrialization; the other consisting of replicable small-scale activities harmoniously
integrated with both local communities, victory for the NBA over Narmada dam would be a
greatest achievement for sustainability which brought relief from homelessness and refugee
status for several thousand people. Rajesh Krishna argued that the Chipko movement, which
was a movement against logging abuses, galvanized the existing civil society in India working
with poor tribal, women and other marginalized groups to incorporate the environmental cause
within their own work.

Guha writes that the movements like Chipko are an affirmation of a way of life more
harmoniously adjusted with natural processes. At one level they are defensive, seeking to
escape the tentacles of the commercial economy and the centralizing state and at another level
they are assertive, actively challenging the ruling class vision of homogenizing, urban-
industrial culture, and the call of Chipko represent one of the most innovative responses to the
ecological and cultural crisis of modern society.
Plachimada become the important mile stone in the social ecological movements in India,
which has raised the issues of displacement, environmental and economic destruction. The
united struggle by the local people, trade union and various organizations viz, the socialists,
neo-communists, environmentalists, survodayists, peace groups, anti-communal and women’s
group, people’s science groups, dalit and backward caste organizations, minorities under
national alliance of people’s movement have facilitated the co-coordinated programs, internal
discussions and debates regarding the issues of livelihood for all, right of life and
environmental sustainability.

Vandana Siva argues the intersection between neo-liberal economics and people’s movement.
The environmentalism of south which is a battle for the preservation of the natural world and
the battle for personal and community survival. The control over resources has been
transformed from communities to corporations, which has transformed water abundance to
scarcity.
Gadgil and Guha divided people’s colonization of ecological system in to three analytical
categories, firstly the rural people which directly depend on local resources and environment
for their survival.
Ramachandra guha argued that people in the southern communities suffering from
environmental degradation often joins forces with social activists having experience and
education to negotiate the politics of protests.

In prosperous countries environmentalism tend to be about protecting wild species and natural
habitates whereas poor people in poor countries seek to stop environmental degradation
because it directly affect their survival, majority of the population in developing nations like
India tend to be employed in primary sector where they are directly dependent on the nature for
their subsistence. In plachimada people are depend on agriculture, but cola companies
operation in plachimada destroyed the agriculture by contaminating water and agricultural
land.
The activities of the plant in the course of its operation had caused devastating damage to
the people and environment. The ‘polluter pays’ principle accepted by the judiciary warrants
the company to compensate the hazard caused to the environment and for adversely affecting
the human rights of the people and their posterity. The façade of the cola giant being
environment friendly is proved absurd by its own actions and misdeeds. The fact that this plant
had used up all available water source of the region is a compelling reason for them to evacuate
the place for better pastures and so proves the track record of the bottling plants.

State action:

The bottling plant started its production in 1998 on a 42 acre plot in violation of the Kerala
Land Utilisation Act, 1967, intended to prevent the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural
purposes. The land was in possession of different individuals from whom one Mr. O.G. Sunil,
Ernakulam, got it registered for the Coca-Cola Company and then transferred it, retaining two
acres for himself. Presently, the Company is remitting the land tax only for 34 acres to the
panchayat.
Adv. K.V. Madhusudhanan, a noted lawyer in the Kerala high court, says:
“As HCBL has started the unit during 1998 in 48 acres of agricultural land, the violation of
Clause (6) of Kerala Land Utilisation Order, 1967 comes into the play. Land Utilisation
Order, 1967 was enacted in exercise of power under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 by
the Kerala Government in order to promote food crops especially paddy cultivation, as the
same are depleting day by day. Clause (6) specifically;;;;;;;;Sub Clause (1) says that no
holder of any land which has been under cultivation with any food crop for a continuous
period of 3 years immediately before the commencement of this Order, shall convert or
attempt to convert or utilise or attempt to utilise such land for the cultivation of any other food
crop or for any other purpose except under and in accordance with the terms of a written
permission given by
the Collector. Sub Clause (2) similarly prohibits any holder of any land with any food crop for
a continuous period of 3 years at any time after the commencement of this order, shall after
the said period of 3 years do the above said acts except under and in accordance with a
written permission given by the Collector / R.DO. It is not clear whether District Collector /
RDO had given the requisite permission to HCBL under the Order”. It is evident from the
above facts that the very existence of the bottling plant itself is illegal and can be legally
questioned.

