People's Struggle  
 		   
 
The seventies and after saw a spate of local popular movements against displacement and marginalisation. These were in reaction to depredations of the State that favoured an industrial complex and development of a modernised economy. In mainland East, it was in Jharkhand, Baliapal, Gandhamardhan, Chilka, and in tribal Telangana. In the north, it was the ‘Chipko’ Andolan.

For the Fish-Workers’ Movement in south-west India, the Narmada Movement in the Narmada basin, and the struggles of forest-dwellers in national parks and sanctuaries, crucial support also came from outside. Urban activists provided logistical and media support, and mobilised financial resources.

‘People’s Movements’ materialised when personal stakes became high, when ‘development’ of the modernisation persuasion impinged on livelihoods – the loss of access to, and control over land, water, and forests. Large doses of revolutionary rhetoric and dogged efforts of activists – political parties, non-party political groups, ‘non-political’ social-action groups, and individuals – certainly helped.
 

 
The Chipko Andolan   
 
This was a struggle of local communities in north India to protect their environmental resources and livelihood. The people, especially women, took on the timber mafia that was indiscriminately destroying the local forests. They literally chipkoed (hugged) the trees, when the contractors came to cut them down. 

The movement, which met with success, has been projected as a success of the then fledgling environmental movement, which it is. But it must be remembered that this was a local movement, for local resources, with local participation and local leadership. No doubt there was outside support that was crucial, but the motivation and mobilisation of local communities originated from local compulsions. 

Further readings: 
Chandi Prasad Bhatt, The Chipko Andolan: Forest Conservation Based on People’s Power. Environment and Urbanisation, Vol.2. No.1. April, 1990. [J.E60.0490EAU07] 

Harsh Dobhal, Chipko: Social Background of an Environmental Movement. Mainstream, New Delhi. Vol.XXX. January, 1992. [J.E60.0192MNS03] 

J Bandhopadhya and Vandana Shiva, The Chipko Movement Against Limestone Quarrying in Doon Valley. Lokayan, Delhi. 5:3. June, 1987. [J.E60.0687LOK18] 

J Bandopadhya, Chipko Movement: Of Floated Myths and Floated Realities. Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai. Vol.XXXIV April, 1999. p.880-882. [J.E60.0499EPW880]. 10 years after, this article examines the created myths about CHIPKO, neither was the movement, one of ‘deep ecology’, nor was it feminist or predominantly a women’s movement. Further the tactic of hugging the tree was not predominantly used. The name ‘Chipko’ meant embrace rather than hug.  
 
 
 
Chhatishgarh Mukti Morcha 

The CMM (Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha) grew out of a spontaneous strike of the manual workers of the Dalli Rajhara iron ore mines in June 1977. 

While it fought for wage rises and housing allowances, it also began anti-liquor and anti-gambling campaigns, with the support of women workers. They also fought government officials who were siphoning off drought-relief funds and succeeded in getting relief for the villagers around the mines. 

When the mine workers were on strike, villages nearby sent sacks of rice to help them survive. When mine fires destroyed the fields of some villagers, the union fought for and succeeded in getting compensation for the villagers. They also did protective work to prevent further fires. 

The people of the villages around Dalli Rajhara are the main users of the Shaheed Hospital, a two-storeyed, 50-bed hospital with an operation theatre, pathology laboratory and labour room, built by the mine workers. Many of the mine workers received training in health and work in the hospital after their shift in the mines. Others work as volunteers for health campaigns in the area and help bring out booklets on basic healthcare in simple language. 

The CMM has taken up a large number of issues, ranging from the fight for basic facilities like water and sanitation to tree plantation drives and campaigns against deforestation. 

Taken from: 
Cheryl Kanekar, In memory of Comrade Shankar Guha Niyogi. VOICE, Bombay. July, 1998. 

Also see: 
Citizen’s Committee, Behind the Industrial Smokescreen: Chhattisgarh Workers Struggle for a just share in India’s Industrial Development. A Citizens’ Committee Report, New Delhi. March, 1992. [R.G00.600]. 

Anil Sadgopal, Sangharsha aur Nirman: Shankar Guha Niyogi aur unka naye Bharatka Sapna (Hindi). Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi. September, 1993. [BH23d.S1]. 
 
 
 
 
National Fishermen’s Forum  
 
 
The efforts at organising traditional fishworkers of  Kerala were first aimed at protecting their  livelihoods, threatened by the introduction of mechanised craft, and the turning of self-employed men into wage labourers. The movement developed a large support base, with the help of which it was able to finally engage in a struggle against international interests that were pressurising India to open its marine resources to the detriment of both the traditional fishing communities and the mechanised industry. 

