This is helpful for grade XII (humanities) students, if you find out helpful do like and share it. I wish that my approach could help someone.

1. RISE OF POPULAR
MOVEMENTS
Presented by: Ruheen khatoon

2. Contents
 Popular Movements
 Chipko movement
 Dalit Panthers
 Bhartiya Kisan Union
 Anti-Arrack Movement
 Narmada Bachao
Andolan
 Movement for Right to
Information
 Conclusion

3. 1:Popular Movements
 It is a type of group
action.
 Also called social
movements
 It means those
agitation or revolts
done by the people to
get their demands
meet.
-Demands are of greater
interest and welfare of most of
people in a country.
 Nature of popular
movement can be
simple as well as
Popular
Movement
s
Party based
movements
Keeps close
association with
political parties
&follow their
objectives and
ideologies.
Non- party
based
movements
Do not keep
association with
any political
party &
independent
from specific
ideology.

4. 2: Chipko Movement
 It was an environment
movement to prevent 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 the
permission to the villagers to
fell ‘Ash’ trees for making

5. 2: Chipko Movement
 The forest
department allotted
the same patch of
land to a sports
manufacturer for
commercial use,
which enraged the
villagers.
 They protested
against the move of
the government.
 The struggle soon
spread across
many parts of
Uttarakhand

6. 2: Chipko Movement
 Issues of ecological and
economic exploitation of
the region were raised.
 The villagers demanded
that no forest exploiting
contracts should be
given to outsiders and
local communities
should have effective
control over natural
resources.
 Women’s active
participation was a very
noble aspect of the
movement.
 They held sustained
agitations against the
habit of alcoholism and
broadened the agenda
of movement to cover
other social issues.
 The movement
achieved a victory when
the government issued
a ban on felling of trees
in the Himalayan
regions for 15 years,
until the green cover
was fully restored.

7. 3: Dalit Panthers
 It was a militant organization of
the Dalit youth which was
formed in Maharashtra in 1972.
 Though the Indian constitution
abolished the practice of
untouchability , social
discrimination and violence
against the ex- untouchable
groups continued in various
ways:
1. Dalit Villages were set apart
from main village.
2. Denied to access common
source of water.
3. Women were dishonored.
4. Faced collective atrocities.

8.  Activities of Dalit panthers
mostly centered around
fighting increasing
atrocities on Dalits in
various parts of the state.
 The movement provided a
platform for Dalit educated
youth to use their
creativity as a protest
activity.
 Dalit writers protested
against the brutalities of
the caste system in their
numerous autobiographies
and other literary works
published during this

9.  As a result of sustained agitations
,the govt. passed a comprehensive
law in1989 that provided for
rigorous punishments for atrocities
against dalits.
 In post-emergency period, dalit
panthers got involved in electoral
compromises, it also underwent
many splits, which led to its decline.
 Organizations like the Backward
and Minority Communities
Employees Federation(BAMCEF)
took over this space.

10. 4: Bhartiya Kisan Union(BKU)
 BKU was an organization
of farmers from western
Uttar Pradesh and
Haryana regions.
 The BKU demanded:
1. higher floor prices for sugarcane
and wheat
2. abolition of restriction on the
inter-state movement of farm
produce
3. guaranteed supply of electricity
at reasonable rates
4. Waiving of repayments due on
loans to farmers
5. Provision of pension for
farmers.

11.  The activities conducted
by the BKU to pressurize
the govt. to accept their
demands include- rallies,
demonstrations and jail
bharo agitations.
 These protests involved
tens of thousands of
farmers – sometimes over
a lakh from various
villages in western U.P.
and adjoining areas.
 Another novel aspect-
Use of caste linkages of
farmers.

12.  Until the early nineties, the
BKU distanced itself from all
political parties. It operated as
a pressure group in politics
with its strength of sheer
numbers.
 Unlike most of the Indian
farmers who engage in
agriculture for subsistence ,
BKU members grew cash
crops for the market.
 Like BKU other organizations
of farmers were:
1. Shetkari Sanghatan of
Maharashtra
2. Rayata sanghatan of
Karnataka.

13. 5: Anti- Arrack Movement
 This movement in Andhra
Pradesh was spontaneous
mobilization of women
demanding a ban on the
sale of alcohol in their
neighborhood.
 In the early 1990s , the
women of Dubagunta in
Nellore district of Andhra
Pradesh had enrolled in
the Adult Literacy Drive on
large scale .
 It is during the discussion
in the class that women
of increased alcohol
consumption of locally-
brewed alcohol-arrack by
men in their families. Origin
of Anti – arrack movement
can be traced here.

