Over the last two decades, environmental activism in India has matured into a strong voice which demands a new order of development that is both socially just and ecologically sustainable.
In the period immediately after Independence, a majority of Indians who were politically and socially concerned were mobilised in the massive exercise of "nation-building". Propagated by the team of planners and political leaders led by Jawaharlal Nehru, mega-development projects were seen as the pillars on which would be based the country's "quantum leap" from a "backward" to a modern society,
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, groups and communities across the Sub-Continent had protested against the exploitative policies of the colonial government. From widespread forest-based movements in the Himalayan foothills to revolts and demonstration in tribal areas all over, these assertions represent a long-standing commitment to among the people to protect their natural resource heritage. However, the voices advocating a more sustainable use of natural resources were temporarily stilled during the initial years of independence, swamped by the focus on mega-development.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, it became increasingly clear that the existing development policies and projects were leading to intensive ecological degradation and the wresting from millions their sources of livelihood. With ecological collapse in many areas, large numbers of people lost their access and control over productive resources like land, forests and water.