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Relying heavily on the National Election Study (NES) data sets, it finds that the election result was in
large measure an outcome of massive vote consolidation on religious lines, with the majority Hindu
community preferring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Notional Democratic Alliance (NDA) in
unprecedented proportion and the main religious minorities largely staying away from it, although
there were some exceptions.

Concluding lines

● The above analysis shows that communalism and Casteism are examples of increasing
Plebianization (mobocracy) of Indian democracy. They can be considered as Indian variants of
Fascism. As political competition will become cut throat, we can expect greater violence.
● India is a diverse country. And different models can be applied to different parts of the country.
In some parts, riots are the result of politicisation of the issues while in some other parts there
exists ‘historic enmity’ in communities.

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Party system

Party System

UPSC Syllabus - Party System: National and regional political parties, ideological and social bases of
parties; patterns of coalition politics; Pressure groups, trends in electoral behaviour; changing socio-
economic profile of Legislators.

Previous Year Questions

“The Indian party system is shaped by a complex interaction of the country’s federal
2021
structure, electoral system and social cleavages”. Explain.
To what extent has the Inadequate intra-party democracy affected the functioning of Indian
2020
democracy.
The changing socio-economic profile of our legislators does not augur well for the health of
2019
Indian democracy. Comment
2018 Comment on: Political personalities are more significant than political parties in India.
2018 Explain the increasing role of regional political parties in the national political.
2017 India has moved from 'one-party dominant system' to 'one-party led coalition'. Discuss.
Discuss the pattern of Political Parties from one dominant party system to coalition politics
2016
in national politics.
2015 “Identity politics has trumped development politics in India.” Comment.
2015 Account for the rise of regional political parties and assess their role in contemporary India.
2014 Comment on: Marginalization of the left ideology in India.

Political Parties
Political parties

A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the
government. Political parties perform the essential input function known as ‘interest
aggregation’. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote
the collective good.

Gilchrist defines a political party as “an organized group of citizens who profess or share the same
political views and who by acting as a political unit, try to control the government”.

Another definition given by Gettell is: “a political party consists of a group of citizens, more or less
organized, who act as a political unit and who, by the use of their voting power, aim to control the
government and carry out their general policies”

Political parties have become the universal feature of politics around the world. The study of political
parties has become an extremely specialized field in itself known as stasiology.

Stasiology - The term 'stasiology ' can be defined as 'the study of political parties and the process by
which a governing body remains static or self-perpetuating due to internal conflict .‘The term

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"stasiology,". derived from the Greek "stasis," meaning faction, was suggested by Maurice Duverger
in Political Parties. Before 1951, writings in this field had been confined largely to histories of parties,
accounts of their electoral fortunes, and discussions of their programs and ideologies. The detailed
analysis of the political parties started with the behavioralism with the writing of Duverger and the
Robert Michel’s' in his book Political Parties.

Theories of political parties

1. Normative approach
a) Normative approach is proposed by Edmund Burke. According to him, political parties are
the set of people sharing common ideology, coming together for promotion of national
interest.
2. Catch-all party
a) Otto Von Kerchheimer
b) In recent times, ideology has lost the relevance and we see the rise of ‘catch all parties’
3. Lenin's theory
a) Lenin in his pamphlet what is to be done? has given the theory of communist party.
b) Lenin believed that workers are not capable of developing the revolutionary consciousness
on their own, hence communist party will act as ‘vanguard’ of revolution
c) Communist party is a secret society as the aim of communist party is to overthrow the state.
It is pyramidal in structure. It will be having its cells at the local levels. Top leadership will do
what is determined by the base.
d) He makes distinction between communist party and trade unions. Trade unions are the parts
of bourgeoisie systems. Trade unions can get only some concession for workers, whereas
communist party can bring workers to power.
e) Communist party works on the principle of democratic centralism. People will communicate
to the top leadership, what they want. Top leadership will convert people’s demands into a
workable program of action. Once decision is taken by the top leadership, it will be
implemented at all the levels and hence it will be centralized.

4. Behavioural theories
a) Robert Michel in His Book: POLITICAL PARTIES.
I. He has given the concept of ‘iron law of oligarchy.’ He has analysed the internal
functioning of socialist parties in Germany to examine the claim of Marxists that socialist
parties operate on different principles. He came to the conclusion that there is no
difference in the internal functioning. All powers are in the hands of top leadership. Hence
he suggested that oligarchy is the iron law, power will always be in the hands of elites.
Masses never shape decisions. Thus irrespective of the ideology, all parties operate in a
similar fashion.
b) Duverger- Book: THE POLITICAL PARTIES (1951).
I. He has given Duverger law- This law tells the relationship between the electoral system
and the party system
1. If simple majoritarian electoral system, it will have two party system
2. If proportional representation it will have multi-party system
II. Structural analysis of political parties
1. On the basis of ideology
1. Mass parties: liberal and communist
2. Cadre based party: rightist party

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2. Internal structure
1. Branch: Some parties have branch
2. Cells: Feature of communist party
3. Caucus: small group of leaders. primarily associated with rightist party
4. Militia: fascist party of Mussolini

Importance of political parties

1. Political parties are the most prominent drivers of the political discourse in a multiparty
democracy.
2. It is the parties, which provide political leadership, mobilize the electorate during the elections.
3. Perform crucial functions like agenda-setting and political propagation based on a wide range of
issues.
4. Political parties perform various other roles. For example,
a) Formation of government
b) Formation of opposition
c) Political education and political socialization etc.
5. According to Zoya Hassan (Pragmatism), Political parties in India have played critical role in the
success of India’s democracy but at the same time Parties only have to be blamed for most of the
problems of Indian democracy.

Scholar’s view of Political parties

● On one hand there are scholars like Laski who believe that political parties are essential for
democracy.
● On the other, there are leaders like Gandhi, MN Roy and Jaiprakash Narayan who believe in
a party-less democracy.

Party system

Party system is not based on number of parties but it is based on number of parties having systemic
relevance. For example, at the time of independence there were multiple parties but Indian party
system was known as one party dominant system.

Unique features of political parties in India

According to Zoya Hasan political parties in India reflect many unusual features.

1. No concern for ideology – there is a growth of catch-all parties.

2. Rather than policy-oriented, parties are office-oriented
3. The disconnect between people and parties.
4. Connection between political parties and corporate groups including
among the communist and socialist parties.
5. None of the parties have any grand design.

Views of Paul Brass

● Indian parties reflect paradoxical features. There is a blend of Western

bureaucratic structure with indigenous political practices and institutions.
● Political parties lack intraparty democracy.

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Views of Yogendra Yadav

1. Political parties in India are going through the process of institutionalization as

well as deinstitutionalization.
2. On one hand, their reach is increasing but on the other hand, the depth and
intensity of the voters have been declining.
3. The role of political parties has got reduced to the instrumental act of voting.
4. They have overlooked the broader agenda of a democratic nation and nation-building.

Various stages of evolution of party system in India

1. Stage 1. Up till 1967 - Congress system
2. Stage 2. From 1967 to 1977. Breakdown of Congress system.
3. Stage 3 1977 in 1979. Two-party system.
4. Stage 4 from 1979 to 1989. The emergence of a multi-party system.
5. Stage 5 1989 till 2014. Multi-party democracy system, age of coalition politics.
6. Stage 6 2014 onwards. BJP dominant party system.

Congress system
At the time of independence, India had multiple parties but the Indian party system as described by
Morris Jones used to be known as a one-party dominant system.

Letter on Rajni Kothari has coined the term ‘Congress system’. It shows the dominant status of
Congress. no other party with the exception of Kerala and Kashmir could form the government even
at the state level. Rajni Kothari calls Congress, a party of consensus and other parties as parties of
pressure.

Why Congress was party of consensus?

Rajni Kothari calls Congress a Rainbow coalition. Congress itself was a Grand coalition. Congress
programme could incorporate the interest of the different sections of the society.
The status of opposition parties was like pressure groups. there located outside the margins of the
party system.

Reasons for the Congress system.

● The hegemony of the Congress was because of its role in the Indian National Movement.
Congress became a mass party under the leadership of Gandhiji. Congress maintained centrist
agenda. Congress rejected communalism as well as communism.
● Nehru maintained a democratic intellectual climate within the party. Nehru promoted freedom
of speech and expression within the party, the culture of toleration and accommodation. Nehru
showed sensitivity towards minorities. Most importantly Nehru could convince the Indian
masses that Congress is critical for the survival nation.

Breakdown of Congress system / changes in political process

Breakdown started in 1967 when Congress lost its majority in nine States. In 8 states for the first time
the non-Congress government could come to power and in the 9th State Congress could form a
government only in the coalition.

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Why the decline of Congress system?

1. Internal factors
1. De-institutionalization of democracy within the party
2. Concentration of power in the hands of a single leader
3. Lack of intraparty democracy.
4. Intra-party elections have not taken place since 1972.
5. Congress last the touch with grassroots leaders. Newline Central leadership was dependent
on loyalists. There is no scope for internal criticism and descent.
2. External factors.
1. As suggested by Yogendra Yadav, the decline of Congress is linked to the deepening of
democracy.
a) 1st democratic upsurge has resulted in OBCs coming out of the party.
b) 2nd democratic upsurge resulted in the Dalits coming out of the party.
2. Other causes for the decline of the Congress system also includes Green Revolution and
state reorganization. this has resulted in the strength of OBCs and the rise of the regional
parties.

Additional note

3rd Democratic upsurge

We are witnessing now the 3rd democratic upsurge There is turnaround among Dalits, OBCs and
Muslims indicative of new upsurge. These communities feel that the promised fruits of second upsurge
were denied to them. They got identity, not empowerment.

So, they feel attracted to parties that offer them political and economic empowerment. The first sign
of discontentment was discernible soon after Mayawati’s successful social engineering in 2007. The
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) data suggests Dalits, OBCs and Muslims started
leaving parties they traditionally voted, moving to non-caste parties mainly BJP and Congress

3rd democratic upsurge is characterised by a steady rise in activism by the urban middle class, as
demonstrated by the historic India Against Corruption Movement. It gave rise to the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP), arguably India’s first major class-based urban political party.