The role of the Government of Kerala had also been very ambiguous since from the beginning,
and took contradictory decisions all through the issue. One can easily sense the petty political
interests rather than the commitment to the poor that had been influencing these decisions.
A team of KSPCB personnel lead by the Member Secretary of the board,
Mr.K.V. Indulal, collected samples on 5th, 28th and 29th of August 2003 which
were tested and a report was submitted to the Government of Kerala.
According to the
report, “The solid waste generated from the company will not come under
the purview of hazardous waste. However, the solid waste ... is not
advisable for application on land as manure. Hence, as utmost precaution,
the company should handle the solid waste as per the procedures and
safeguards prescribed under the Hazardous Waste (Management and
Handling) Amendmen
 Rules, 2003”. In the 12 sludge samples collected, the presence of cadmium
was found to be in the range of ‘below detectable level’ to a maximum of
36.5 mg a kg of dry weight. The limit for
classifying a solid as a hazardous substance in the case of cadmium is 50
mg a kg of dry weight.
The maximum level of lead found in the sludge samples was 401.40 mg a
kg, while the limit is
5,000 mg per kg. In the case of chromium, the maximum content found
was 296 mg per kg against
the danger limit of 5,000 mg per kg.
On August 6, 2003 the KSPCB
chairman , Paul Thatchil, announced at a press conference that
tests conducted then had shown
201.8 mg a kg of cadmium in the sludge samples collected from
Plachimada.
On August 22nd 2003,The Government said the In a written reply to the
Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for
Environment and Forests Dilip Singh Ju Dev said, farmers as manure and
landfill were using the
sludge generated by this factory.
However, the report draws a line of caution on
It says,
“Since there is drastic fall in the rainfall it is necessary to restrict the
exploitation of
ground water regime at least till the status improves” Using the rainfall
data collected
from the Meenkara rain gauge station which is four km away from the
Coca-Cola plant,
in order to substantiate the ‘rainfall effect’ is also questionable. “and this
will gradually
lead to the non-availability of water even in the deep strata., the quantum
of water drawn decides the rate of
depletion.”
An independent organization, IRTC, also conducted tests of the well water
samples collected
from the vicinity of the plant on 29th June 2002. The test results showed
high level of hardness, salinity, alkalinity and other chemical components
such as chlorides, sulfides etc.
Conversely, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board () has Similarly, that entered the
factory in 2002 has HCBL claims that it usually 8. In the 16 December
Court ruling, an expert is cited as quoting the average daily water consumption at 510,000 litres.
“The aquifer is recharged naturally each year by monsoon rains, but to help accelerate this
recharge, HCBL voluntarily installed the State’s largest rainwater harvesting facility in the
plant. In 2002, HCBL recharged over 50% of the amount of water extracted from the aquifer
amount through its rainwater harvesting technology. HCBL have recently acquired an
additional 30 acres of land that they hope to put to use for additional rainwater harvesting. It
should be noted that the Coca-Cola plant has also provided this technology free of charge to
five local farms and a school. It is the only industry of the 27 water-based industries in the
area to have adopted rainwater harvesting on this scale and to have freely shared it with the
community.”
Coca-Cola claims that, when the new 30 acres of rainwater harvesting are completed, it will recharge
more than it uses. It should be noted that “The Coca-Cola Company, the Kerala State Groundwater
Department and the Central Groundwater Authority have denied this, as all water usage on the site is
metered and recorded by the authorities. The amount of water recharged by rainwater harvesting is
also monitored and recorded by the authorities. Water meters are housed in locked boxes only
accessible to the authorities.”
In addition to these reports, there is an unconfirmed report that the factory washes out bottles with
chemicals that are then released, without treatment, into local groundwater9.
“The Coca-Cola Company has said that this is entirely inaccurate and that the plant, unlike others in
the locality, is a zero discharge plant. Despite no legal requirements in India to treat its wastewater,
the plant uses state-of-the-art effluent treatment facilities. Eight Government reports since the opening
of the plant have confirmed the safety of the wastewater created by the plant and the system used to
treat wastewater by Coca-Cola in India won the country’s prestigious Golden Peacock Environmental
Award in 2003.”
The factory is ISO 14001 certified and has passed all the Government and Coca-Cola Company’s
regulatory tests since it began operating.
The factory generates approximately 0.15 tonnes of semi-liquid and dry sediment slurry wastes through
the wastewater and waste treatment process, including the washing of sugar cane. HCBL initially stated
that these wastes were a good fertiliser, and the sludge-like material was given to local farmers. After a
short period, reports appeared that the sludge had damaged crops, and led to the development of lumps,
welts and sores on people’s skin11.
“The Coca-Cola Company has apologised for the use of the word ‘fertilizer’. It is likely that the local
Indian spokesperson (whose first language is not English) was unaware of the importance of getting
this term exactly right. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that this type of
material is suitable as a soil ‘conditioner’ and therefore the use of the word ‘fertiliser’ was wrong.”
report on Radio 4's Face the Facts programme (25 July 2003) investigated the sludge issue. One
Sample analysed as part of the programme showed high levels of cadmium in the sludge 12. However,
Coca-Cola stated that none of the samples were collected directly from their factory, and that all the
samples came from the surrounding area.

