Social Movements Class 12 NCERT Solutions

Concept used. A social movement is sustained collective action over time, often directed against the state, marked by some organisation, leadership, shared objectives and an ideology. Such movements arise to bring about (or prevent) change on a public issue. So a society with no social movement is one where people never came together in an organised way to demand change.

Many rights we take for granted are the outcome of past struggles. The chapter reminds us that the five or six day work week, the eight hour work day, equal pay for the same work, and social security and pension were all won through social movements. If we imagine these movements away, the picture of such a society becomes clear.

1. Such a society would be frozen and deeply unequal. Without movements, ordinary people would have no organised way to push back against those in power. The right to vote (universal adult franchise), which Box 8.1 describes as a radical break from colonial rule, would likely not exist. People would still be governed by authorities they did not choose.
2. Old injustices would simply continue. There would be no anti-caste struggle, so untouchability and a rigid caste hierarchy might never be challenged. There would be no women's movement, so issues like the right to vote, education for girls, widow remarriage, and laws against dowry and harassment would stay ignored.
3. It would be a colonised or unfree society. Nationalist movements ended colonial rule and brought India independence in 1947. Without such movements, the civil rights movement in the United States and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa would also be absent, so racial domination would persist.
4. Public concerns would go unheard. There would be no ecological movements like Chipko to question reckless development, no peasant or workers' movements for fair wages and conditions, and no tribal movements over land and forests. The state would face no organised pressure from below.

In short, such a society would be static, hierarchical and unjust, because social movements are the main way in which ordinary people change their conditions. They change both the people who take part and the society around them.

A society with no social movement would be frozen, deeply unequal and unfree: no vote, no end to caste or gender injustice, no freedom from colonial rule, and no organised voice for the poor, because movements are how ordinary people bring about change.

Concept used. A short note picks the key features of a movement: its issues, its phases, its leaders or organisations, and its outcomes. Both the women's movement and tribal movements are examples of how identity, economy and ecology can mix in a single social movement.

(a) Women's Movement.

1. Early phase. The 19th century social reform movements raised issues concerning women. In the early 20th century, national women's organisations grew: the Women's India Association (WIA, 1917), the All India Women's Conference (AIWC, 1926) and the National Council for Women in India (NCWI, 1925). Many began with a limited focus but their scope widened over time.
2. Participation beyond the middle class. It is wrong to assume only educated middle class women took part. Women joined struggles rooted in tribal and rural areas, such as the Tebhaga movement in Bengal, the Telangana struggle, and the Warli revolt against bondage in Maharashtra.
3. Second phase (mid 1970s). There was a renewal of the women's movement, sometimes called its second phase. Strategy and ideology changed, and new issues came up such as violence against women, land rights, employment, sexual harassment and dowry.
4. Towards a gender-just society. The movement recognised that all women do not face the same kind of discrimination, and that men too are constrained by dominant gender identities. The goal is a gender-just society. Programmes like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao aim in this direction.

(b) Tribal Movements.

1. Where they are. Tribal movements have been largely located in the so called tribal belt of middle India, among groups such as the Santhals, Hos, Oraons and Mundas in Chota Nagpur and the Santhal Parganas, the region now called Jharkhand.
2. Jharkhand. Jharkhand was carved out of south Bihar in the year 2000 after more than a century of resistance. The movement had a charismatic early leader in Birsa Munda, an adivasi who led a major uprising against the British. Literate adivasis later wrote about their history and customs, creating a shared identity as Jharkhandis.
3. Their grievances. Adivasis shared a common hatred of dikus, migrant traders and moneylenders who grabbed their land and wealth. The leaders agitated against acquisition of land for irrigation projects and firing ranges, against survey and settlement operations, against collection of loans, rent and cooperative dues, and against nationalisation of forest produce.
4. The North East. State formation after independence unsettled the hill districts. Conscious of their distinct identity, the tribes were unsure of being absorbed into Assam. An early tendency towards secession was later replaced by a search for autonomy within the bounds of the Constitution.

A key thread binding tribal movements is the alienation of tribals from forest lands, which makes ecological issues central along with questions of identity and economic inequality.

(a) The women's movement runs from 19th century reform and early bodies (WIA, AIWC, NCWI) to a second phase from the mid 1970s fighting violence, dowry and harassment, aiming at a gender-just society. (b) Tribal movements, strongest in the Jharkhand belt and the North East, combine identity, land and forest (ecological) and economic grievances, especially against dikus.

Concept used. Old social movements worked within the frame of political parties and saw the reorganisation of power relations as the central goal (for example, working class and class based struggles). New social movements are not only about economic inequality. They turn on identity politics, cultural anxieties and quality-of-life issues such as a clean environment, and they often unite people across class lines. In India the two types overlap so much that a clean line cannot be drawn.