14.  The slogan of the anti-
arrack movement was
simple- Prohibition on the
sale of arrack.
 But this simple demand
touched upon larger social,
political and economic
issues of the region.
 A close nexus between
crime and politics was
established around the
business of arrack.
 The state government
collected huge revenues by
the way of taxes – not
willing to impose a ban.
 Groups of local women tried
to address these complex
issues in their agitation
against arrack.
 They also openly discussed
the issue of domestic
violence.

15.  This movement inspired
other women’s movement
in later periods.
 As a result, the movement
made demands of equal
representation to women in
politics during the nineties.
 The 73rd and 74th
Amendments have
granted reservations to
women in local level
political offices.
 Demands for extending
similar reservations in
State and Central
legislatures have also
 A constitutional
amendment bill –
proposed- but received
enough support from
the parliament yet.
 Main opposition-
women’s groups –
insisting on a separate
quota for Dalits and
OBC women.

16. 6: Narmada Bachao Andolan
 Narmada Bachao Andolan
is the most powerful mass
movement, started in 1985,
against the construction of
huge dam on the Narmada
river, which flows through
the states of Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra.
 Sardar Sarovar Dam in
Gujarat is one of the
biggest dams on the river
and was one of biggest
dams on the river Narmada
and its tributaries.

17.  The mode of campaign
– court actions, hunger
strikes, rallies and
gathering support from
the notable film and art
personalities.
 The Narmada Bachao
Abhiyan, with its leading
spokespersons Medha
Patkar And Baba Amte,
have received the Right
Livelihood Award in

18. 6.1: Sardar Sarovar Project
 An ambitious
developmental project
was launched in the
Narmada Valley of
central India in early
eighties.
 The project consisted of
30 big dams, 135
medium sized and
around 3,000 small
dams to be constructed
on the Narmada and its
tributaries – Madhya
Pradesh , Gujarat and
 The Narmada Bachao
Andolan opposed the
construction and
questioned the nature of
ongoing developmental
projects.

20.  Sardar sarovar project’s
advocates say that it
would benefit would
benefit huge areas of
Gujarat and three
adjoining areas-
1. Availability of drinking
water
2. Water for irrigation
3. Generation of electricity
4. Increase in agricultural
products
5. Subsidiary benefits- flood
and drought control
 In the process of
construction of dam
245 villages- expected
to get submerged.
 It required relocation of
around two and half
lakh people.
 Issues of relocation and
rehabilitation- first
raised by local activists
groups.

21. 6.2: Debates And Struggles
 Narmada Bachao
Andolan was a
movement to save
Narmada. It was around
1988-89 that the issues
crystallized under the
banner of NBA- a loose
collective of local
voluntary organizations.
 The movement
demanded that there
should cost- benefit
analysis of 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 shift from its
initial demand for
rehabilitation to its
position of total
opposition to the dam.

22.  The supreme court
upheld to the govt.’s
decision to go ahead
with the construction
while also to ensure
proper rehabilisation.
 NBA continued a
sustained agitation for
more than twenty years.
 It uses every available
democratic strategy to
put forward its demand :
1. Appeals to the judiciary
2. Mobilisation of support
at the international level
3. Public rallies
4. A revival of forms of
satyagraha to convince
people
 By the end of
nineties- NBA was
not alone- many
local groups were
emerged that
challenged the logic
of large scale
projects.

23. 7:Movement for Right To
Information
 The movement for Right To
Information (RTI) is one of
the few recent examples of
a movement that did
succeed in getting the state
to accept its major
development.
 The movement started in
1990, when a mass based
organization called Mazdoor
Kisan Shakti
Sangathan(MKSS) in
Rajasthan took initiative in
demanding:
1. records of famine relief

24.  The demand was first
raised in Bhim Tehsil-
very backward region.
 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 on the
construction of schools,
dispensaries, small
dams and community
centres.

25.  On papers such
development projects
were all completed, but it
was common knowledge
of the villagers that there
was misappropriation of
funds.
 In 1944 and 1996, the
MKSS organised Jan
Sunwais or Public
hearings, where the
administration was asked
to explain its stand in
public.
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 in
June 2005.

26. Conclusion
 Popular movements
help us to
understand better
the nature of
democratic politics.
 Popular movements
ensured effective
representation of
diverse groups and
their demands.
 Popular movements
suggested new
forms of active
participation and
thus broadened the
idea of participation
in Indian democracy.