Extra: third part, vulnerabilities of state action.

Test of central ground water authority:

(((((((It is also to be noted the impact of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, as Adv. Madhusudhanan puts it, ought to be a
guiding factor for the Government to act in such circumstances. “Of course, under Sec. 24 of
the Water Act, 1974, no person shall knowingly cause or permit any poisonous or polluting
matter in excess of the standards to enter into any well or land.))))))))(((((((The central
groundwater department announced that the sludge supplied by the bottling plant unit of
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Limited at Plachimada, to farmers for use as fertilizers
contains dangerous levels of Cadmium and Lead. This finding of central ground water
department is contradictory with the study of Kerala ground water department. )))))))
((((Conversely, in March 2004, The Department of Ground Water found that the changes in
well water quantity surrounding the Plachimada factory were due to excess drawing of water
by the Company and less rainfall. This was based on evidence collected from 18 wells between
March 2002 and March 2003.)))))((((())))))

New social movement: for theoretical orientation.

The structural paradigm approach or the New Social Movement (NSM) theory of the European
scholars argues that the new movements are the result of increasing domination of the system
over the life. It is not a unified body of thought. New social movement theory developed as a
critique to Resource Mobilization and Marxist approach to explain collective action.19 These
proponents of the NSM approach criticized orthodox Marxism for its economy centric views
and the failure to recognize the fundamental shift that had taken place in the post World War II
Western capitalism.20 Drawing on the Marxist tradition and at the same time differing
considerably from it, these social scientists have explored the connections between
contradictions, crises and social movements. (Ashok Swain)

In the post-industrial society, Touraine argues that social movements replace the organization
of labor as the focus of political action. It means that intellectuals, new professionals and
students replace the working class as the agents of revolutionary change (Alaine Touraine,
1971). Consumer capitalism and the welfare state create social regulation through mass culture
and welfare intervention extending the state into the social and personal sphere. To Habermas,
this form of colonization of the lifeworld leads to a generalized legitimation crisis and that
provokes new forms of resistance outside the political channels of institutional politics. These
resistances are as much against dominant rationalities as they are against institutional control
(Jurgen Habermas, 1976). Claus Offe categorizes the social base of NSM into three fold: the
new middle class, elements of old middle class, and decommodified groups outside the labor
market (Claus Offe, pp. 817-868. 1985)

