(a) Analyse the trilogy between environmental movement, development and tribal identity. (20 marks) (b) To what extent have the…

(a) Environmental Movements, Development and Tribal Identity

The trilogy: development, environmental movements and tribal identity are linked in a triangle:

• Development: dams, mines, industries and conservation projects are concentrated in forested, mineral-rich tribal regions of central and eastern India;
• Environment: these projects cause deforestation, loss of rivers and commons, and pollution;
• Tribal identity: tribes are about 8.6% of the population but are estimated to be around 40% of those displaced by development projects (Walter Fernandes). Loss of land and forest is also loss of culture, religion (sacred groves and hills) and community.

How the three interact:

• Development produces environmental and identity crises: Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha (Ecology and Equity, 1995) describe a conflict between resource-hungry "omnivores" and "ecosystem people" who depend on local nature;
• Environmental movements articulate tribal identity: the slogan "*jal, jangal, zameen*" (water, forest, land) joins ecology to Adivasi identity and rights;
• Identity is used to claim rights: Fifth Schedule protections, PESA (1996) and the Forest Rights Act (2006), which recognised the "historical injustice" done to forest dwellers.

Examples:

• Narmada Bachao Andolan: against the Sardar Sarovar dam; Amita Baviskar (In the Belly of the River, 1995) showed how Bhilala Adivasis' livelihoods and identity were bound to the valley;
• Niyamgiri: the Dongria Kondh opposed bauxite mining on their sacred hill; after the Supreme Court's 2013 judgment, the gram sabhas rejected the project;
• Jharkhand movement: against land alienation and mining, which led to statehood (2000); the Koel Karo dam was resisted and later abandoned;
• Pathalgadi (2017–18): stone plaques asserting gram sabha authority under PESA;
• Hasdeo Arand (Chhattisgarh): protests against coal mining in dense forests;
• Non-tribal parallels: Chipko (1973) was led by Garhwali hill peasants, including women such as Gaura Devi, which shows that forest movements are not only tribal.

Complexities:

• Conservation vs tribal rights: "fortress conservation" in national parks can evict tribes, and FRA claims continue to be contested;
• Romanticism: treating tribes as "natural conservationists" essentialises them; Baviskar and K. Sivaramakrishnan show that identities and environmental practices are shaped by history and politics;
• Internal differences: some tribal elites seek jobs, compensation and development from projects;
• Development needs: tribal regions need roads, schools and health care, so the question is what kind of development and who decides.
• Conclusion: the trilogy shows that development in tribal India must be rights-based and consent-based, respecting ecological limits and Adivasi self-determination.

(b) Legal Provisions and Violence against Women

Legal provisions:

• Criminal law: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (in force from 1 July 2024) groups offences against women and children in one chapter: rape (Sections 63–64), dowry death (Section 80) and cruelty by husband or relatives (Sections 85–86, formerly IPC Section 498A);
• Reforms after Nirbhaya: the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, based on the Verma Committee, added stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks; the 2018 amendment raised penalties for rape of girls;
• Special laws:
• the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961;
• the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (civil remedies: protection, residence and maintenance orders);
• the POSH Act, 2013, following Vishaka (1997);
• the POCSO Act, 2012;
• the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989;
• Institutions: fast-track special courts, One Stop Centres, the 181 women's helpline, the Nirbhaya Fund and the National Commission for Women.

Where the laws have been effective:

• they named and criminalised new forms of violence, such as stalking, acid attacks and workplace harassment;
• reporting has risen: NCRB recorded about 4.45 lakh crimes against women in 2022, reflecting both violence and greater willingness to report;
• the PWDVA gave women civil remedies, including the right to stay in the shared household;
• norm-setting: laws signal that violence is a public wrong, not a private matter.

Where they fall short:

• Under-reporting: NFHS-5 found 29.3% of ever-married women had faced spousal violence, but only about 14% of women who experienced violence sought help;
• Low conviction and delays: only about a quarter of cases end in conviction, and large backlogs persist;
• Police and institutional attitudes: refusal to register FIRs, victim-blaming and secondary victimisation;
• Legal gaps: the marital rape exception continues in the BNS and has been challenged before the Supreme Court;
• Social norms: patriarchy, "family honour" and economic dependence stop women from using the law;
• Intersectionality: Dalit and Adivasi women face caste-based sexual violence and greater institutional neglect (for example, the Hathras case, 2020);
• Debate on misuse: courts have issued safeguards against arbitrary arrests under the dowry-cruelty provision (Arnesh Kumar, 2014), showing the tension between protection and due process.
• Argument: legal provisions are necessary but only partly effective. They have raised awareness and created remedies, but violence is rooted in social norms and power. Implementation, police reform, support services, women's economic independence and changing masculinities are needed alongside law.

(c) Origins of Dalit Movements in Modern India

Social origins:

• untouchability and ritual exclusion: denial of temples, wells, schools and public spaces;
• economic subordination: landlessness, bonded and attached labour, and "polluting" occupations imposed by birth;
• graded inequality (Ambedkar), which divided the oppressed;
• cultural humiliation and denial of dignity.

Historical origins:

• Pre-modern roots: Bhakti saints from "untouchable" castes such as Ravidas and Chokhamela questioned hierarchy in religious terms;
• Colonial conditions: missionary and government schools, army recruitment (the Mahar regiment), urban and railway jobs, legal equality before courts, and census classification of the "Depressed Classes" created new opportunities and a new collective identity;
• Early movements (late 19th to early 20th century):
• Jyotirao Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj (1873) in Maharashtra, against Brahmin dominance;
• Ayyankali's Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (1907) in Kerala, for Pulaya rights to roads and schools;
• Iyothee Thass's Adi-Dravida and Buddhist movement in Tamil Nadu;
• Mangoo Ram's Ad Dharm (1926) in Punjab and Swami Achhutanand's Adi-Hindu movement in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed Dalits as the original inhabitants;
• the Matua movement of the Namasudras in Bengal;
• The Ambedkarite phase:
• the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (1924);
• the Mahad Satyagraha (1927) for water rights, and the burning of the Manusmriti;
• the Kalaram temple entry agitation (1930);
• the demand for separate electorates and the Poona Pact (1932);
• the Independent Labour Party (1936) and the Scheduled Castes Federation (1942);
• his undelivered speech for the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal, Annihilation of Caste (1936);
• constitutional safeguards, and the conversion to Buddhism (1956);
• a contrasting reformist approach came from Gandhi's Harijan Sevak Sangh (1932);
• After independence:
• the Republican Party of India (1957);
• the Dalit Panthers (1972), influenced by the Black Panthers and Dalit literature;
• Kanshi Ram's BAMCEF (1978) and Bahujan Samaj Party (1984);
• newer groups such as the Bhim Army, and mobilisation after the Una flogging (2016).
• Conclusion: Dalit movements arose from the combination of caste oppression and the new opportunities of colonial modernity, and moved from reform and religious protest to rights, political power and cultural assertion (Eleanor Zelliot; Gail Omvedt).