420
R. V. D’ Souza
2.2 Major Ecological Movements in India
The making of India’s ecological consciousness could be located in the developments
of the launching of ‘Project Tiger’. It was one of the intensive conservation initiatives
to save the tiger with the Government of India declaring the tiger as the national
animal in 1973. The animated conservationists in India shored up by the international
agencies, such as World Wildlife Fund and International Union for the Conservation
of Nature, persuaded the government to create a network of national parks and
sanctuaries. It resulted in 47 tiger reserves spreading out in 18 tiger range states
promoting the conservation of other endangered species on similar lines (MoEF). In
the same year B. B. Vora, a higher official in the Ministry of Agriculture, published
the article titled “A Charter for the Land”, in the popular journal Economic and
Political Weekly, analysing various forms of land degradation and sought to raise
ecological consciousness. Further, the Department of Environment set up in 1980
and a full-fledged Ministry of Environment and Forests established in 1985 are seen
as the outcome of such an initiative (Guha 1992).
In the same year, the people’s participatory movement to conserve ecology made
its debut through a unique initiative called “Chipko”. A group of peasants in Mandal,
a remote Himalayan village, stopped a group of loggers from felling a stand of trees
by hugging the trees, their action culminating in a series of protests reverberating
throughout the nation. The movement revolved around issues relating to ecology,
equity and social justice and promoted ecological dialogue. Several such other vibrant
movements began to pop up, voicing ecological concerns throughout India.
These movements were instrumental in creating public awareness in balancing
ecological concerns and development. As a result, the developmental projects that
were antithetical to ecological conservation faced huge opposition and promoted
dialogue of participatory, community-based natural resource management systems
initiatives (Geetanjoy 2007). Two approaches to ecological concerns came to vie
for policy attention: “a gentrified view of nature under siege protected by strong
centralised efforts, and a populist view that seeks to redress the deeper systemic
roots of the crisis by building on the experiences and struggles of those directly
reliant on resource harvesting” (Rangarajan 1998).
The popular aspirations to conserve Western Ghats were manifested in ‘Appiko
Chaluvali’, a people’s movement that started on 08 September in 1983. A group of
around 70 villagers from the Salkani village of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka
State stood hugging the trees of the Kalse forests, led by environmental activist
Panduranga Hegde, against tree felling.
5 Falling within the state of Karnataka this
movement gives a glimpse of the larger Indian experience on ecological sensibility
bearing on a locality and in turn spilling over to other regions. Fashioned after the
Himalayan Chipko movement in India, it is a watershed movement in the history of
the Karnataka State’s protest movements. An all-time record of 1.2 million saplings
5 Appiko means “to hug” in Kannada. Villagers embraced the trees to be felled by contractors of
the forest department. The protest continued for 38 days and the agitation spread to other places,
launching the movement in 8 areas covering the entire Sirsi forest division.
R. V. D’ Souza
2.2 Major Ecological Movements in India
The making of India’s ecological consciousness could be located in the developments
of the launching of ‘Project Tiger’. It was one of the intensive conservation initiatives
to save the tiger with the Government of India declaring the tiger as the national
animal in 1973. The animated conservationists in India shored up by the international
agencies, such as World Wildlife Fund and International Union for the Conservation
of Nature, persuaded the government to create a network of national parks and
sanctuaries. It resulted in 47 tiger reserves spreading out in 18 tiger range states
promoting the conservation of other endangered species on similar lines (MoEF). In
the same year B. B. Vora, a higher official in the Ministry of Agriculture, published
the article titled “A Charter for the Land”, in the popular journal Economic and
Political Weekly, analysing various forms of land degradation and sought to raise
ecological consciousness. Further, the Department of Environment set up in 1980
and a full-fledged Ministry of Environment and Forests established in 1985 are seen
as the outcome of such an initiative (Guha 1992).
In the same year, the people’s participatory movement to conserve ecology made
its debut through a unique initiative called “Chipko”. A group of peasants in Mandal,
a remote Himalayan village, stopped a group of loggers from felling a stand of trees
by hugging the trees, their action culminating in a series of protests reverberating
throughout the nation. The movement revolved around issues relating to ecology,
equity and social justice and promoted ecological dialogue. Several such other vibrant
movements began to pop up, voicing ecological concerns throughout India.
These movements were instrumental in creating public awareness in balancing
ecological concerns and development. As a result, the developmental projects that
were antithetical to ecological conservation faced huge opposition and promoted
dialogue of participatory, community-based natural resource management systems
initiatives (Geetanjoy 2007). Two approaches to ecological concerns came to vie
for policy attention: “a gentrified view of nature under siege protected by strong
centralised efforts, and a populist view that seeks to redress the deeper systemic
roots of the crisis by building on the experiences and struggles of those directly
reliant on resource harvesting” (Rangarajan 1998).
The popular aspirations to conserve Western Ghats were manifested in ‘Appiko
Chaluvali’, a people’s movement that started on 08 September in 1983. A group of
around 70 villagers from the Salkani village of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka
State stood hugging the trees of the Kalse forests, led by environmental activist
Panduranga Hegde, against tree felling.
5 Falling within the state of Karnataka this
movement gives a glimpse of the larger Indian experience on ecological sensibility
bearing on a locality and in turn spilling over to other regions. Fashioned after the
Himalayan Chipko movement in India, it is a watershed movement in the history of
the Karnataka State’s protest movements. An all-time record of 1.2 million saplings
5 Appiko means “to hug” in Kannada. Villagers embraced the trees to be felled by contractors of
the forest department. The protest continued for 38 days and the agitation spread to other places,
launching the movement in 8 areas covering the entire Sirsi forest division.