Castells criticizes resource mobilization approach for its refusal to accept that the social
movement has a reality of its own. And also, trying to incorporate it into the political process
aimed primarily at the state (Manuel Castells, 1983) NSM theorists value symbolic action in
civil society or the cultural sphere as an important form of collective action alongside
instrumental action in the state or political sphere (Jean Cohen, pp. 663-716; 1985) This
European School( Prominent New Social Movement theorists are: Manuel Castells (Spain),
Alain Touraine (France), Alberto Melucci (Italy), and Jurgen Habermas (Germany) believes
that the social movements are of the anti-institutional orientation and spontaneity is a positive
feature of the formation of the movement. NSM theory puts importance of the processes that
promote autonomy and self-determination of movement rather than striving for influence and
power maximization (Jurgen Habermas, 1984-87). The role of post-materialist values - not the
conflicts over material resources - is the key to the social movement, some argue (Russel J.
Dalton & Manfred Keuchler, 1990).
The NSM theory has raised debates and intellectual concerns in four areas, as Steven M.
Beuchler argues:

The first concerns the meaning and validity of designating certain movements as new and
others (by implication) as old. The second debate involves whether new social movements are
primarily or exclusively a defensive, reactive response to larger social forces or whether they
can exhibit a proactive and progressive nature as well. The third debate concerns the distinction
between political and cultural movements and whether the more culturally oriented new social
movements are inherently apolitical. The fourth involves the social base of the new social
movements and whether this base can be defined in terms of social class. (Carol M. Mueller,
pp. 234-263, 1994),

Melucci argues that the resource mobilization approach is valuable in explaining how a
movement is set up and manages its structure but it does not say anything about why the
movement arises in the first place (Albertro Melucci, 1984, pp. 819-835) In response to it,
Hannigan has argued, the NSM theory provides the mirror image of this, focusing on why
rather than how (John A. Hannigan, 1985, pp. 435-454) It is true that one theory focusing on
how and another focusing on why lead to a theoretical gap. As Klandermans and Tarrow argue,
this gap stands in the way of a better understanding of how structural change is transformed
into collective action (Bert Klandermans & Sidney Tarrow, p. 9. 1988), However, the aim here
is a more modest one. It is not to bridge this huge theoretical gap; rather it is to provide a
hypothesis to explain the variation in movement mobilization in developing democracies.
NSM theory by focusing on origin, fails entirely to explain the outcome of the movement. If
we recognize that social movements are some form of struggle for political or social change,
then we just cannot ignore the questions of success or failure. It is true that the NSM theory has
provided an important tool to understand the macro level social structure that raises
contemporary activism. However, this strength of the theory has confined itself to be applied
only to a limited number of movements in Western societies with mobilization biases towards
white, middle-class participants pursuing politically or culturally progressive agendas (Steven
M. Buechler, 1995, p. 460.)

Social Movements in Segmented South:

The 1980s and 1990s have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the Global South s
political and social fabrics. The rule of the political game has changed. Authoritarianism is
paving the way for democracy. The South is increasingly witnessing free elections,
parliamentary politics, independent judiciary and social autonomy. It is no more (with few
exceptions) that the official party is the only channel of popular mobilization to influence the
political institution or mass mobilization is achieved even before the establishment of these
institutions (Mehran Kamrava, 1993).

In this time of greater political participation, the government s inability or failure to deliver
goods brings legitimacy crisis for the ruling elites and that helps the people to mobilize.
Coinciding with the wave of democratization, social protests gripped large number of countries
in the South in the last two decades. These movements were centrally concerned with forcing
greater responsiveness, representation and participation from State institutions and elites
(Merilee S. Grindle, 1996)

These movements in the South not only express the voice of dissent, as Ponna Wignaraja
argues, they are also providing some basis for developmental and democratic alternative to the
system as it now works (Ponna Wignaraja, 1993, p. 6.) Thus, the rising number of social
movements is increasingly branded as new social movements in South and analysts are
adopting the NSM approach to explain the occurrence of these movements.