The National Fishermen’s Forum is one of the few success stories of unionisation in the unorganised sector. Pioneering work among traditional unorganised working class that has a great impact on the industry, and on policies not only at the local and regional level, but also at the national level, is rare. That such an effort endures, and spreads is rarer still. 

But like all organised forces of dissent, its reach has weakened considerably with the opening up of the Indian economy, and with the intensification of contemporary forms of economic globalisation. 

More information and analysis: 
National Fishermen’s Forum, Protect Waters, Protect Life: The Kanyakumari March Souvenir 1989. NFF, Trivandrum. 1989. [R.K51.612]. Essays: Environmental problems in India: Need to protect waters and protect life by Tom Kocherry; National Perspective of Fisheries and the NFF by Pranab Roy, Secretary, NFF; Fish Ecology and fish-workers’ struggles in Kerala by AJ Vijayan. 

P Ibrahim, Evolution of Capitalist Relations in the Fishing Economy of Kerala. Social Action, ISI-Delhi. Vol.43 No.1. Janauary-March, 1993. [J.L12a.010193SOA73]. 

Tom Kocherry, Indian Fisheries over 50 years. Books for Change, Bangalore. 1998. [Available at CED: Rs. 30/-]. 
 
 
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN  
 
 For latest developments: Press Releases on current action in the valley 
(Veena Link to NBA pages) 

The Narmada Bachao Andolan is one of  the earliest networks of organisations  working in the Narmada basin that subsequently spawned collective action against the network of large, medium and small dams on the river. Mobilising support among oustees of various Narmada projects and urban-based environmentalists, the movement was able to forge links in the media, and among international networks of Southern and Northern NGOs. It caught the imagination of the People’s Movements, NGOs, and gained credibility with left-wing political institutions, that are traditionally suspicious of institutions and networks that do not occupy positions in the formal political sector. 

At once a network, a campaign, a collective action programme, a people’s movement, the Andolan effectively brought home the message of the inherent destructiveness of dominant modernisation ideology to urban drawing rooms. 

It was also the meeting point for the diverse set of non-party political and ‘progressive’ social action groups and individuals to articulate, and to promote, an ideological perspective alternative to the dominant prevalent model. 
 
Readings on the Narmada Issue 

Narmada Bachao Andolan, Towards Sustainable and Just Development: The People’s Struggle in the Narmada Valley. NBA, October, 1992. [R.E21b.194M/602B]. 

Arundati Roy, The Greater Common Good. Frontline, June, 1999. [C.E21b.040699FRN]. 

Rajiv Bhartari, The Narmada Valley Project: Development or Destruction. Kalpavriksh, New Delhi. 1985. [R.E21b.603]. 

Ashvin Shah, Water for Gujarat: An Alternative: Technical Overview of the flawed Sardar Sarovar Project and a Proposal for a Sustainable Alternative. Jan Vikas Andolan, 1993. [B.E21b.S60]. 

Justice BG Kolse Patil, The Status of Manibeli Oustees. Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPTEHR), Bombay. August, 1993. [R.E60.602]. 

Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, Megamyths of the Narmada Valley Project, Facts against Myths. March, 1994 Vol.1 No.8. [C.E21b.e010394]. 

Just Released 
Sanjay Sangvai, The River and Life: People’s Struggle in the Narmada Valley. Earthcare Books. Chennai. [Available at CED: Rs. 150/-]. 
 
References on other Movements

Chilika Bachao Andoln, Chilika: Voice of the People. A booklet of the Andolan explaining the issues involved, and listing out the various actions and objectives of the movement. [R.H54.600]. 

Kashtakari Sanghatana. Fifteen years of Struggle 1978-1993. Photocopy. A detailed historical analysis and reflection on their work after fifteen years of activism. 1993. [R.L15.601] [R.L15.4]. 

People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), Bheeta Maati: Our Soil, Our Earth, Our Home - A report on Baliapal Missile Base and People's Struggle. PUDR, Delhi. August, 1988. p28. [R.K02a.20]. 

PUDR, Netarhat: In the Line of  Fire. PUDR, Delhi. October, 1994. [R.K02a.4]. 

PUDR, The Story of Hadmatiya: Adivasi Struggles in South Rajasthan. PUDR, Delhi. May 1991. [R.E23d.2]. 

Sujata Patel, Baliapal Agitation: Socio-Economic Backgrounder. Economic and Political Weekly 24/12. 
p.604. March 25, 1989. [J.K02a.89EPW604]. 

A Victory for the Struggle Against the proposed TISCO Plant at Gopalpur, Orissa. Ecologist Asia, Bombay. Vol.5, No.5. September, 1997. [J.K02a.010997ECA5]. 
                                                                                                                                       
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