It underlines three shifts in India's electoral market

1. From State to Market,

2. From Government to Governance,
3. From State as Controller to State as Facilitator,

Moreover, the Third Democratic Upsurge seeks to promote the participation of the youth who
constitute a significant chunk of Indian society and have emerged as the real game changers in view of
their increasing electoral preferences for both development and governance in India's contemporary
democratic politics.

During the second democratic upsurge, the marginalised were moving towards caste parties in search
of identity; today, they are moving away from them for empowerment.

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Present status of congress

According to Suhas Palashikar, Congress is not in a state of decline, rather the 2014
election mark the death of Congress.

● The number of seats which congress got in the 2014 election is even less than the
number of seats Congress could get after the emergency. Congress’ social base, as
well as territorial base, has shrunken.

Future prospects
Views of Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Congress should leave the majority and minority complex. Congress should know
how to make strategic alliances. Instead of the party of defence, Congress should
emerge as a party of transformation. The party should go back to the role of
organising social movements and should not restrict itself to electoral calculus.

Nature of party system in India since 1989

Politics does not operate in a vacuum, similarly, parties also do not operate in a vacuum. The party
system gets influenced by all factors internal and external. The Indian party system is also changing in
the context of the changing external and internal development. India, which is known as one-party
dominance system, got transformed into a multi-party system. From 1989, the era of coalition politics
started. From 1977 itself we see the process of fragmentation and regionalization.

Causes for the rise of regional parties.

According to Milan Vaishnav, rise of regional political parties is an eternal theme of
Indian politics. Regional parties operate within limited geographic area and bank on
language, minority, religion etc. Number of regional parties in India is much larger due
to Diversity.

● Institutional factors
1. Delinking of parliamentary and state legislative elections. It has given opportunities for
Regional parties for mobilization of people on local issues.
2. India’s Federal System-State governments deal with those issues which are of day to day
relevance. This also gives an advantage to the regional parties. The leaders associated with
regional parties are in Greater contact with the people at the Grass root level.
3. Linguistic reorganisation of states has given rise to the dominant caste forming their own
regional parties.

● Social and economic factors

1. The Green Revolution gave rise to the intermediate caste asserting their power even in the
political sphere.
2. The deepening of social cleavages as a result of the continuous mobilization of people on
ethnic grounds.
3. The growing politicization of religion
4. The growing consciousness about rights and democracy
5. The suspension of democracy and the introduction of emergencies also led to the
fragmentation of Congress and the strengthening of regional parties.

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According to Sudha Pai, regional parties are rooted in regional ground. They
should not be seen as a by-product of regionalism, rather phenomenon in its own
right. It is a result of linguistic reorganization, decline in congress system, uneven
development etc.

Consequences of growth of regional politics

Regionalization of Indian political party system has resulted into both negative as well as positive
consequences.

1. Positive consequences
a. Democracy becoming more representative.
b. Regionalization has strengthened the federal axis of Indian political system. It has
strengthened the bargaining power of state governments
c. Greater role for state even in foreign policy.
2. Negative Consequences
a. Rise of regional parties led to the coalition politics, Coalition politics in the absence of
healthy coalition culture has given rise t
i. Party paralysis
ii. Increased role of money and muscle power.
b. Politicization of the post of speaker.
c. Decline of parliament.
d. Regional issues dominate over national concerns.

3rd Front
1. 3rd front is Primarily an alliance of regional parties with no ideological coherence. They do have
significance at the state level and decent vote share at national level.
2. 3rd front in India is a fluid category. Its combination keeps on changing. It is primarily the
collection of regional parties
3. 3rd front is not insignificant, it continues to have significant share of votes and has dominant
presence at state level. Since 3rd front represents OBCs as well as other sections like Muslims,
Dalits, 3rd front is always an important force.
4. 3rd front has also formed government at the union level 2 times.
I. In 1989, National Front Govt. was formed with the support of BJP.
II. United Front Govt. in 1996, with the support of Congress and CPI(M).

However, 3rd front could never provide stable government. It has never been stable internally. It
emerges before elections and dissolves after elections.

1. In 2008, 3rd front formed United National Progressive Alliance.

2. In 2014, 14 parties formed 3rd front as an alternative to corrupt Congress and communal BJP.
However, it was dissolved within 24 hours.
3. In 2019 elections, 3rd front was formed under the banner of Mahagatabandhan. And even
Congress was part of it. It was, however, ineffective to influence election outcome.

Problems with 3rd front.

1. Every group has their own leader Too many leaders create the chaos and results into the
leadership crisis every group has their own leader which cannot provide a united stand.

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2. Catch all parties – The sole purpose of the parties coming together is to come in power rather
that ideological matching which results into opportunism.
3. Too parochial in their approach- They have objective only to oust the sitting government.
4. Lack nationalist agenda- They are guided by their regional agenda rather than any nationalist
agenda.

AAP Phenomenon.
AAP (Aam Adami Party) is a by-product of globalization. AAP phenomenon is not unique to India. The
other parallel examples are Tehreek-i-insaf in Pakistan, Syriza Party in Greece, Workers Party in Brazil,
People’s movement in Hong Kong.

AAP is also considered as urban phenomenon. Globalization has resulted into the increase of
inequalities. Globalization has increased democratic consciousness awareness about good
governance.

AAP was formed in 2012. It emerged out of anti-corruption movement. AAP describes itself as anti-
politics and anti-ideology. AAP is against power politics.

Ideology
1. Anti-politics: Entering into politics not for power but to change the system from outside. They
need power to change the system from within because the pressure from outside has not worked.
2. Beyond identity politics They want to take Indian politics away from caste/religion/regionalism.
3. Bottom up approach- The want to strengthen Grassroot democracy(swaraj)
4. Intra party democracy Members have right to recall the members of executive body. No two
members of the same family will be in the executive body or will contest election thus checking
the nepotism.
5. AAP rejects high command culture.

Ideology and Political parties in India

Parties based on ideological orientation

The word "left and right were initially used in the French revolution at that time, France had monarchy
(one king rule the nation) some people were in support of monarch and some were against it and
want democracy in their nation. At that time. The sitting arrangement of France parliament was in
such that

● People sitting right side were those who were loyal to their monarch, mainly the wealthy class
● People sitting left side were those who were poor and were not loyal to their monarch and
want democracy in their nation these people were not happy from monarchy and want a
revolutionary change in the existing system

Therefore, the definition of left and right came from these historical facts. And, people use different
words or tag for left-wing and right-wing, which are the following

● Left-wing: reformist, revolution

o The parties who want a change in the existing system. Generally, they are Liberals, Socialists,
Democrats and Communist. Left wants pro-change and they are liberal.
● Right wing conservative, establishment

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o The parties who believe in the existing system. The basic thoughts of the right-wing are social
conservatism and economic liberalism and they are Conservatives, Nationalists and
Republicans

Ideological orientation of parties in Indian context

1. Socially right-wing: There are three socially right-wing parties in India on the aspects of religion.
These are: - the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
(AIMIM);
2. Socially left-wing: Remaining parties are socially left-wing because they are secular parties. These
are: - the Indian National Congress (INC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Janta Dal-United (JDU), All India
Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M);
3. Economically left-wing: – Almost every party in India is economically left-wing because they
support subsidies and want to increase taxes.
Right wing Parties in India

Milan Vaishnav held that there is a big change in the electoral behaviour of people in
India. For long, Indian politics was based on the agenda of secularism and minorities.
The present Indian politics is a rejection of both minorities and Congress version of
secularism and the assertion of majoritarianism in combination with the concern for
good governance and development.

Thomas Blom Hanson in his book “The saffron wave” has explained the phenomenal
rise of BJP and the forces of Hindutva.

According to Hanson, rise of BJP is not a religious phenomenon, nor is it a strictly political
phenomenon. It is happening in the backdrop of the democratic transformation taking
place in the country. As lower castes and OBCs are mobilizing themselves, the
amorphous Indian middle class becomes anxious. Even lower class Hindus got attracted
towards BJP’s majoritarianism rhetoric, constructed in the name of nationalism, cultural pride, order,
development and leadership.

Statistics

1. In 1984, BJP got 2 seats and 7.4% of total votes.

2. In 1999, BJP got 183 seats and vote share of 23%
3. In 2014, BJP got 282 seats and vote share of 31.5%.
4. In 2019, BJP got 303 seats and vote share of 37.36%

From 2 seats in 1984 to 303 seats in 2019, there is no question on the rise of right in Indian politics.

History of BJP.
1. BJP is a successor to Jana Sangha formed in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. The other
prominent leader was Pt. Deendayal Upaddhyaya.
2. Party believed that strong opposition was necessary for democracy. So they wanted to give
strong challenge to Nehruvian consensus.
3. Jan Sangha was part of Janata Party govt. In 1980, over the disputes of association with RSS and
policy of secularism, Jana Sangha members came out of Janata Party and formed BJP on 6 April
1980.

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4. BJP is influenced by cultural nationalism, Gandhian socialism, positive secularism.

Causes of the rise of right

1. Decline in Congress.
2. Demise of the left.
3. Organizational strength till grassroots level.
4. Nationalistic rhetoric.
5. Globalization.
6. NRIs provide huge support to BJP’s policies
7. Globalization has given rise to ethnic politics worldwide, leading to strengthening of religious
identity.
8. The rising fear of Islamic fundamentalism.
9. Economic policy which matches with globalization.
10. The growth of middle class in India.
11. Strong leadership.

Views of Scholars
● James Manor.

o With the decline of Congress, people were left with two options: Left or BJP.
Left ideology lacked imagination. Left also lacked leadership. Right appeared to be
a better option from all perspectives.

● Christophe Jaffrelot.

o The sense of insecurity among the Hindus as Congress policies were seen as
minority appeasement. Congress, which was once an umbrella party, has been
reduced to the status of party of minority.

