Social Movements — Sociology STD 12 Humanities — Question
CBSE BoardEnglish MediumSTD 12 HumanitiesSociologySocial Movements6 Marks
Question
Describe the ecological movements.
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Answer
Need for ecological movements:
For much of the modern period the greatest emphasis has been laid on development.
Over the decades there has been a great deal of concern about the unchecked use of natural resources and a model of development that creates new needs that further demands greater exploitation of the already depleted natural resources.
This model of development has also been critiqued for assuming that all sections of people will be beneficiaries of development.
Thus big dams displace people from their homes and sources of livelihood. Industries displace agriculturalists from their homes and livelihood.
One example of an ecological movement to examine the many issues that are interlinked in an ecological movement is the Chipko Movement.
The Chipko Movement:
The Chipko Movement, in the Himalayan foothills, is a good example of such intermingled interests and ideologies.
According to Ramachandra Guha in his book Unquiet Woods, villagers rallied together to save the oak and rhododendron forests near their villages.
When government forest contractors came to cut down the trees, villagers, including large numbers of women, stepped forward to hug the trees to prevent their being felled. At stake was the question of villagers' subsistence.
All of them relied on the forest to get firewood, fodder and other daily necessities.
This conflict placed the livelihood needs of poor villagers against the government's desire to generate revenues from selling timber.
The economy of subsistence was pitted against the economy of profit.
Along with this issue of social inequality (villagers versus a government that represented commercial, capitalist interests), the Chipko movement also raised the issue of ecological sustainability.
Cutting down natural forests was a form of environmental destruction that had resulted in devastating floods and landslides in the region.
For the villagers, these 'red' and 'green' issues were inter-linked. While their survival ecological wealth that benefits all.
In addition, the Chipko movement also expressed the resentment of hill villagers against a distant government headquartered in the plains that seemed indifferent and hostile to their concerns.
So concerns about economy, ecology and political representation underlay the Chipko movement.
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