Abstract
There is indeed no dearth of normative and ideological critiques of the prevalent model of development. There are also several new models being advanced at the abstract level of ideological ‘alternatives’ to the prevalent model. But no coherent view has yet been developed of the numerous experiments, movements and organizational initiatives that struggle on the ground, in the already cramped intellectual and political spaces, to make ‘development’ a relevant concept, a direct experience in the lives of the deprived, the oppressed and the impoverished—populations who have either been untouchables of development or, when touched, are adversely affected and become its victims. It is in these initiatives at the grass roots that another approach to development is becoming manifest. However vague their conception of the alternatives, and however internally inconsistent their programmes might appear to the onlooker, they all share a common perception about the nature and sources of the misery of the ‘left out’ as a consequence of the prevailing model of development.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
The FAO report on Hunger (2014–15) and the UNICEF report on malnutrition (2015) bear out this grim situation in India.
- 2.
On 25 June 1975, Internal Emergency was imposed in India by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi as a stratagem to continue in power after she was disqualified from her membership of the Indian Parliament on being found guilty of electorate malpractice by a High Court judgment delivered on 12 June. During the Emergency, which lasted for two years, the constitutional rights of citizens including some Fundamental Rights were suspended. The Emergency regime was stiffly resisted by several political parties and social activists. For an account of how the constitutional rights were undermined by the emergency regime, written during the Emergency, see Rajni Kothari, ‘End of an Era’, Politics and the People: In Search of a Humane India, (Ajanta Publications, Delhi) 1989, pp. 235–250.
- 3.
For an illuminating analysis of the decline of the institutions of democratic governance in India, see Rajni Kothari, ‘Decline of the Moderate State’, State against Democracy: In Search of Humane Governance, (Ajanta Publications, Delhi) 1988 pp. 15–36. An incisive account of the decline of political parties can be found in Kothari’s ‘Decline of Parties and Rise of Grassroots Movements’, State against Democracy, op. cit., pp. 33–54.
- 4.
The decline of the Trade Union Movement is graphically illustrated by Sandip Pandey. See his ‘The Datta Samant Phenomenon’, Economic and Political Weekly, (Vol. 16, Nos 16–17) April 1981, pp. 1–8.
- 5.
For an account of the erosion of the legislative and judicial institutions in the 1970s, see Rajni Kothari ‘Taking Stock of the Seventies’, Politics and the People: In Search of Humane India, op.cit., pp. 343–353.
- 6.
The political and historical context from which these groups emerged and their typology is provided in my ‘Grass-roots Stirrings and the Future of Politics’, Alternatives, Vol. 9, No. 1, March 1983.
- 7.
The problems faced by the activists of grass-roots movements are discussed in my ‘Grass-roots Initiatives in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 19, No. 6, February 1984.
- 8.
For a critical assessment of the role of grass-roots movements in the politics of social transformation, see Harsh Sethi, ‘Groups in New Politics of Transformation’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 14, No. 7, 18 February 1984, pp. 305–316.
- 9.
For a more comprehensive discussion on this point, see my ‘Alternative Development as Political Practice’ Alternatives, Vol. 12, No. 2, April 1987.
- 10.
The political thinking and positioning of the movements described in this section are based on my participation in about a hundred dialogues with social activists in different parts of India in the early 1980s sponsored and organized by Lokayan.
- 11.
For a critical assessment of attitudes and thinking of various ecological movements in India, see Harsh Sethi, ‘Some Considerations on Ecological Struggles in India’, Asian Exchange Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 49–74.
- 12.
The leading exponent of this position is Vandana Shiva. See her Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India (Kali for Women, New Delhi) 1988.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sheth, D.L. (2018). Transformative Politics of Grass-Roots Movements. In: deSouza, P. (eds) At Home with Democracy . Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6412-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6412-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6411-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6412-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)