Left Parties in India

Praful Bidwai, in his book “phoenix movement: challenges confronting Indian left”. Suggests that the
decline of left is an old story. It is surprising that left in India could never take root despite
the prevalence of mass poverty. It is also surprising that youth in India is attracted towards
right rather than toward left.

Initially left was the major opposition to the Congress. It’s vote share was double the vote
share of Jan Sangha (rightist party). Today rightists are in position to form government on its own. BJP
has given a halt to coalition politics. But unfortunately today, the left has got completely marginalized.

Problems with the left parties in India

● Because of their shifting stand during Indian freedom struggle, left could never gain the trust of
Indian masses.
● Neither then, nor now left has presented any serious understanding of the peculiar circumstances
of Indian Politics. They are still dependent on imported doctrines. The principle of democratic
centralism, which does not allow dissent and internal debate has been the factor for weakening
of left. Left in India also has high command culture.
● Left leaders do not have grassroots base. Most of them have been picked up from universities.
● Left agenda was initially hijacked by INC and now by AAP. Congress was a better version of Indian
form of socialism and AAP is a better version of new left.

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● There is a lack of internal solidarity among the left parties.

● The main feature of the left politics is politics of social movements as radical democracy. But left
has confined itself to the electoral politics.
● Left in India has not done the politics of class or development. It has also done the politics of
religion and caste.
● Globalization has made left ideology redundant. Left ideology does not meet the ambitions of
youth in India.
● Left foreign policy is completely redundant. Left has taken up the foreign policy left by Congress.
Today the strongest advocate of non-alignment is not Congress, rather Indian left.
● Left foreign policy is based on anti-globalization, anti-Americanism and pro-Chinese stand.
● Left also lacks leadership. For 2014 elections, none of the left leaders was among the top
preference for Prime Ministerial post.
● Globalization has created foot loose workforce. Hence it is difficult to build and organize trade
unions.

Concluding line

Indian left needs introspection. It is much better if they go back to the original idea of left politics i.e.
politics of social movement, radical democracy, organizing the exploited sections of society and
working for their rights.

Coalition Politics in India

William Riker - Coalition government is the feature of parliamentary form of government. It emerges
in the situation of hung assembly or parliament. He has explained the coalition as ‘power sharing
arrangement’.

Prof. Ogg defines coalition as “cooperative arrangements under which distinct political parties unite
to form a Government or Ministry”. Thus, it can be said that result of the exigencies of competitive
multi-party system in a parliamentary democracy is coalition. It is a phenomenon where more than
two political parties come together to form a government, sinking their basic ideological differences
in the event of the inability of any single party to command a workable majority in the lower House of
the legislature.

Is coalition government unique to India?

It is not unique to India. It is a regular feature of countries in continental Europe. In Europe, Italy’s
coalition culture come near to India’s coalition culture.

History of coalition in India.

Bidyut Chakravarty in his book “Coalition Politics in India” has analysed the evolution of coalition
system in India he held that Coalition is not new to India.

1. The first real coalition at the level of the Union government was formed in 1977, three decades
after independence, when the Janata Party came to power. In view of intra-party rivalry, the
Janata government collapsed within two and a half years of its inception and Congress swept
back to power in the 1980 national poll.

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2. The next coalition government at the Union level was formed in 1989 by the Janata Dal, led by
V. P. Singh, a former Congressman who defected from the party because of his disagreement
with its leader, Rajiv Gandhi.
3. The thirteenth general election, held in 1999, was a watershed in India’s recent political history
for the reason that for the first time, a pre-electoral alliance – the National Democratic Alliance
– was able to win a majority in the Lok Sabha.
4. Emergence of multi-party coalition post 2004 –There has been a fundamental change in the
role of parliament since the emergence of multi-party coalitions as ‘a regular form of
government’ in India
a. The smaller parties became an integral part of governance in view of the changing
complexion of the parliament, which is no longer dominated by a single party.
b. The survival of the government depends on the support of one or more parties which
have different ideologies and different support bases.
c. One of the factors that contributed to the rise of these smaller parties is certainly the
breakdown of Congress and also its failure to represent the myriad social and economic
interests at the grassroots.
5. Emergence of One party led coalition after NDA government - The NDA is perhaps the most
successful experiment in India’s recent political history of a coalition of apparently ideologically
incompatible but politically congruent partners due largely to acceptable common minimum
programmes .The success of the BJP-led NDA Glued by the common minimum programme
avoiding contentious issues, the NDA survived drawing on a clear understanding between the
numerically strong BJP and other smaller regional parties.

Unique features of India’s coalition culture.

Bidyut Chakravarty – According to him there are following difference between the Coalition in
western countries and India.

Western Indian

Coalition in western countries are ‘coalition by Coalition by Political Calculations still searching for
design’. design.

Coalitions are power sharing arrangements Over-sized coalition

and hence in western countries, we see
Minimum winning coalition.

In western countries, ideological convergence But in India Rainbow coalition have been formed.
is taken into account (Different ideology).

Positive coalition to run the government In case of India, negative coalitions have been the
regular feature.

Coalitions have been formed not to run the

government but to stop someone else from coming
to power

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Consequences of Coalition Politics in India.

Unfortunately, there have been more negative consequences of coalition politics. The problem does
not lie in the coalition but problem lie in India’s coalition culture. Some of the negative consequences
are:

1. Policy paralysis.
2. Decline of parliament.
3. Decline in post of speaker.
4. Decline in dignity of speaker
5. Judicial activism.
6. Presidential activism.
7. Frequent elections.
8. Horse trading.
9. Defection.
10. Increasing role of money and muscle power.
11. Increasing use of ethnic mobilization.
12. Weakening of institution of PM. (In a coalition, there are more than one PMs. For a particular
faction, their own leader is PM).
13. Increase in corruption.
There are some good consequences also

1. Makes democracy more representative

2. Protects democracy in turning into the tyranny of majority
3. Regional aspiration can be articulated
4. Regional neglect can be taken care of.

Is coalition desirable in India?

The question is not if it is bad or good but the question should be if it is inevitable or not.

Coalition is unavoidable in a country like India. Since coalition is not avoidable in a country like India
with huge diversity, it is more important to think about how to make coalition work rather than
thinking over its desirability.

Coalition itself is not bad. Coalition make democracy more representative, consociational. However,
coalition may impact national interest of country if it does not have healthy coalition culture. Hence
we have to think how to bring healthy coalition culture.

Thus it can be said that coalition government is desirable in India it has also been supported by Various
scholars like:

Shruti Rajagopalan- Coalition governments may prevent good reform, but, by the same principle, also
prevent badly crafted ideas rammed down by a strong executive. Thus she held that India needs
coalition governments to check executive overreach.

Prof Torben Iversen in his article Titled “Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions”: Why
Some Democracies Redistribute More Than Others’, shows that rise in inequality is slower in countries
that have coalition governments because Coalition governments redistribute resources

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proportionately. On the other hand, countries with a majority government have witnessed rapid rise
in inequality.

Sanjoy Hazarika-If politics is the art of compromise, then coalition politics is the chemistry of
functional autonomy. Coalition in India may be the most representative and peaceful way of running
a nation of such vast diversity, social and economic inequities.

What we can learn from the coalition culture of other countries

1. We can learn from countries like Germany which shows sound coalition culture.
a. We can incorporate some of the features found in Germany, rather than basing India’s
parliamentary system entirely on West ministerial model.
b. In Germany, Chancellor enjoys a stronger status in comparison to the PM of British model.
2. We can also think of Japanese model where PM is elected by members of the lower house.
3. Since the major problem of coalition politics is political instability. Hence we can constitute the
system of ‘constructive vote of no-confidence’.
4. We should rather shift to Chancellors model because in coalition politics, the position of PM
becomes weak. Coalition partners get huge bargaining power
a. Role of PM gets reduced to manager of coalition rather than leader. This is avoided in
Chancellor system. The Chancellor determines the policies of different department.
Ministries have to work as per the policy directed. Cabinet system comes into practice only
when there is a conflict between two ministries.

Solutions for healthy coalition culture

1. India should institutionalize the practice of Steering Committees on the regular consultative
mechanism with all the members of the coalition.
2. If core party goes for greater transparency, there will be less scope for bargaining by smaller
parties. There is a need for reforming anti-defection laws.
3. There is a need to strengthen such mechanisms which can check the corruption among the
members of the parliament.
4. There is a need to bring electoral reform which can reduce the influence of money and muscle
power, the influence of caste and religion in Indian politics.
5. There is a need to introduce ethics in politics.

Intra Party Democracy

Indian democracy has acquired a venerable place among the comity of thriving and robust
democracies in the world due to its unflinching resilience and almost unhindered continuity. The case
of Indian democracy receives accolades and appreciation due to its survival and durability in
unimaginably challenging circumstances through history. But it is contradictory that the chief
component of parliamentary democracy –The political parties itself follows no intra-party democracy.

India has no legal provision to enforce Intra Party democracy. EC regulates party through sec 29A of
RPA but its toothless for Intra party democracy enforcement.

Inner-party democracy is critical for the survival and consolidation of democracy in India. Law
commission in its 170th report point towards the lack of the intra party democracy within the country
as a paradoxical feature of democracy in India.

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How the lack Intra party democracy is reflected in political parties in India
1. There is not gender parity in the parties. –
● Although the participation of the women in Voting has been recorded to be at par with the
men but their representation in the parties as well candidature is not reflected in proportion
to the population or the participation in Voting.
2. Many party are based on dynasty politics
● The glaring dominance of dynasticism in most of the political parties in India strikes at the
very foundation of political democracy, whose fundamental principle is equal opportunity in
political participation.
3. Political Defection and Horse Trading
● It facilitates entry of leaders from one party to another which distorts the cycle of internal
political mobility within the political parties, which is detrimental to the growth of inner party
democracy as well as democratic stability
4. Criminalisation of Politics
● The tremendous increase in criminalization of Indian politics is one of the major threats to
the health of Indian democracy. Increasing criminalization in politics, to a large extent, stems
from the lack of democratic functioning within the parties with the inability to restrain
political carders leading to illegal and incriminating consequences
i. Statistics show that the percentage of candidates contesting elections with criminal
cases in the 2009 election was 15%, which increased to 17% in 2014, but it exacerbated
to 19% in the 2019 Loksabha elections in India, as reported by Association for
Democratic Reforms (ADR).
5. Wealthy Backgrounds of Political Leaders and Bribing
● Another prominent manifestation of the lack of inner-party democracy in India is reflected in
the extremely wealthy background of majority of the political leaders and intra-party
financial hierarchies across most political parties.

