Rise of Popular Movements 

In the 1970s, diverse social groups like women, students, Dalits and farmers felt that democratic politics did not address their needs and demands. Therefore, they came together under the banner of various social organisations to voice their demands. These assertions marked the rise of popular movements or new social movements in Indian politics.

Nature of Popular Movements 

The nature of popular movements can be simple as well as complex. Popular movements may take the form of social movements or political movements and there is often an overlap between the two. Mostly popular movements are classified as Party based Movements and Non Party based Movements. 

Party based Movements

Party Based Movements are those movements which keep close association with political parties and follow their objectives and ideologies. 

Deliberations on social and economic issues during the colonial period gave rise to independent social movements like the anti-caste movement, the kisan sabhas and the trade union movements in the early twentieth century. These movements raised issues related to some underlying social conflicts.

One of the most popular, party based movements is Peasants and agricultural labourers in parts of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and adjoining areas continued their agitations under the leadership of the Marxist-Leninist workers, who were known as the Naxalites.

The ‘peasants and the workers’ movements mainly focused on issues of economic injustice and inequality. These movements did not participate in elections formally. And yet they retained connections with political parties, as many participants in these movements, as individuals and as organisations, were actively associated with parties. These links ensured a better representation of the demands of diverse social sections in party politics.

Non Party Movements

Non-Party Movements do not keep association with any political parties and are independent from specific ideologies.

In spite of the impressive growth in many sectors of economy in the first twenty years of independence, poverty and inequalities persisted on a large scale. This generated a sense of injustice and deprivation grew among different groups. 

The middle class young activists launched service organisations and constructive programmes among rural poor. Because of the voluntary nature of their social work, many of these organisations came to be known as voluntary organisations or voluntary sector organisations.

Most of these groups believed in politics and wanted to participate in it, but not through political parties. Hence, these organisations were called ‘non-party political formations’.

Popular Movements

Some of the popular movements are:

1. Chipko Movement :  A protesting against the practices of commercial logging that the government had permitted. These protests marked the beginning of a world famous environmental movement in our country i.e, Chipko Movement. 

The Chipko movement was an environmental movement to prevent the cutting down of trees. It demanded that local communities should have control over their natural resources. The movement began in some villages of Uttarakhand in early 1973 when the forest department refused permission to the villagers to fell ash trees for making agricultural tools.

The movement took up economic issues of landless forest workers and asked for guarantees of minimum wage. Issues of ecological and economic exploitation of the region were raised. Women’s active participation was the most novel aspect of the movement.

The movement achieved a victory when the government issued a ban on felling of trees in the Himalayan regions for fifteen years, until the green cover was fully restored.

The Chipko movement, which started over a single issue, became a symbol of many such popular movements emerging in different parts of the country during the 1970s and later.

2. Dalit Panthers  :  The dalit panthers are a social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination.

(i). Origin

Dalit Panthers, a militant organisation of the Dalit youth, was formed in Maharashtra in 1972. In the post-Independence period, Dalit groups were mainly fighting against the perpetual caste based inequalities and material injustices that the Dalits faced in spite of constitutional guarantees of equality and justice.Legal mechanisms proved inadequate to stop the economic and social oppression of Dalits. Effective implementation of reservations and other such policies of social justice was one of their prominent demands. The Dalit Panthers resorted to mass action for assertion of Dalits’ rights.

(ii). Activities

Activities of dalit panthers mostly centered around fighting increasing atrocities on dalits in various parts of the state. The government passed a comprehensive law in 1989 that provided for rigorous punishment. The larger ideological agenda of the Panthers was to destroy the caste system and to build an organisation of all oppressed sections. The movement provided a platform for Dalit educated youth to use their creativity as a protest activity. In the post emergency period, Dalit Panthers got involved in electoral compromises: it aslo under went many splits, which led to decline.  

3. Bharatiya Kisan Union : Bharatiya Kisan Union is a non -partisan farmers representation organisation in India.

(i). Growth

BKU, an organisation of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana regions. The BKU demanded higher government floor prices for sugarcane and wheat, abolition of restrictions on the inter-state movement of farm produce, guaranteed supply of electricity at reasonable rates, waiving of repayments due on loans to farmers and the provision of a government pension for farmers. The debate between industry and agriculture has been one of the prominent issues in India's model of development. This debate came alive once again in the 1980s when the agricultural sector came under threat due to economic policies of liberalisation.

