NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology Social Change and Development in India Chapter 8: Social Movements

Chapter at a glance

Exercises

Answer

A society without social movements would be very different from the one we know, because social movements have been the main way through which people have challenged injustice and brought about change.

What such a society might be like: 1. Injustice would continue unchallenged – practices like sati, child marriage, untouchability, bonded labour and denial of education to women would still exist, since reform movements of the 19th and 20th centuries fought against them. 2. No freedom or democracy – India would perhaps still be a colony, as the national movement was the greatest social movement in our history; there might be no Constitution, no universal adult franchise or fundamental rights. 3. No rights for workers and peasants – without workers’ and peasants’ movements, there would be no minimum wages, fixed working hours, labour laws, land reforms or trade unions; landlords and factory owners would exploit freely. 4. Women would lack equal rights – no voting rights, property rights, laws against dowry and domestic violence, or education and jobs for women. 5. Dalits and tribals would face exclusion – no reservations, no abolition of untouchability or forest rights. 6. Environmental destruction – without movements like Chipko or Narmada Bachao Andolan, there would be no check on deforestation and displacement. 7. A static, unequal and authoritarian society – the powerful would rule without accountability; people would accept their condition as fate; there would be little social change, creativity or dissent.

Conclusion: Such a society is hard to imagine because in any society there are inequalities and discontent that lead people to organise. Social movements are signs of a living, democratic society: they give voice to the voiceless, make the state accountable and push society towards justice and equality.

A society without social movements would be static, unequal and possibly authoritarian: practices like sati, untouchability and child marriage would continue, India might still be a colony without democracy or rights, workers, peasants, women, Dalits and tribals would have no protections, and the environment would be unprotected. Social movements are essential for a just, democratic and changing society.

Answer

(a) Women’s Movement

1. 19th century – social reform movements led mainly by men: abolition of sati (Raja Ram Mohun Roy), widow remarriage (Vidyasagar), women’s education (Phule, Pandita Ramabai), against child marriage.
2. Early 20th century – national and local women’s organisations emerged: Women’s India Association (1917), All India Women’s Conference (1926), National Council for Women in India (1925). Women participated in the national movement (e.g. Civil Disobedience) and in peasant and tribal struggles (Tebhaga, Telangana, Naxalbari).
3. After independence – a lull; then in the 1970s the “second phase” of the women’s movement, with autonomous women’s organisations independent of political parties.
4. Issues – violence against women (custodial rape — Mathura case 1978, dowry deaths, domestic violence), the report Towards Equality (1974), sex-selective abortion, sexual harassment at work, equal property rights, equal wages, representation in politics, the Uniform Civil Code debate, environmental movements (Chipko women).
5. Achievements – changes in laws on rape, dowry, domestic violence (2005), sexual harassment (2013); reservation for women in panchayats (73rd/74th Amendments); Women’s Reservation Act (2023).
6. Movements recognised differences among women — of caste (Dalit feminism), class and region.

(b) Tribal Movements

1. Many tribal movements were concentrated in the “tribal belt” of middle India — Santhals, Hos, Oraons and Mundas of Chota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas (Jharkhand).
2. Colonial period – rebellions against British rule, landlords, moneylenders and forest laws: Santhal Hul (1855–56) led by Sido and Kanhu, Birsa Munda’s Ulgulan (1899–1900), Kol rebellion.
3. Jharkhand movement – one of the oldest movements for a separate tribal state; it began with Christian-educated tribal leaders and later mobilised around issues like land alienation to non-tribals (dikus), displacement by mines, dams and industries, exploitation by traders and moneylenders, and neglect of tribal culture and languages. Jharkhand was created in 2000 (along with Chhattisgarh).
4. North-East – movements for autonomy and statehood (Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya); concerns about identity, control over land and resources; some armed insurgencies; the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
5. Issues today – land and forest rights, displacement, protection of culture and identity, self-governance (PESA, Sixth Schedule, Forest Rights Act 2006).

1. The women’s movement grew from 19th-century reforms (sati, widow remarriage, education) and early women’s organisations (WIA 1917, AIWC 1926) and participation in the national movement to the autonomous movement of the 1970s against custodial rape, dowry, violence and for equal rights, resulting in new laws and reservation in panchayats. (b) Tribal movements — from the Santhal Hul and Birsa Munda’s Ulgulan to the Jharkhand movement (statehood in 2000) and North-Eastern autonomy movements — have fought land alienation, displacement, exploitation by outsiders and threats to tribal identity.

Answer

Old social movements: - Functioned within the frame of political parties (e.g. the Indian National Congress led the national movement; the Communist Party led the Telangana movement). - Their central concern was class-based — redistribution of power and resources between classes (workers vs capitalists, peasants vs landlords); anti-colonial struggle.