Factors hindering Intra-party democracy

1. Institutional Weakness-
a. It is the institutional weakness of the political parties that make their organizational
structure extremely centralized. This is largely because political parties in India are mostly
patronage-based parties, rather than power-dispersed parties
2. Absence of a Credible Regulatory Framework
a. constitutional and legal regulations to monitor Inner Party Democracy of parties is
conspicuously limited and in some instances, non-existent.
b. The Section 29 A of the Representation of the People Act 1951 merely mandates the
registration of political parties. Hence, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is rendered
powerless in ensuring that the political parties conduct fair and regular internal elections
for choosing its office bearers

Way forward

1. 2nd ARC Report: The Administrative Reforms Commission’s (ARC) 2008 Ethics and
Governance Report pointed out that corruption is caused by over-centralisation since the
more remotely power is exercised from the people, the greater is the distance between
authority and accountability.

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2. By Law Commission: The 170th report of the Law Commission of India on reform of electoral
laws, dedicated an entire chapter on the necessity of providing laws relating to internal
democracy within parties.
a. It observed that a political party which does not respect democratic principles in its
internal working cannot be expected to respect those principles in the governance of
the country.
3. NCRWC Report: The National Commission for Review of Working of Constitution states that
there should be a comprehensive legislation regulating the registration and functioning of
political parties or alliances of parties in India.

Concluding lines
● There is a need of an effective legal regime to guarantee genuine adherence to the principle
of inner party democracy in India at the same time there is a need to mitigate the role of
money and muscle power as well as rampant defections and crossovers to achieve it any
momentous landmark legislation in advancing the goal of equal opportunity for political
participation in India is not only desirable but necessity.

Pressure Groups
What are pressure groups

● Pressure groups are associations of people formed to articulate their interest

● Pressure groups are described by Finer as ‘invisible empires’. Pressure groups are considered as
integral component of pluralist democracies. Every democracy recognizes freedom to form
association.

● According to Alan R. Ball -Pressure groups are firmly part of the political process and that they
attempt to reinforce or change the direction of government policy, but do not wish, as pressure
groups, to become the government.”

What’s the difference between Pressure groups and political parties?

● Political parties have a role of interest aggregation whereas pressure groups have a role of interest
articulation (their own interest). Pressure groups remain outside from the govt. offices and
pressurise from outside whereas political parties join political institutions/govt. institutions.

Difference between pressure group and interest group

1. There is no fundamental difference in pressure groups and interest groups. Only terminological
difference.
a. In traditional approach the term pressure group was preferred
b. In behavioural approach the term interest group is preferred.
i. Behavioural political scholars wanted to develop standard terminology in political
science like it exists in natural sciences.
c. Technique and purpose –
i. When we use the term pressure groups, we are focusing on the technique employed by
these groups i.e. lobbying for promotion of their interests.
ii. Whereas when we use the term interest group, we are emphasizing on the purpose i.e.
interest articulation.
d. Interest group term is more appropriate because pressure as a technique can be employed
by opposition, social movements etc. hence this term may create ambiguity.

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Pressure group politics is most influential in USA. Pressure groups are not very powerful in countries
where political parties represent specific ideology e.g. Britain, where Labour party is assumed to work
in interest of working class.

Pressure groups in India Pressure groups in India have also not played an effective role. However,
since 1990s, there is a growth of pressure group politics in India.

One of the earliest studies on pressure group politics in India has been done by Rajni Kothari.

1. According to Rajni Kothari, pressure groups have been, agents of modernization,

reservoirs of leadership.
2. In India, communal pressure groups have been more dominant.
3. However, pressure groups did not enjoy much legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
4. The predominant status of Congress party did not allow pressure groups to gain
primacy. In fact, the status of other political parties was like pressure group. Hence
Rajni Kothari calls them, ‘Parties of Pressure’.

Scholar’s view on Pressure groups in India

1. Rudolph & Rudolph have also analysed the role of caste association.
2. Myron Weiner, in his book “politics and scarcity” has highlighted the role of communal pressure
groups.
3. Christophe Jaffrelot has studied the role of RSS in Indian politics.

According to Prof. Anand Chakravarty

● GOI should have shown greater accommodation towards pressure groups as many
pressure groups were banned under regulations. If govt. had accommodated them,
it would have been easier to address the alienation and secessionist trends.

Changing Nature of Pressure Groups in India

Robert Hardgrave and Stanley Kochanek has highlighted the changing nature of pressure groups in
India.

● Since 1990s, pressure group politics is shifting from state dominated pluralism to more powerful
pressure group politics. Pressure groups started gaining legitimacy as a result of liberalization and
globalization.
o Govt. of India has incorporated different interest groups in policy making institution. Like
NAC, NSAB and now NITI Aayog.
● There is a substantial increase in the power of business groups. Business groups are also part of
the delegation of foreign countries. The tradition of organizing parallel business summit along
with political summit have become the regular feature. There is a greater pressure and influence
of foreign lobbies and advocacy groups.

Status of different pressure groups in India

1. Communal pressure groups, pressure groups of corporate sector, pressure group of rich
farmers, all continue to play dominant role.
2. India still does not have dominant women organization. Environmental lobbies, student unions,
trade unions continue to be junior partners of political parties and many pressure groups
primarily of left wing have been banned under ULPA.

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3. State continues to be dominant actor in India. At times state has been not tolerant towards
certain pressure groups. Recently there was a highly disputed report of IB which has pointed out
that many NGOs are having anti-national propaganda and their activities have been detrimental
to India’s growth. Which has given state more power to constrain the role of pressure groups in
India.
4. Recent successful movement by the farmers against the farms acts which led to the
withdrawal of the acts by the government have established the strong role of farmer’s pressure
groups.
Some pressure groups in India and their successes

1. India against corruption an anti-corruption movement was one such example where the pressure
groups made the government aware of rising sentiment in general public against corruption in
public life.
2. Women’s organizations such as SEWA, NCW have campaigned for women-friendly laws such as
the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
3. In the North-Eastern State of Manipur, many groups including ‘Just Peace’, Apunba Lup (students’
organization) and Meira Paibis (women’s groups) are trying to influence the government to listen
to people’s genuine grievances. Together, these groups are associated with Irom Sharmila, a civil
rights activist known as ‘the Iron Lady of Manipur’ who has been on a hunger strike since
November 2000.
4. The Business group is one of the most important, influential and organised pressure groups in
India. Examples of business groups- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and industry (FICCI), Associated Chamber of Commerce (ASSOCHAM) –
major constituents are the Bengal Chamber of Commerce Calcutta and Central commercial
organisation of Delhi.
5. The organisations based on religion have come to play an important role in Indian Politics. They
represent the narrow perspective and are often termed as anti-secular. Examples of these
organisations are Rashtriya Swyam Sevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Brahmo Samaj.

Conclusion

Democratic politics has to be politics through consultation, negotiation, and some amount of
bargaining. Pressure groups are now considered as a helpful and indispensable element of the
democratic process. Because of the complexities of modern government, and the pluralistic nature of
Indian society, pressure groups provide a means by which ordinary citizens can participate in the
decision making process, as well as maintaining a check on government activity. Similarly,
governments can be better informed of the electorate’s sensitivities to policies, because of the
pressures articulated by these groups.

Electoral Behaviour
The study of electoral behaviour is a result of the growth of behavioural movement in political science.
Election studies help us in knowing the nature of democracy and strategizing party programmes.

According to Milan Vaishnav, the study of electoral behaviour in India is a challenging task because
of size and diversity. But he has analysed some trends in electoral behaviour

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1. When voters cast their vote, they do not necessarily vote their caste. Social biases remain
entrenched in India, but the transmission of those biases into the political domain is imperfect
and may be weakening."
a. While voters may harbour deep-seated social biases, identity-based concerns and
economic evaluations are both in play. The most successful politicians have
mastered the art of skilfully combining both types of appeals.
2. He believes that economics is also important in Indian electoral behaviour - Good economics
can make for good politics in India. Macroeconomic realities are increasingly relevant
3. Indian voters have a long history of electing politicians who are the subject of ongoing criminal
cases
4. Dynastic politics may not be popular, but dynastic politicians are. At least one in five members
of parliament elected in 2014 came from a political family.

We can also put forward the argument of Kenneth Arrow who has given ‘impossibility theorem’. In
case of elections, it is difficult to determine the preference, when voters have more than 3 choices.

Still India is an interesting case study of the electoral behaviour.

It is a big puzzle, why do Indians vote. And vote in such a huge number. And when despite voting,
nothing gets translated into any concrete achievement as far as governance and development is
concerned.

Mukulika Banerjee and her team has conducted ethnographic survey of Indian voters. Survey gives
many interesting findings.

1. Many voters consider that act of voting is an assertion of their citizenship right and duties.
2. Elections are the time when power inversion takes place.
3. People think that it is better to choose and reject who govern them.
4. Some vote out of feeling of revenge.
5. Some vote because members of their caste or community is contesting.
6. Some vote because they think that election commission is doing great job.
7. Some feel the edifice of democracy in India will collapse otherwise.
8. Some even consider voting as their sacred duty.

Trends in electoral behaviour

According to LOKNITI (CSDS- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies), we can see following
trends in India’s electoral behaviour.

● Caste and religion remain the major long term determinant.

● Corruption and anti-incumbency does not matter.
● No difference in the preferences of men & women, rural & urban.

According to study, poor are more sophisticated and strategic voters than the rich. Poor people have
higher dependency on government welfare provisions. They have been found to be more aware and
understand the value of their vote than the educated middle classes, who vote for not anything in
return but as a duty towards nation.

