What Are The Major Environmental Movements In India? | UPSC Environment

An environmental movement is a social movement that involves a group of individuals with the common interest of protecting the environment and its resources. The main motto of Environmental Movements is to bring changes in environmental policies and practices. Let us know more about Environmental Movements in India in detail. The main cause of the environmental movements is because of the Industrial growth, destroying the natural resources, and the occurrences of natural calamities. The environmental movements began in the 1970s and grew rapidly in different places. Here are some of the known environmental movements. 

1. The Silent Valley Movement 

The Silent Valley Movement began in 1978 in Kerala. Silent Valley is surrounded by different hills and the movement was to save the silent valley and protect its bio-diversity from the hydroelectric dam. The movement was initiated by the local people and it was taken over by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. Many other environmental groups like NBA, and BNHS also participated in this movement. 

2. Chipko Movement 

Chipko Movement began in 1973, on April 24th in Chamoli District Uttarakhand. The movement was raised to protect the Himalayan forests from destruction. The decision was taken to Chipko which means to hug the trees and stop the private companies to axe them down. The protest drove away the private companies and it became one of the world’s known environmental movements in India. 

3. Appiko Movement

Appiko Movement was inspired by the Chipko movement. The Appiko movement was started by the villagers of the Western Ghats in Karnataka. The movement aimed to stop cutting trees by the contractors of the forest department. In 1983, Panduranga Hegde along with the villagers of western ghats, women, and youth joined the movement and it went on for 38 days. This forced the state government to withdraw the order of cutting off the trees.

4.Narmada Bachao Andolan

Narmada river is one of the major and largest rivers of the Indian peninsula. In 1985 Medha Patkar and other activists questioned the rationale behind the developmental projects which included the dam built across the Narmada River. The movement carried on for many days and became one of the most popular movements across India. In 1990 approximately 2000 people organized a five-day sit-in at PM V.P.Singh’s residence in New Delhi which convinced the prime minister to reconsider the project. But the project construction started in 1999 and finished in 2006 and was inaugurated by Narendra Modi in 2017.

5.Jungle Bachao Andolan

Jungle Bachao Andolan began in the 1980s by the Tribals of Singhbhum. The movement was against the government’s decision to grow commercial teak by replacing the natural Sal forests. Because of that decision, the tribal community’s livelihood was disturbed. The movement was widely spread across Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha in other forms. 

The Movements brought a revolution to the country and they have played a vital role in protecting the plants, trees, animals, and natural resources for humans. It is quite important to raise awareness among people about the environment and its significance to human lives.

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