Explain the major ecological movements in India.
Ecological movements were started to examine the many issues that are interlinked in an ecological movement:
- The Chipko movement is the best example of ecological or environmental movements. It is an appropriate example of intermingled interests or ideologies.
- For villagers, subsistence was the biggest question at stake: The villagers relied on the forest to get firewood, fodder and other daily requirements. It was a conflict between the livelihood needs of poor villagers and the government's desire to make revenues from selling timber
- 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.
- 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 the economy, ecology and political representation underlay the Chipko movement.