According to Yogendra Yadav, people in India are moving from identity politics to identity plus
politics. It includes concern for identity as well as development.

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Assessment of Indian voters.

Prannoy Roy, Ashok Lahiri, David Butler in their book titled “a compendium of Indian
elections” show that the voting behaviour of Indians is many times more mature than the voting
behaviour of voters in western countries.

According to M P Singh, the credit for success for India’s democracy go to the great common sense
shown by ordinary voters in India. He suggests that we cannot say that verdict of any election was
ever wrong. People always voter for the best possible option.

Socio-Economic Profile of Legislature.

Legislature is the mirror of the society. If we want to understand the direction of social change, nature
of democracy then we've to look at the social profile of the legislatures.

Changing profile helps us in understanding the continuity and change in the political system of the
country as well as in society.

Changing Profile
Shankar and Rodriguez have studied the changing profile of parliamentarians in 3 broad phase:

Until the 1960s:

1. Domination of Brahmins and other upper castes.

2. Representation of SC & ST was because of reservations and those elected were form privileged
background.
3. No match b/w population and representation of OBCs, women and minorities.
4. Parliament was dominated by Urban elites educated in foreign universities.
5. Basis of the authority of parliamentarians was their participation in the national movement.

From the 1970s to 1990s:

● Known as “Twilight” Zone or Transition zone”. It has been described by the Yogendra Yadav as
1st democratic upsurge which has resulted in OBCs coming out of the party.
● Because of certain developments,
I. Green revolution which strengthened the position of OBCs the landowning class.
II. Breakdown of Congress system-rise of regional parties.
III. Presence of indigenously educated parliamentarians increased
IV. Agriculturist and rural elites gained dominant position.
V. Rise of full-time politicians -Students joining politics.

From the 1990s until now:

1. Plebianization of Indian democracy came to be established.

2. Role of caste, religion and other ethnic factors increased. Which has been described By Yogendra
Yadav as 2nd democratic Upsurge which resulted into Dalits creating their own party and
contesting elections based on Dalit identity.
3. Representation of OBCs gone up.

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4. No. of educated parliamentarians also increased. -members from diverse backgrounds join
parliament
5. The rural-urban divide wasn’t prominent
6. In terms of gender, we see stagnation-Until 15th LS representation of women could not go beyond
8-10%
7. Increased criminalisation of politics - Statistics show that the percentage of candidates with
criminal cases in the 2009 election was 15%, which increased to 17% in 2014, but it exacerbated
to 19% in the 2019 Loksabha elections in India, as reported by Association for Democratic
Reforms (ADR)

Profile of parliamentarians of recent 17th Lok Sabha

1. Women representation
o 78 women has been elected to the 17th Lok Sabha which represent 14% of the total strength
of LS--largest no. of women .5% in the 1st Lok Sabha to 14 % in the 17th Lok Sabha.
2. Age and term
o The average age of an MP is 54 years.
o 267 first-term MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha
3. Economic and profession profile
o 39% of MPs have listed their occupation as political and social work.
o 38% are engaged in agricultural activities. 23% MPs are businessmen.
4. Education
o more than 77% are graduates.
o 27% of MPs have studied till 12th class.
o 41-62% are post-graduates
5. Status of criminalisation of politics
o The 17th Lok Sabha will see the highest number of members of parliament facing serious
criminal charges
o According to ADR report, 43% of the newly elected MPs are charged with criminal offenses,
while 29% of them are facing serious criminal charges such as murder, rape and kidnapping.

Profiling the 17th Lok Sabha Christophe Jaffrelot & Gilles Vernier

1. Skewed representation of women

a. With 78 women elected out of 542 seats (14.6%), India stands at the unenviable global rank
of 141st with regard to women's representation in national parliaments. This is still the
highest number achieved by women candidates in India.
2. Resurgence of upper-caste representation
a. The data collected for the last three General Elections reveal that representational trends
among major caste groups have been stable.
b. The upper caste accounts for 28-29% of all MPs, against 23% of OBC MPS and 14% of
intermediate-caste MPs.
c. SC and ST representation is stable by virtue of being mandated by quotas.5 Muslims'
representation remains low, slightly above 4% of all MPs.
3. More candidates with strong economic background
a. The data is largely self-declared and prone to error and manipulations, but provides
nonetheless valuable material, which has been used to assess linkages between crime,
wealth and performance in Indian elections.
4. Occupation

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a. Establishing the occupational profile of candidates and MPs is an arduous task. First, this is
self-declared data and therefore scarcely reliable. The categories used (farmer, business...)
are broad and vague. They obscure their actual occupation behind meaningless categories
such as social or political worker.
b. Data extracted from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), is also difficult, since
many candidates declare more than one profession, or no profession at all.
5. Implications and explanation
a. The portrait that we can draw so far of the Lok Sabha is that of an assembly dominated by
men, mostly Hindu, disproportionately upper-caste, a significant number of whom belong to
political families. These four markers of elitism are further compounded by a selection of
candidates through wealth and the occupational profile of MPs, increasingly grounded in
business activities.

Conclusion

The study by Arvind Panagariya also shows that things are changing and now the economy also
matters. In recent elections, BJP has created a new category. The category of economically weaker
sections.

● It has certainly diluted the role of caste and allowed the emergence of class identity Besides
caste, the region, religion, dynasties have also shaped voting behaviour.
● Recent election shows the rejection of dynastic politics. However, it is just an impression. The
most unfortunate aspect of voting behaviour is the non-rejection of persons with background

According to Yogendra Yadav Political representation faces a paradox in contemporary India. On the
one hand, the practice of representative democracy for over half a century has led to a widening of
the pool from which political representatives are recruited, accompanied by a reduction in the
mismatch between the social profile of the representatives and those who are represented. This
deepening of representative democracy coexists, on the other hand, with a thinning of the very idea
of representation.

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Social Movements

Social Movements

Syllabus - Social Movements: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women's movements;
environmentalist movements

PYQ on this topic

2020 Examine the nature of civil liberty movements in India.

2019 Write short note on the significance of Chipko Movement.
2018 Examine the various causes of agrarian crisis in India.
2018 Critically analyse the environment movement in Tuticorin, Tamilnadu.
2014 Comment on: The dilemmas of the human rights movements in India
2014 Examine the scope and limitations of women's movements in India.
Explain how peasant movements promoted nationalist ideas during the 20 15
2014
struggle for Indian independence.
Comment on: Compare and contrast Chipko Movement with Narmada
2013
Bachao Andolan.
Point out and comment on the historic importance of the document 'Towards
2013
Equality (1974)', for women's movement in India.
Discuss the impact of environmentalist movement on government policies in
2012
recent years.
In what ways do civil liberties and human rights movements influence the
2010
working of Indian democracy? Give your answer with suitable examples.
The environmental movements have challenged the policy and pattern of
2009
economic development in post independent India. Analyze with examples

Social Movements

What is social movement?

● The term social movement is used to denote a variety of collective attempts to bring about a
change in the existing social and political structure through institutional and non-institutional
means.
● Generally, a movement has a class base and intends to alter the existing social order and power
structure or influence policy decisions and distribution of resources at the national or regional
level where it takes place.
● Paul Wilkinson gives the following working concept of 'social movement
1. A social movement is a deliberate collective endeavour to promote change in any direction
and by any means, not excluding violence, illegality, revolution or withdrawal into 'utopian
community.

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2. A social movement must evince a minimal degree of organisation, though this may range
from a loose, informal or partial level of organisation to the highly institutionalised and
bureaucratized movement and the corporate group.
3. A social movement's commitment to change and the raison d'etre of its organisation are
found upon the commitment to the movement’s aims or beliefs and active participation on
the part of the followers or members.
● According to Herbert Blumer. “Social movements can be viewed as collective enterprises to
establish a new order of life. They have their inception in the condition of unrest, and derive
their motive power on one hand from dissatisfaction with the current form of life, and on the
other hand, from wishes and hopes for a new scheme or system of living.”

Philosophy behind social movements?

A variety of approaches and typologies have been propounded to analyse and classify movements.

1. Deprivation Theory- According to proponents of the deprivation theory, some social movements
are born when certain people or certain groups of people in a society feel that they are deprived
of a specific good, service, or resource.
2. Resource Mobilization Theory- The resource mobilization theory invokes the importance of the
availability of suitable resources in the birth of a social movement. This theory thus says that when
some individuals in a society have certain grievances, they may be able to mobilize necessary
resources to do something to alleviate those grievances.
3. Political Process Theory -Political process theory treats social movements as a type of political
movement in that the origins of a social movement are traced to the availability of political
opportunities. More precisely, this theory looks at the social movement in question to that of the
state – or the power of the government in charge.
4. New Social Movement Theories -The new social movement theories (the term "theory" is not
appropriate because it is not one specific theory, but a smorgasbord of somewhat different
theories) arose during the 1960s

Evolution of Social Movement?

The term social movement was introduced in 1850, by the German sociologist Lorenz von Stein in his
book, History of the French Social Movement from 1789 to the Present (1850).

Charles Tilly believe that Social movements as defined did not exist before the late eighteenth
century, although individual elements like campaigns have a longer history.

● Tilly argues that the early growth of social movements was connected to broad economic and
political changes including parliamentarization, market capitalization, and proletarianization.
Evolution of social movements
1. Political movement that evolved in late eighteenth century, like those connected to the French
Revolution are among the first documented social movements, although Tilly notes that the
British abolitionist movement has "some claim" to be the first social movement (becoming one
between the sugar boycott of 1791, and the second great petition drive of 1806).
2. The labour movement and socialist movement of the late nineteenth century are seen as the
prototypical social movements, leading to the formation of communist and social democratic
parties and organizations.
3. From 1815, Great Britain after victory in the Napoleonic Wars, entered a period of social upheaval.
Similar tendencies were seen in other countries as pressure for reform continued, for example in

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Russia with the Russian Revolution of 1905 and of 1917, resulting in the collapse of the Russian
State around the end of the First World War.
4. In 1945, Britain, after victory in the Second World War, entered a period of radical reform and
change. In the 1970s, women's rights, peace, civil rights, and environmental movements emerged,
often dubbed "New Social Movements." Some find in the end of the 1990s, the emergence of a
new global social movement, the anti-globalization movement.
5. Some social movement scholars posit that with the rapid pace of globalization, the potential for
the emergence of new types of social movement is latent—they make the analogy to national
movements of the past to describe what has been termed a global citizens movement.