New social movement theory is being commonly used to explain the movements in Latin
America or Asia (Ponna Wignaraja, 1993; Ghanashyam Shah, 1990; David Slater, 1985). The
movements in the South are emerging out of peculiar contradictions within transiting societies
and cultures. Growing weakness of the state and the particular division of labor due to
intervention of foreign capital are blamed for the rise in number of popular mobilizations.
Citizens in South are identifying common interests that overcome the traditional division over
class, interest, or clientism and evolving alterative identities such as community, ethnicity,
gender or green (Terry Karl, 1990, pp. 1-21; Daniel H. Levine, 1988, pp. 377-394.)
Development (state) failed solves the problem of poverty:

In recent decades there has been a total rethinking of the developmental strategies we adopted
in the post-independence period. This rethinking has been partly stimulated by the still
persisting socio-economic problems of both rural and urban masses as well as the neglected
tribes of the hilly regions. These developmental strategies have not only failed to solve the
problems of poverty, illiteracy and health insecurities but also instead added newer problems to
the existing list of issues.
In attempting for an introspection as to what went wrong with the whole exercise, invariably
the state emerges as the anti-hero at the end of most of the analyses. The state-centric
developmental approach followed by the post-colonial Indian state has been held accused for
all the misadventures. Though the development has been carried out within the ideological
framework of as well as the functioning of a vibrant democratic Indian polity, the central role
given to the state and its bureaucracy in the development project seems to have precluded any
real democratic participation of the masses-the local communities -whose living space has been
the site of developmental activity. Though it was in their names it was not in their interests,
critics complain.

This is the historical background, which is seeing the emergence of many new social
movements and voluntary sectors focusing on specific issues for the furtherance of the values
of democracy. A resurgence of the category of civil society has been the response to these
experiential developments from the domain of theoreticians. The eclipse of civil society due to
the towering figure of the state is held to be responsible for the developmental approach not
reaching its proclaimed destination of the welfare of the masses. So a revival of and
reconstruction of an active civil society supposed to be a precondition for the realization of true
democracy and development, are advocated by the proponents of such views. In this unit we
will attempt to look into the conceptual as well as the practical issues that inform this kind of
alternative framework of development and democracy.

Civil society:
However, in recent times, theorists like Partha Chatterjee and Sudipta Kaviraj have given
interesting arguments regarding civil society in the third world countries in general and India in
particular.