New social movements (from the 1970s): - Not about changing class relations, but about quality of life issues — clean environment, human rights, gender equality, identity, peace. - Often organised outside political parties, as autonomous groups and NGOs; use of media and global networks. - Examples in the West: women’s movement, environmental movement, anti-nuclear and peace movements.

Why the distinction is unclear in India: 1. Indian new movements also involve class issues – e.g. the environmental movements (Chipko, Narmada Bachao Andolan) are not just about the environment but about livelihood, poverty and economic survival of the poor (peasants, tribals, fisherfolk). The Chipko movement was about the rights of villagers over forests for their survival. 2. Old movements continue – workers’ and peasants’ movements remain important, and they have taken up new issues (e.g. environment, gender within unions). 3. Identity and inequality overlap – Dalit, tribal and women’s movements involve both identity (new) and economic redistribution and power (old) issues. E.g. the Dalit movement fights for dignity and identity, as well as land and jobs. 4. Links with political parties – many “new” movements in India have links with parties or form parties (e.g. regional and Dalit parties), and old movements were often not merely party-based. 5. Gail Omvedt and others argue that new movements in India (peasants’, women’s, environmental, anti-caste) are based on the “new” social groups, but they still address issues of exploitation and inequality — combining “old” and “new” elements. 6. Globalisation – Indian movements use global networks (like new movements) while fighting old issues of poverty and displacement.

Old movements were party-based and class-centred; new movements are autonomous and focus on quality of life, identity, environment and rights. In India the line is blurred because “new” movements like Chipko and Narmada Bachao also address livelihood and poverty, Dalit, tribal and women’s movements combine identity with economic redistribution, old class movements have taken up new issues, and many movements are linked to political parties.

Answer

Environmental movements in India are rarely only about the environment; they usually combine ecological, economic and identity concerns.

Example: the Chipko movement (1973, Himalayan region of Uttarakhand): 1. Ecological – villagers (especially women) hugged trees to prevent their felling by contractors; concern about deforestation, landslides and floods. 2. Economic – the forests were the villagers’ source of livelihood: fuelwood, fodder, water, minor forest produce. Commercial felling by government-licensed contractors threatened their survival. The movement expressed peasants’ anger against the state for giving forests to outside timber merchants. 3. Identity – it reflected the resentment of the hill people against the government and plains-based contractors and officials who controlled their resources; it was linked to the demand for a separate hill state (Uttarakhand). Women’s participation also raised gender identity concerns.

Other examples: - Narmada Bachao Andolan – against the Sardar Sarovar Dam: environmental damage (submergence of forests, ecology) + displacement and loss of livelihood of tribals and farmers + tribal identity and culture threatened by uprooting. - Movements against mining and industries (e.g. Niyamgiri – Dongria Kondh tribe vs bauxite mining): environment + livelihood + sacred hills central to tribal identity. - Fishworkers’ movements against mechanised trawling and prawn farming: marine ecology + livelihood + coastal communities’ identity. - Silent Valley (Kerala), Appiko (Karnataka).

Why this happens: In India, a large population depends directly on natural resources (forests, rivers, land, sea) for survival; so environmental destruction directly threatens their economic survival and their culture and identity. Hence environmental movements are also about who controls natural resources — the local communities or the state, corporations and urban elites.

In India, environmental movements combine ecological, economic and identity issues because many people depend directly on natural resources. Chipko was about saving forests, but also about villagers’ livelihood (fuel, fodder) against commercial felling and about hill people’s identity against outside control (linked to the Uttarakhand demand). Narmada Bachao and Niyamgiri similarly combine ecology with displacement, livelihood and tribal identity.

Answer

The new farmers’ movements are seen as part of the “new social movements” because they are non-party and focus on market and state policies; critics argue they mainly serve the interests of rich farmers rather than landless labourers.

Peasant movements (colonial and early post-colonial — Champaran, Bardoli, Tebhaga, Telangana) were movements of poor peasants and tenants against landlords and the colonial state over land, rent and revenue, often tied to nationalist or communist parties. New farmers’ movements (from the 1970s — Shetkari Sangathana, BKU) are non-party movements of market-oriented farmers against the state, demanding remunerative prices, cheaper inputs and loan waivers, using methods like rasta roko.

Topic checklist

• ☒ Importance of social movements (Q 1)
• ☒ Women’s and tribal movements (Q 2)
• ☒ Old vs new social movements; environmental movements (Q 3, 4)
• ☒ Peasant vs new farmers’ movements (Q 5)

Total questions answered: 5 of 5