Changing nature of social movement –Old social movement and new social movement

Distinguishing the New Social Movement from the Old Social Movements

Basis of Old social movement New social movement

difference

Ideological Old social movements are New social movements are post
orientations materialistic. materialistic.

objectives Old social movements deal with New social movements deal with quality of
livelihood issues. life issues like sustainable development.

Class composition Old social movements are the New social movements are primarily the
movements of lower classes, movements by middle classes.
workers

leadership Whether old or new, the Advances section provides the leadership.
leadership has primarily come
from the advanced sections of
middle classes

Techniques Old social movements primarily New social movements use multiple
used political techniques. Use of mediums like art, literature, theatre,
force, protests, demonstrations. nukkadnatak, movies etc. Their main focus
They take direct action to gain is not on capturing power, but on raising the
political and economic powers consciousness.

Social movements and democracy relation

Social movements play positive role in democracy in different ways

1. First, Social movements are the outcome of people’s political consciousness. It is an expression
of people’s consciousness for asserting their demands.
a. It is the most significant feature of a participatory democracy.
2. Second, Social movements encourage participation of people on political issues. While articulating
agenda of the struggle the leaders discuss/explain various aspects of the issues with the
participants. Such process of discourse also contributes in developing and sharpening
consciousness of the people. Political participation and consciousness of the people are
backbones of democracy.

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3. Third, success and effectiveness of social movements depend on extent of mobilisation. Greater
mobilisation tends to expand political horizon and lead to further democratisation of society.
4. Fourth, Social movements express aspirations, needs and demands of the people who can only
assert through collective action and become effective. They keep the policy makers on toe and
accountable of their decisions.
5. Fifth, number of social movements influence policy makers and compel them to enact laws to
meet their demands – advancing or protect their interests.

However, it should be emphasised that all social movements per se do not necessarily lead to more
democratisation

1. History has witnessed in India and elsewhere that some social movements oppose social
transformation. They may be called counter-movements. People are mobilised to resist change
coming from the oppressed sections of society.
a. Hitler, the architect of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, mobilised Germans in
1930s against Jews, Communists and liberals.
2. Rajni Kothari does not justify all types of ‘direct actions’. He said in 1960 that the action is
desirable ‘only if the political change desired by the group involved in direct action offers a greater
scope of political freedom than is offered by the existing political arrangement”.

Relation between social movement, pressure groups and political party?

Social movements are also a type of collective behaviour like political parties and pressure groups.
The study of social movements is also the main concern of political sociologists. Pressure groups,
political parties and social movements are interchangeable.

● For example -Indian National Congress started as social movement, changed into pressure group
and then into a political party.
● AAP started as a social movement and became a political party.

Civil Liberties & Human Rights Movements

Civil Rights
Civil rights are the rights given by the state for ex; FRs are civil rights. Rights which are considered
necessary for civilized existence are called as civil rights e.g. Right to life, liberty, property, equality
before law, right against arbitrary detention etc. are considered civil rights.

Socialist world emphasized on social and economic rights which are now considered as democratic
rights. For example; DPSP contains democratic rights.

Civil rights are based on “philosophy of liberalism”. The basic purpose of civil rights is to check the
arbitrary exercise of power by the executive and to maintain the rule of law.

History of Civil Rights Movement in India

● Indian freedom struggle was not just a movement for independence, but it was the largest civil
rights movement.
● Early nationalists’ demands for basic freedoms like, freedom of press, greater representation in
assembly, agitation against Rowlett bill were all examples of civil rights movement.
● Pt. Nehru was one of the prominent civil right activist.

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o On 7th Nov 1936, ‘Indian Civil Liberties Union’ was established at the initiation of Pt.
Nehru.
o Rabindranath Tagore was made President and Sarojini Naidu was made working
president.
o Pt. Nehru promised that there will no black law in independent India.

Civil Rights in Constitution of India

● Constitution of India is a revolutionary document.
● It is perhaps the first constitution which incorporates the spirit of human rights.
● In India, FRs are also available to non-citizens. Indian constitution also has a scheme of social and
economic rights.
● It was unfortunate that the provision related to preventive detention has been incorporated in
the constitution, and that too in part III of it which became a major human right issue in the post
–independence period especially during the emergency time.

o As per the Recent amendments in the Acts like UAPA in 2019 - The Central Government
will be having the power to declare an individual as 'terrorist'. Which has bring to the fore
a debate by the civil rights activist on its misuse by the government for the suppression of
voice against the govt.

Art 22 provides certain protection to the person detained under preventive detention. In other
countries, preventive detention laws are only applied in case of emergencies like war, but in India, it
can be implemented even during normal times.

Civil rights in post independent India.

Post-Independence there was no significant activism in civil rights until 1960. There has been decline
in the Rule of Law and the rise of police state or overdeveloped state in India after independence.
There was a growth of executive high-headedness, corruption towards 1970s.

After 1970’s

We see the beginning of the new phase of civil rights activism in the country. By this time the nostalgia
of freedom movement was over, economic failure of govt. was on surface. There was growth in anti-
price-rise agitation. Jaiprakash Narayan called for ‘total revolution’. He even called for armed forces,
not to obey the orders of the govt.

Under the inspiration of JPs, the first and only one HRs organisation which brought liberals and radical
together into existence in 1975 (PUCLDR = People union for civil liberty and democratic rights).
However, after emergency organisation has bifurcated into PUCL & PUDR.

Emergency

Emergency was darkest hour for India’s democracy. It was trial period for India’s democratic values.

Govt. imposed emergency on the ground of internal disturbance. Govt. called for committed
bureaucracy and committed judiciary.

Fortunately, democracy survived. Not only democracy survived, it has strengthened the democracy in
country.

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● There was proliferation of civil rights organizations like Citizens for Democracy, Association for
Democratic Reforms (ADR)
● People Union for Civil Liberties etc.

led by lawyers like Shanti Bhushan, who preferred the path of judiciary to ensure the Rule of Law.
After emergency, judiciary also became an active participant in India’s civil rights movements.

Human Rights Movements in India

From 1980s, around the world, there has been growth in the consciousness of human rights. In case
of India also a new phase of activism started in this period.

1. In the world –
a. As the human rights movement expanded in the 1970s, new organizations cast themselves as
watchdogs, with particular and explicit attention to policy concerns. Human Rights First.
b. Human Rights Watch (HRW) was founded as a public “committee” to monitor the 1975
Helsinki Accords which promised to bring human rights reforms to the Warsaw Pact countries
2. In India – In 1980’s the voices were raised by the Narmada Bachao Andolan Activist against the
Sardar Sarovar dam constructions on the Narmada River for the rights of the tribal people.
Civil society working with judiciary has led to the beginning of a new phase of human rights activism.

Activist judges like PN Bhagwati institutionalized PIL (Public Interest Litigation). PIL proved to be a
revolutionary step in providing access to justice to marginalized sections.

Supreme Court, which has been reluctant with respect to Directive Principles, became the champion
of Social and Economic rights. It has given wide and substantive interpretation of right to life, which
includes rights like

1. Right to education – In Mohini Jain and Unnikrishnan vs State of Andhra Pradesh ruled that the
right to education is a fundamental right.
2. Clean environment, safe drinking water- In Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, the Supreme Court
held that the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution is a fundamental right and includes
the rights to free water and free air from pollution for the full enjoyment of life.
3. Right to life for not just animal existence but to live with dignity – Menaka Gandhi case.

Human rights in India after Globalization

Globalization has increased the number of advocacy groups in India. It has resulted in various
international NGOs like Amnesty International, opening their offices in India and have actively
participated in Human Rights movement. UNHRC conducts Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of
member countries. Up till now, there have been 3 UPRs of India (2008, 2012, 2017).
Govt. of India have also established institutional mechanisms like NHRC established in 1993 , Right to
Information (2005 )etc. However, GOI has not been able to meet targets it had taken up after 1st UPR.

Prominent Human Rights Concerns in India.

1. Large number of under trials.

a. 70% prisoners in India are undertrials. At the end of 2019, 3.28 lakh prison inmates were
undergoing trial, while 1.42 lakh were convicted.
2. Poor situation in prisons.

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3. Human Rights violation by members of armed forces in insurgency affected areas. And their
protection under AFSPA
a. the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is back in controversy after Indian Army’s para
commandos shot 14 civilians in Nagaland's Mon district.
4. Extremely slow judicial system.
a. The Indian judicial process is now commonly associated with inordinate delay. The entire
court system is overburdened with cases and the slow disposal rate.
5. Presence of colonial laws like IPC sec 124 A.
6. Misuse of preventive detention laws against political opponents.
7. Caste and religion based violence and exclusion.
a. Crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) saw an increase of over 7%
and 26% respectively in year 2019 compared to 2018, according to the annual Crime in India
2019 report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
8. Negative sex ratio.
9. Hunger and Malnutrition
a. India was ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the recently released Global Hunger Index. It
was one among the 31 nations where hunger has been classified as "serious". The country's
rank has been on the downward trend since 2016
Above analysis shows that human right activism in India has not resulted into any qualitative
improvement. India’s commitment towards protection of human rights is more of a rhetoric than
reality.

Scholar’s View

According to Upendra Bakshi, there is no human rights movement in India. It faces

challenge of LEGITIMACY CRISIS. What we find is not human right movement but
HUMAN RIGHT INDUSTRIES. Advocacy groups, employee management graduates rather
than social activists.

These organizations act with CORPORATE APPROACH rather than attitude of social service. They lack
legitimacy in the country because their approach has been biased. They have raised human rights
issues by member of armed forces but hardly talk about human right violation by militant
organizations of innocent civilians or killing members of armed forces, paramilitary forces by militant
groups.