New social movement in India: \

The earliest of social movements in India could be traced to the Gandhian efforts of Sarvodaya.
Gandhi recognised the need for social change. But he believed that the change has to come
from the bottom to top if it has to be non-violent, successful and permanent. Sarvodaya was the
direct offshoot of Gandhi’s constructive programme. According to Radhakrishna, the
ideological paradigm of Sarvodaya sought to create a stateless and classless society of Gram
Swarajya, establish the principle of sharing voluntarily such as through Bhoodan and Gramdan,
develop village industries and agro-industrial communities and apply the Gandhian concept of
trusteeship in industrial activities. But the limitations of this approach of moral persuasion have
been well documented by history. Though it evoked much hope in the beginning the gross
failure of Bhoodan in land redistribution through voluntary means has evaporated that hope.
Since 1970s a number of social movements emphasising on a range of basic issues have come
to animate the sphere of civil society. They are ‘new’ in contrast to the old trade union and
working class movements, which were political in the sense of having an alternate political
vision of the state itself with revolutionary ideals. But the people’s movements, as they are
called, are the result of broader-based people’s responses to ecological or gender or caste
conflicts. The distinguishing feature of these movements is that they are not homogeneous and
differ in their origins. As Wignaraja notes, some are the result of romantic and idealistic
approaches taken by charitable institutions, religious institutions, the ‘small is beautiful’
advocates, etc., which have tried to teach the people to do ‘good’ things often treating the
village as a harmonious entity or community. In many cases the local initiatives merge and
give rise to the formation of a large-scale movement at the intervention of intellectuals backed
with media support.
As Wignaraja further points out only ‘some of the people’s movements have been sustained
over time, others are eruptions and die down after a while......... Similarly some of the
grassroots experiments represent seeds of change, while others are mere bubbles’. He further
elaborates on how to differentiate between a seed and a bubble. A seed can be identified with
such broad aims as equality and access to resources; equality of social, political, cultural rights;
real participation in all social decisions affecting work, welfare, politics etc; the end of division
between mental and manual labour and the use of technology appropriate for this purpose.
It is not, however, merely a matter of stating these objectives: genuine participation, self
production and self-management, autonomy, solidarity and innovativeness. A bubble on the
other hand, is a soft process and may not last, for a variety of reasons. However, he alerts us to
the fact that bubbles should not be out rightly dismissed as they may represent entry points to
change and some can be transformed into seeds through additional sensitisation and
conscientisation programmes, training of facilitators and change agents. Self-employed
Women’s Association (SEWA), the Chipko movement, the Kerala Science movement (KSSP)
and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) Samiti are seeds in point. There are innumerable
other movements as well differing in degrees of mobilisation, conscientisation and organisation
for development and democracy. All these initiatives may not always proceed in a uniform
pattern of development. Within the political space available, there have been interventions in
the socio-economic system. In the case of smaller experiments, someone with an advanced
consciousness initiates dialogue and
a group activity, for example, landless labourers, poor women or a (youth) group trying to do
something as a means of living, or a social activity, such as a health or environmental
sanitation programme; the process can move forward to become a seed or stay as a bubble until
it bursts.
Now we shall look into some of the movements that have highlighted issues of great concern to
people and ecology. Chipko deserves to be listed foremost them all. Chipko as a spontaneous
movement started in the early 70s and got organized under the able leadership of Sunderlal
Bahuguna. It was ignited by the opposition of the people of the Tehri-Garhwal region to the
felling of trees by outside contractors. In the Himalayan regions forests form an indispensable
source of livelihood for the mostly tribal population living there. Chipko literally means
‘hugging’ the trees. The movement articulated the concerns of forest-based communities such
as depletion of forests, erosion of soil and consequent landslides, drying up of local streams
and other water resources and shortages of fuel and fodder for domestic consumption. It also
fought against the construction of the Tehri dam which threatened the eviction of around
25,000 hilly residents. Though the movement has not succeeded in all its endeavours it has
achieved some commendable victories. Getting ban on felling trees above an altitude of 1000m
and making the government to announce certain forest areas as protected regions are some of
the successes of the movement.
Chipko being a non-violent resistance movement embodies the Gandhian spirit of struggle.
Chipko movement inspired green cover movements elsewhere in the country the most
important being the Appiko movement in the Western Ghats against the over-felling of trees
and covering forest lands with commercial trees replacing the natural ones. The slogan of
Chipko movement is ‘ecology is economy’.
Another major social movement has been that of Anna Hazare who has been fighting since
more than two decades for bringing about transparency in bureaucratic apparatus of the state.
His movement has changed his village Ralegon Siddhi in Maharashtra into a model village. His
movement emphasises the right of the common people to know the information regarding
government initiatives and the implementation procedures of the welfare schemes. The
government is being pressurised to enact the ‘Right to Information” act. This legislation would
entail the right of the people to gain access to government records and thereby bring
transparency and accountability in the functioning of the government. This would ultimately
serve to check corruption and rent-seeking practices.
Yet another important movement of the present times is Narmada Bachao Andolan Samiti.
This movement, led by Medha Patkar, has sensationalised the issue of building huge dams as a
solution for growing stress on water resources. This movement is in opposition to the
construction of nearly 3000 major and minor dams across the river Narmada which would
submerge an estimated 3,50.000 hectare of forest land and 2,00,000 hectares of cultivated land.
About one million people are estimated to become ousters. There have been a number of other
struggles prioritising issues related to women, dalitm empowerment, land use and pollution
related issues. Women’s movements, though lacking a tradition equivalent to that of French
and English feminist movements, have reached a point where they are able to identify common
cause with all those movements which would further the advancement of the values of
democracy and sustainable development. Dalit movements are also heading forward in the
same direction.
However, movements fighting for separate statehoods and autonomy also come under the
broad rubric of social movements. Though their source of origin could be the same that of
uneven development and the failure of the state to respond to their specific problems, these
sub-nationalist and autonomy movements fundamentally differ from other types of social
movements. Whereas all other social movements are inclusive i.e. open to all, these
movements are exclusive and have particular objectives rather than universal principles.