PROTECTIONIST MOVEMENT IN ASSAM: NATURE’S BECKON’S APPROACH TO ‘APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY’ AND STATE’S RESPONSE

The study of ecological movements has gained ground in academia in the recent past. In developing countries ecological crisis has its own unique features. Unlike the developed countries of Europe and America, in case of the developing countries like India, the goals of economic development are closely connected with the highly revered project of ‘nation-building.' The developing countries' relentless effort to promote this project with modernisation, industrialisation and homogenization has generated a series of ecological problems in various parts of the world. Ecological degradation has had adverse impact more on the developing countries than those on the advanced ones. Nature's Beckon, a green non-governmental organisation (NGO) of Assam has been doing some tremendous jobs for forest and wildlife conservation from the 1980s till date. As a pioneer of New Social Movement (NSM) in the region, the NGO has been playing an inspiring role in growing eco-consciousness among the indigenous people and building public opinion in this regard among both the national and international societies. Nature's Beckon has been experiencing a series of cooperation and confrontation with the state policies in its conservationist movement.