According to human right activist Nandita Haksar, human rights movement in India has to work within
defined limits. Indian state does not tolerate any activism going beyond the pertinent
of national discourse. Whenever govt. adopts ‘zero tolerance’ towards terrorists, it
ends in zero tolerance towards human rights.

Concluding line

It is to be noted that so long India will continue to suffer threats to territorial integrity, there will
always be a justification with govt. for the violation of civil rights. However, to enhance the credibility
of India, it is necessary that govt. brings reforms in NHRC, give greater powers it with respect to
violation of human rights even by members of armed forces. Govt. has to ensure discipline among
enforcement agencies. There is also an urgent need for police reforms, prison reforms, judicial
reforms, criminal justice system reform etc.

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Women Movements
Introductory part

The women's movement placed the women's questions in a new perspective and working towards
just order was conceptualised in radically different terms. The enormity of the discrimination women
faced and their issues like denial of basic constitutional and human rights, their experience of violence
and the cultural practices which their subordination was invisible, began to coalesce around feminist
consciousness and this provide backdrop to the emergence of the women movements.

Neera Desai observes that the women movement is the organised effort to achieve a common goal
of equality and liberation of women and it presupposes sensitivities to crucial issues affecting the life
of women.

For a concerned action to move towards the objective, there has to be some unifying ideological
thread for various units."

On the basis of the ideological paradigm Gail Om veldt classifies women's movements into two types

1. Women's equality movements- these movements may not directly challenge the existing
economic or political or family structure, but rather aim at attaining an equal place for women in
it and at abolishing the most open remnants of feudal patriarchy.
2. Women's liberation movements. The women's liberation movements directly challenge the
sexual division of labour itself.

Jana Everett classifies women's movements on the basis of two different ideologies of feminism.

1. Corporate feminism claiming a larger role in politics for women on the grounds that they have
a special contribution to make as women
2. Liberal Feminism, claiming that the rights of men should be extended to women on the
grounds that women are equal to men and thus should have the same rights.

Women Movement in India Before Independence.

Women Movement in India was started by liberals like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar. British government has also brought legislations like Widow Remarriage Act, Prevention
of Sati act, Sharda Act. There was growth of human Organisation in different parts of the country.

Issues of women movement before independence phase

1. Women participate in large number and in various movements along with other groups but this
does not amount to a women's movement.
2. A women's movement exists only when gender oppression, specific to this group are called into
question but the participation of women was largely for the national freedom.
3. There was effective mobilisation. Women lacked concrete means for organising themselves into
a unit.
4. They had no solidarity of work and interest as that of working class. They are not situated in a
space that creates community feeling, instead of dispersed.

Achievements

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1. Gandhian movements were not directly aimed at women concerns yet They brought
consciousness among women and ended the stigma with respect to the participation of women
in public sphere.
2. The most prominent organisation during freedom movement was All India Women Conference
setup in 1927. The achievement of the organisation was Sharda Act 1929 and Lady Harding College
in Delhi.
3. Some prominent women freedom fighters who worked for women during Freedom struggle
o Savitri bai Phule - Pioneer of India's feminist movement. She played an important and
vital role in women's education movement in India.
o Pandita Rambai -An Indian social reformer who championed the cause of emancipation of
women.
o Sarla Devi - An educationist and political activist, who founded Bharat Stree Mahamandal
in Allahabad in 1910. This was the first women's organization in India. One of the primary
goals of the organization was to promote female education.

Women Movement after Independence

1. Phase 1. Up till 1970’s

a. Aparna Mahanta calls this years as grey years of women movement. She suggests that was
greater activism in women movement before independence. Activism was stopped after
independence. It was thought that there is no need for movement against indigenous
government. Government will automatically take care of women concerns.
b. Constitution of India is a Revolutionary document in many sense. It has given equality of status
to women equal rights including Right to vote and to stand in elections.

i. Article 15(3) makes it possible for the state to create special provisions for protecting the
interests of women and children.
ii. Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to
employment or appointment to any office under the State.
iii. Article 42 directs the State to make provision for securing justice and humane conditions
of work and for maternity relief.
iv. Article 51A (e)enjoins upon every citizen to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity
of women.
2. Phase 2. 1970s and 80s- Phase of revival and activism.

a. UN declared 70s as a decade for women.

i. It has directed the government to prepare the report on status of women. Government of
India had set up a committee to enquire the status of women in India.
ii. The report was published with the title Towards Equality 1974.
iii. It was an eye opener as it brought shocking facts with respect to women like
1. declining sex ratio
2. Gender based violence,
3. Discrimination and declining participation of women in political and economic
sphere.
iv. It also recommended to constitute watchdog body like National Commission for Women.
b. It has resulted into changing the approach of government towards women. The process
changed from welfare to development.
c. Growth of women organisations including organisation of Muslim women like Majilis, Aawaaz-
e-Niswaan, organisation of dalit women like All India Dalit Women Conference.

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d. Decade 80s was high of activism- Prominent issues in 80’s was

i. Increasing number of dowry death-
ii. Mathura rape case- A case of custodial rape in India of a tribal girl.
1. The nationwide anti-rape campaign in 1980 resulted in the emergence and
proliferation of autonomous women’s organisations in several cities and towns of
India
iii. Sati at Deorala- A case of Sati practice in post independent India. Roopkuvarba Kanwar
was a Rajput woman who was burned alive at Deorala village of Sikar district in Rajasthan.
iv. Shah Bano judgement- Shah Bano case, was a controversial maintenance lawsuit in India,
in which the Supreme Court delivered a judgment favouring maintenance given to an
aggrieved divorced Muslim woman.
e. Approach of government also changed from development to empowerment. Since 6th five-
year plan, government has introduced gender component in each plans.

3. Phase 3 1990s.

a. By 1990s new trend emerged due to worldwide growth of feminist movements. The
nomenclature of women organisation changed. They became more inspired by Radical
feminism and the movement in this phase started developing link to the global feminists
movements. The new names adopted were: Saheli, Vimochana, Manushi, Jagoree etc.
b. Issues in this phase
i. Towards 1991 women movement started getting divided on the lines of caste and
religion. Initial solidarity was lost.

ii. From 1990 onwards Indian politics is getting shaped more by caste and religion in that
women issues also get mixed up.

Overall assessment of women movement

According to Madhu Kishwar, the only achievement of women movement has been
some bizarre pieces of legislations.

According to Neera Desai and Usha Thakkar women movement faces following
challenges

● Challenge of identity
● Women issues are not just women issues
● Division and ideological line along with caste and religion.

So far they have never presented any challenge any charter of demands.

According to Samita Sen

● Women movement is hugely divided on the lines of caste , religion and the
solidarity and sisterhood lacks.
● There is a need of viable, feminist politics.
● They need transformative agencies going beyond class, caste and religion.

Issue of reservation of women

Discussion on reservation before Independence

● Views of Pandit Nehru

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o He opposed reservation. He argued that it compromises merit and if introduced it cannot

be rolled back.
● Sarojini Naidu was also against reservation. According to her, it will impact the confidence of
women. Women can be elected on the basis of their merit.

Towards equality report 1974

It opposed reservation in Parliament and assembly but do favoured reservation in local bodies.
Its approach was reformative rather than radical women issues. It is wrong to think that men can not
represent the interest of women. In India women movement was started by progressive men. Both
men and women should work together for the cause.

Scholar’s view on women reservation

● Ela Bhatt of SEWA.

o She opposes women reservation and suggest that government should focus on economic
empowerment.
● Shirin Rai – feminist scholar
o She also opposes reservation because it does not serve the purpose. She gives the example
of Pakistan. Pakistan national assembly has a reserved seat for women but it does not mean
that it has resulted into improvement in the status of women.

Those who support reservation of women in legislatures

● Feminist scholars Laura Keenan support women reservation and she held that Women
representation has been stagnant for below the proportion for most of the Years. As per the latest
Election Commission of India (ECI) data: As of October 2021, Women represent 10.5% of the total
members of the Parliament. Which necessitates the reservation.

Reservation in Panchayat
73rd CAA introduced reservation for the women in Panchayats with the vision that political
empowerment will be a means to achieve the other form of empowerment. It was provided in the
background that patriarchal structure was most entrenched at village level and it needs to be fought
from the root level.

The scholars who were sceptic of the empowerment

● Sudha Pai - She held that reservation will not lead to true empowerment of women but it will
give rise to so called “Pati Panchayats”. She believed that there are lack of clarity w.r.t the role of
women.

o Sudha Pai cautioned, after brief study of three villages from Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh,
that female literacy, independent voting rights and change in the status in the family and
society are required for women to play active role in the village politics.
Those who have positive view
1. Rohini Pandey
o Reservations for women have reduced prejudice against female leaders.
o Enhanced respect for woman
2. Gabrielle Kruks Wisner
o Reservation in Panchayat has been a key for women’s social mobility.

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3. Scholars like Esther Duflo and Raghwendra Chattopadhyay

oDistricts with female sarpanch/Pradhan -significantly greater investments are made in drinking
water, a priority public goods issue for women.
Concluding line

● Feminist Scholar Laura keenan believe that if Women are not elected to the parliament it does
not mean that they are not talented. Not all members present in a parliament are on the basis of
merit and efficiency. Women are not able to get elected because of the social environment, which
remains poor and hence catalysts like reservations are needed.

Environmental Movements
Global environmental movements started in 1960s with the publication of Rachel Carson's book “The
silent spring”. The next important event for the rise of environmental movements at international
level like Stockholm Conference, 1972 (UN Conference on Environment, 1972). The publication of the
report - "Limits to Growth" report by Club of Rome, 1972.

GoI has been at the forefront of Global Environmental talks. It strongly advocated the principle of
“CBDR” i.e., common but differentiated responsibility. It raises the voices for equity.

However, back home there is no real and substantive efforts by govt. The approach of govt is to bring
certain legislation like Air Act, water act, environmental protection act, EIA, Project Tiger, Ganga
Action Plan, Yamuna action plan.