1. The old-new contrast in theory. In the West, the old movements (trade unions, workers' parties) fought over class and the distribution of power. The "new" movements, seen in affluent welfare states, focused less on class and more on quality-of-life concerns. So in theory the two look distinct.
2. Why the line blurs in India: parties still matter. Rajni Kothari notes that people dissatisfied with parliamentary democracy joined non-party political formations from the 1970s, because elites had captured state institutions. Yet parties and trade unions did not vanish. Old and new forms work side by side, often in the same struggle.
3. New movements still carry "old" economic issues. Indian new movements are not just about culture or identity. The Chipko movement mixed "red" (livelihood and economic) and "green" (ecological) issues. Tribal movements combine identity with land alienation and inequality. The women's movement unites urban feminists with poor peasant women.
4. They work together in new alliances. The chapter notes that old and new movements join in alliances such as the World Social Forum, which raises awareness about the hazards of globalisation. Farmers' movements broadened their agenda to include environment and women's issues, making them part of the worldwide "new social movements" too.

So in India questions of social inequality (an "old" concern) occur alongside identity and ecology (the "new" concerns) within a single movement. That is why a clear distinction between old and new is difficult to maintain.

In India old and new social movements overlap: parties and trade unions still matter, new movements like Chipko and tribal struggles carry deep economic (livelihood) issues alongside identity and ecology, and the two work together in alliances like the World Social Forum, so no clear line can be drawn.

Concept used. An ecological (environmental) movement takes up the protection of natural resources against a model of development that exploits them. The chapter uses the Chipko Movement to show that such a movement is rarely "only" about trees: it also carries economic interests (livelihood, subsistence) and questions of identity (the hill villagers against a distant, indifferent government).

1. The economic (livelihood) issue. In the Chipko Movement in the Himalayan foothills, villagers hugged the trees to stop forest contractors from felling them. The reason was survival: villagers relied on the forest for firewood, fodder and other daily necessities. The economy of subsistence (villagers' needs) was pitted against the economy of profit (the government's wish to earn revenue from timber).
2. The ecological issue. Cutting natural forests was a form of environmental destruction that had caused devastating floods and landslides, including the heavy 1970 flood in the Alaknanda valley. Villagers valued the forest as ecological wealth that benefits all, not only for their own use. So the "red" (economic) and "green" (ecological) issues were interlinked.
3. The identity and political issue. Chipko also expressed the resentment of hill villagers against a distant government headquartered in the plains that seemed indifferent and hostile to their concerns. So the movement raised the question of who speaks for the hill people, a matter of identity and political representation.
4. Other ecological movements. Tribal movements show the same mix. The alienation of tribals from forest lands is both an ecological issue and a question of identity and economic inequality. This is why the chapter says the line between "old" (economic) and "new" (identity, ecology) movements blurs.

Chipko therefore shows that economy, ecology and political identity were all interlinked. Trees are necessary for the conservation of the environment, but for the villagers they were also necessary for survival and for asserting their voice. An environmental movement, in practice, rarely separates these threads.

Environmental movements like Chipko mix three threads: economic (forests meant firewood, fodder and subsistence for the villagers), ecological (felling caused floods and landslides), and identity/political (hill villagers resenting a distant, indifferent government), so the "red" and "green" issues are interlinked.

Concept used. Peasant movements (agrarian struggles) are the older struggles of peasants against exploitation, going back to pre-colonial days and continuing through the colonial and early independence periods. New Farmers' movements began in the 1970s and involve farmers who are market-involved (both producers and purchasers) rather than peasants. The clearest way to answer is a point-by-point contrast.

1. Time period. Peasant movements are old, taking place from pre-colonial days through the colonial era (for example the Bengal revolt of 1859–62 and the Deccan riots of 1875) and into the independence period. New Farmers' movements began later, in the 1970s, in Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
2. Who takes part. Peasant movements involve peasants. New Farmers' movements involve farmers, who are said to be market-involved as both commodity producers and purchasers, not subsistence peasants.
3. Key examples and organisation. The classic peasant struggles at the time of Independence were the Tebhaga movement (1946–47), a struggle of sharecroppers in Bengal for two thirds of the produce, and the Telangana movement (1946–51) against feudal conditions in the princely state of Hyderabad. Peasants were organised by bodies like the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929) and the All India Kisan Sabha (1936), often linked to the Communist Party of India (CPI). New Farmers' movements were regionally organised and non-party.
4. Ideology and demands. Peasant movements demanded freedom from economic exploitation for peasants, workers and other exploited classes. The New Farmers' movements were strongly anti-state and anti-urban, and their focus was "price and related issues" such as price procurement, remunerative prices, prices for agricultural inputs, taxation and non-repayment of loans.
5. Methods. Peasant struggles often involved revolts against landlords and the colonial state. New Farmers' movements used novel methods of agitation such as blocking roads and railways, and refusing politicians' and bureaucrats' entry to villages. They also broadened their agenda to include environment and women's issues, so they are seen as part of the worldwide "new social movements".

In short, peasant movements are older, peasant-based, often party-linked and aimed at ending exploitation, while New Farmers' movements are recent, farmer-based, non-party, market-focused and built around remunerative prices and related demands.

Peasant movements: old (pre-colonial to Tebhaga 1946–47 and Telangana 1946–51), peasant-based, organised by the Kisan Sabhas and linked to the CPI, demanding an end to exploitation. New Farmers' movements: from the 1970s in Punjab and Tamil Nadu, farmer-based, non-party, anti-state and anti-urban, focused on remunerative "price and related issues".