(ii). Characteristics

The BKU to pressurise the state for accepting its demands included rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins, and jail bharo agitations. Another novel aspect of these mobilisations was the use of caste linkages of farmers. Most of the BKU members belonged to a single community. The organisation used traditional caste panchayats of these communities in bringing them together over economic issues. Until the early nineties, the BKU distanced itself from all political parties. Unlike most of the Indian farmers who engage in agriculture for subsistence, members of the organisations like the BKU grew cash crops for the market. Like BKU, other farmer organisations are Shetkari Sanghatana of Maharashtra and Rayata Sangha of Karnataka.

3. Anti- Arrack Movement : The Anti Arrack Movement was a mass uprising of women against the production and sale of liquor - Arrack(means alcoholic spirit). It is a different kind of mobilisation which took shape in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. Rural women in remote villages from the State of Andhra Pradesh fought a battle against alcoholism, against mafias and against the government during this period.

(i). Origin

During the early 1990s, Dubagunta in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, women had enrolled in the Adult Literacy Drive. It is during the discussion in the class that women complained of increased consumption of brewed alcohol by men in their families. Origin of the anti-arrack movement can be traced here.

(ii). Linkages

The slogan of the anti-arrack movement was simple — prohibition on the sale of arrack. But this simple demand touched upon larger social, economic and political issues of the region that affected women’s life. This movement openly discussed the issues of domestic violence, sexual violence, dowry etc. These campaigns contributed a great deal in increasing overall social awareness about women’s questions. Focus of the women’s movement gradually shied from legal reforms to open social confrontations.

5. Narmada Bachao Andolan : Narmada Bachao Andolan is an Indian Social Movement spearheaded by native tribes, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights activists against a number of large dams projects across river Narmada. This movement was against the displacement caused by huge development projects.

(i). Sardar Sarovar Project

Sardar sarovar project is a multi purpose project and an ambitious developmental project was launched in the Narmada valley of central India in the early 1980s. The project consisted of big and small dams to be constructed on the Narmada and its tributaries that flow across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Narmada Bachao Aandolan, a movement to save river Narmada. It was around 1988-89 that the issues crystallised under the banner of the NBA - a loose collective of all local voluntary organisations.

(ii). Debates and Struggles

It demanded that there should be a cost-benefit analysis of the major developmental projects. The social costs included forced resettlement of the project-affected people, a serious loss of their means of livelihood and culture and depletion of ecological resources. Many considerations led the NBA to shi from its initial demand for rehabilitation to its position of total opposition to the dam. A comprehensive National Rehabilitation Policy formed by the government in 2003. The Supreme Court Court upheld the government’s decision to go ahead with the construction of the dam while also instructing to ensure proper rehabilitation. Narmada Bachao Aandolan continued a sustained agitation for more than twenty years. It used every available democratic strategy to put forward its demands.

Lessons from Popular Movements

To understand better the nature of democratic politics. These movements came up to rectify some problems in the functioning of party politics and should be seen as an integral part of our democratic politics. Popular movements ensured effective representation of diverse groups and their demands. This reduced the possibility of deep social conflict and disaffection of these groups from democracy. Popular movements suggested new forms of active participation and thus broadened the idea of participation in Indian democracy. Critics of these movements oen argue that collective actions like strikes, sit-ins and rallies disrupt the functioning of the government, delay decision making and destabilise the routines of democracy. Any effective protest against these policies involves assertive forms of action that are taken up by the popular movements outside the framework of political parties.

Movement of Right to Information

The movement started in 1990, when a mass based organisation called the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan took the initiative in demanding records of famine relief work and accounts of labourers. The villagers asserted their right to information by asking for copies of bills and vouchers and names of persons on the muster rolls who have been paid wages and misappropriation of funds which was allocated for development projects. The movement had a small success when they could force an amendment in the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act to permit the public to procure certified copies of documents held by the Panchayats. In 1996 MKSS formed the National Council for People’s Right to Information in Delhi to raise RTI to the status of a national campaign. In 2002, a weak Freedom of Information Act was legislated but never came into force. In 2004 RTI Bill was tabled and received presidential assent and became law in June 2005. 

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