Environmental Movements in India

The study of environmental movements has become one of the important discourses in academics and it has a number of aspects. This article investigates the determinant factors of success and failure of environmental movements in India based on a comparative analysis of the colonial regime, postindependence regime, and the more recent era of liberalization. During the colonial period, all the movements were suppressed by the authoritarian British regime except the movement in Kumaun and Garhwal, due to its strategic importance as a border region. Similarly, the democratic regime of India suppressed many movements in the early postindependence era. However, starting in the mid-1970s, environmental movements began to achieve some success, when these movements were supported by various national and international human rights groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and activists. The movements during the 1960s and 1970s were suppressed by the democratic state, because they did not have this kind of support. The factors that were responsible for the success of the environmental movements in the late 1970s and 1980s have not produced as much success in the more recent era of liberalization. The rising nexus and collaboration between the state and multinational corporations have led to the suppression of more recent environmental movements and those that have been successful have received strong support from opposition political parties.