New Social Movements in India: An Aspect of Environmental Movements

The Indian Constitution itself contains provisions for environmental protection. The Directive Principles of State Policy acknowledge the State's responsibility with regard to environmental protection has laid down under Article 48-A of our Constitution that ?The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. ? India faces problems of environmental degradation and lack of governance on matters related to these. The new social movements in the Third World show a rare sensitivity to the heterogeneity of the sources and structures of exploitation and oppression. The new social movements can be seen as vehicles of cumulative change in the social, economic and political fields. The role of these people's movements and experiments transcends not only state power, but also the new existing civil societies.