Environmental movements in India

In the book “This Fissured land: An ecological history of India”, co-authored by RC Guha and Madhav
Gadgil have argued that nature based conflicts revolving around competing claims over forests, land,
fisheries have increased in frequency and intensity, thereby adding a new dimension of Indian
democracy and civil society, the environmental movement also poses new ideological notions of
meaning content and patterns of development in India.

Identification of environmental movements in India

Why there is a problem in identification?

1. Environmental movements in the West can be understood clearly. They come under the
category of new social movements.
2. However, environmental movement in developing countries like India, Brazil have
overlapping features. They have the features of both old and new movements
3. The environmental protests in India cannot be seen separately from the livelihood concerns.
a. Even Chipko movement was not about protection of forests, it was about livelihood. It
was assertion by the locals over their right to use the forest wealth. Unlike western
countries, environmental
4. Movements in India are led by the most marginalised sections of the society.
a. For example, tribal people. One of the successful example of environmental protests is
the protests by DONGRIYA KONDHS the most vulnerable tribes in NIYAMGIRI HILLS in
Odisha.
5. Ramachandra Guha calls the environmental movements in the western countries as "FULL
STOMACH", whereas in developing countries as EMPTY STOMACH

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Types of environmental movements

In terms of approach towards environment we can categorise the movement into two types

1. DEEP ECOLOGY- where protection of environment is for the sake of environment

2. SHALLOW ECOLOGY - where protection of environment is for the sake of human use.

History of environmental movements in India

● In India we have seen protest against forest policies of colonial state by tribal.
● Tribal movements can be considered as earliest environmental protests in India, much before
the beginning of environmental movement in the west. In 1921, Mulshi Satyagraha under the
leadership of Senapati Bapat against the construction of dam in Lonavala hills to supply power
to the rising industries in Mumbai is earliest protest against dams.

Beginning of Environment movements in Post-Independent India

Ramachandra Guha gives four phases in evolution

1. Phase I (in 1970's)

a. In this phase, environmental movement was seen as "interloper" which attempted to break
the consensus when Environmental movements were seen as the luxury of rich nations.
i. Environmentalists like Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sunderlal Bahuguna were projected as CIA
agents preventing the rise of India.
b. During this phase, Marxists in India believed that, ecology is a bourgeoisie concept.

2. Phase II (in 1980's)

a. This was the phase when environmental journalism started by persons like Anil Agarwal,
Shekhar Pathak, Nagesh Hegde.
b. Thus, environmental issues started getting media attention.
c. Govt. also set up a department in 1980 which was upgraded to the level of ministry of
environment and forest in 1985

3. Phase III (in 1990's)

a. The growth of professionalism. The social scientists and natural scientists started producing
the credible data, looking for the roots of environmental conflicts.
4. Phase IV (1990's onwards) –
a. Backlash against environmentalism.
b. Once, govt. adopted neo-liberal model based on private capital; environmental protests
against mining, SEZ were seen as anti-developmental, anti-national Since, the tribal protests
increased, even left wing movements gained strength, environmentalists and human right
activists were treated as anti-national.

c. Earlier environmentalists were termed as "CIA agents" or anti-nationals. Now they were
termed as "old fashioned socialist guys".

Prominent environmental movements in India

Development pattern in post independent India leading to environmental movement

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1. The use and abuse of nature in contemporary India”, they have given the critique of the
developmental model in our country since independence. They advocate empowerment of
the people, proper valuation of resources and knowledge dissemination.
2. Next area of environmental movement has been protest against dams. Nehruvian
developmental model gave primacy to industrialization. Large scale multi-purpose dams were
to be constructed to provide support for growing industries.
3. Nehru called these dams as ‘temples of modern India’. However, temples of modern India
brought lots of miseries to the people who were displaced because of dams. It also resulted
into destruction of forest, submergence of villages. Govt. lacked any strong policy for
rehabilitation and resettlement.
4. Tribal and the poor people were alienated from their land. They lost the means of livelihood
and most of them became destitute, besides these people also lose their way of life, their
culture, their identity.
5. This had resulted into protest against dams. The most well-known protest is Narmada Bachao
Andolan (NBA)

Narmada Bachao Andolan (1985)

NBA led to the growth of new type of consciousness in Indian environmental movement. Many NGOs
and middle class intellectuals got associated with movements. It also got sympathy from outside.
Though NBA could not stop from going ahead with the project, judiciary again favoured govt.at the
cost of the people but NBA has following achievements.

● It forced international donors like world bank to pull out of the project.
● It has forced govt. to take resettlement and rehabilitation issue more seriously.
● It has strengthened Indian environmental movements

NBA has been influenced by Gandhian approach. Strategies adopted by people include Satyagraha,
Jal Samadhi etc.

NBA has inspired various other movements

● Protest against Tehri Dam at Vishnuprayag at Uttarakhand, against Subansiri dam in Arunachal
Pradesh are other examples.
● At present, there are many groups which have come up and have formed “National campaign
against big dam” and “All India forum” to protest.
● Some other environmental protest includes civil society protest against Jaitapur Plant and
Kundakulam plant. They are opposing nuclear reactors.
● Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984) and the way govt has handled it has generated fear.
● Recent disaster at Fukushima further strengthened people’s opposition.
● Civil society groups are working in various areas of environmental concern like air pollution, GM
seeds, impact of pesticides, mining in Aravalli hills, project like Laasa, Adarsh society.

Other Prominent environmental movement in India

Chipko Movement
- Year: 1973-

Ramchandra Guha in his book, “The Unquiet woods ecological change and peasant resistance
in the Himalayas” traces the origin of Indian environmental movement to the Chipko movement
led by Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi in hills of Uttarakhand in 1970s.

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a. Leaders: Sundarlal Bahuguna, Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi,

b. Aim: The main objective was to protect the trees on the Himalayan slopes from the axes of
contractors of the forest.
c. The women of Advani village of Tehri-Garhwal tied the sacred thread around trunks of trees
and they hugged the trees, hence it was called the ‘Chipko Movement’ or ‘hug the tree
movement’.
d. The then state Chief Minister, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna set up a committee to look into the
matter, which eventually ruled in favour of the villagers. This became a turning point in the
history of eco-development struggles in the region and around the world.

e. Assessment of Chipko movement

i. According to R C Guha, Chipko was a powerful statement against the violation of customary
rights by state forestry which brought into focus a wide range of issues regarding forest
policy and the environment debate as such.
ii. The movement adopted unique method of protecting trees known as Chipko or hugging
trees. Chipko movement (1973)became source of inspiration for Appiko movement (1983)
in south. It has also inspired tribal protest in Jharkhand and in Kerala for the protection of
silent valley.
iii. Chipko movement was concerned with livelihood issues of hill people. Chipko movement
was successful in forcing govt. to stop cutting of trees. It also led to change in forest policy
of GoI. Post-Independence govt. continued with the policy of colonial state which viewed
forest as reserve of state. It denied people their customary rights of forest produce.

Save Silent Valley Movement

b. Year: 1978 Place: Silent Valley, an evergreen tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala,
India.
c. Leaders: The Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) an NGO, and the poet-activist
Sughathakumari played an important role in the Silent Valley protests.
d. Aim: In order to protect the Silent Valley, the moist evergreen forest from being destroyed by a
hydroelectric project.
e. Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) proposed a hydroelectric dam across the Kunthipuzha River
that runs through Silent Valley.
f. Many feared that the project would submerge 8.3 sq km of untouched moist evergreen forest.
Several NGOs strongly opposed
g. In January 1981, bowing to unrelenting public pressure, Indira Gandhi declared that Silent Valley
will be protected.
h. In November 1983 the Silent Valley Hydroelectric Project was called off. In 1985, Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi formally inaugurated the Silent Valley National Park.

Appiko Movement
i. Year: 1983, Place: Uttara Kannada and Shimoga districts of Karnataka State
j. Leaders: Appiko’s greatest strengths lie in it being neither driven by a personality nor having
been formally institutionalised. However, it does have a facilitator in Pandurang Hegde. He
helped launch the movement in 1983.
k. Aim: Against the felling and commercialization of natural forest and the ruin of ancient
livelihood.

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l. Appiko movement is the southern version of the Chipko movement. The Appiko Movement was
locally known as “Appiko Chaluvali”. The locals embraced the trees which were to be cut by
contractors of the forest department.

How the Environmental movement in south differs from the western countries?

Environmental movement in South Environmental movement in western countries

Environmental Movements in South is led Environmentalist movements in Western countries is led

by poor whose livelihood are threatened by the scientists

Environmentalism in North is full stomach Environmentalism in South is empty stomach.

Western movements are protectionist and Environmental movements in Southern countries are
conservationist. . Utilitarian and conservationist

Scholar’s view on Environmental movement in India

As per Sunita Narayan

● Environment is not about saving tigers and planting trees. Govt needs to look at
its current development strategy which is neither pro-environment nor pro-poor.
Environment is about democracy. Without giving powers to the people,
decentralisation planning and Grassroot democracy we won’t be able to achieve
sustainable development.
● She has also compared the western protectionism and Indian. It is not about ecology rather social-
ecology. It is human centred as found in the west. In west it is “protectionist conservatism”. In
India it is “Utilitarian conservatism”.

She has given the concept of new environmentalism.

1. In a developing country like India, with mass poverty, we cannot ignore economic development.
Environmentalism is not against economic growth. It is only about looking at both people and
development differently. It demands people should be seen as owners and custodians of natural
resources. Similarly, the development has to be sustainable.
2. According to her, environmentalism is not about planting trees or protecting ties. Environment is
about democracy. Environmental movement are about Resisting the commodification and
monopolisation of natural resources, it is resisting inequitable distribution, It is resisting
unsustainable use and finally It is resisting the exploitative power relations and resisting
disempowerment of communities.

Vandana Shiva

● India’s development path adopted by the government has been a resource

intensive one and has seriously disrupted the ecological stability and life support
systems existing for centuries

Ram Chandra Guha –

● He has been negative view on the achievements of environmental movements in India.

● He calls India as a "Basket case of all sorts of environmental tragedies.
● He sums up the achievement as following

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