A quick summary of Social Movements (Book 2, Chapter 8) for revision right before the exam: every definition, the named facts, and the key figures. Read the full notes separately for detailed explanations and examples.
1 What Is a Social Movement?
4Features: sustained action, organisation, shared objectives, an orientation to change
7Opposition named: sati (Dharma Sabha), girls’ education, widow remarriage, caste-in-schools, peasant movements suppressed, retaliation against Dalit movements, reservation
2 Three Types of Social Movements
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Redemptive | Change in personal consciousness/actions | Ezhava community, Narayana Guru |
| Reformist | Gradual, incremental change | States reorganisation (1960s), RTI campaign |
| Revolutionary | Radical change, often captures state power | Bolshevik revolution, Naxalite movement |
3 Old vs New Social Movements
Old
- Political-party frame (INC, Communist Party of China)
- Goal: reorganise power relations
New
- Quality-of-life/identity issues, e.g. clean environment
- Cross-class, international (World Social Forum)
1970sRajni Kothari on India’s social-movement surge
4 The Chipko Movement
1970Alaknanda valley flood: 100 sq km inundated, 6 bridges/10 km road washed away, 366 houses collapsed, 500 acres paddy destroyed
DGSSDashauli Gram Swaraja Sangh, cooperative organisation, Chamoli district, took up villagers’ cause
Reni forestGaura Devi, head of the Mahila Mandal, mobilised women; labourers forced to retire
Since 2014Namami Gange and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
5 Peasant and Workers’ Movements
| Event/Body | Year |
|---|---|
| Deccan riots (against moneylenders) | 1875 |
| Champaran Satyagraha | 1917-18 |
| Protests against British and local rulers’ forest policies | 1920s |
| Bardoli Satyagraha | 1928 |
| Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha | 1929 |
| All India Kisan Sabha | 1936 |
| Tebhaga movement | 1946-47 |
| Telangana movement | 1946-51 |
| Naxalbari uprising | 1967 |
| First trade union (B.P. Wadia, Madras) | 1918 |
| AITUC formed | 1920 |
| INTUC formed | 1947 |
| Major railway workers’ strike | 1974 |
1
Peasant movements
Localised, tied to land revenue/indigo; later partially linked to the freedom movement
2
New Farmers’ Movements
1970s, Punjab/Tamil Nadu; non-party, anti-state/anti-urban, price-focused
6 Caste-Based Movements
All definitions in one place
DalitPoor and oppressed persons; new political sense from early-1970s neo-Buddhist Ambedkarite usage
Horizontal stretchSimilarly-placed caste groups uniting for social/political identity
| Movement | Region |
|---|---|
| Satnami Movement | Chhattisgarh plains, eastern MP |
| Adi Dharma Movement | Punjab |
| Mahar Movement | Maharashtra |
| Jatavas’ mobilisation | Agra |
| Anti-Brahman Movement | South India |
“Reformist”Box 8.7’s final verdict on the Dalit movement, on the whole
1872 / 1918 / 1925“Backward Classes” usage: Madras / Mysore / Bombay
88Backward Class organisations counted by 1954
7 Tribal Movements
1
Jharkhand
Formed 2000; Birsa Munda; dikus (migrant traders/moneylenders); land, survey, debt and forest-produce grievances
2
North East
Post-independence disquiet; secessionism replaced by search for autonomy within the Constitution (Nongbri 2003)
8 The Women’s Movement
| Organisation | Founded |
|---|---|
| Women’s India Association (WIA) | 1917 |
| National Council for Women in India (NCWI) | 1925 |
| All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) | 1926 |
1946-47Tebhaga movement: women took part
1946-51Telangana armed struggle: women took part (also the Warli tribal revolt, Maharashtra, undated in the book)
Mid-1970sWomen’s movement’s “second phase”
Quick Revision: read this the night before the exam
- A social movement needs sustained, organised collective action with shared goals; counter movements defend the status quo
- Three types: redemptive, reformist, revolutionary; most movements mix all three
- Old = party politics, power; New = quality-of-life/identity, cross-class, global (WTO, World Social Forum); Rajni Kothari on 1970s India
- Chipko: Guha’s Unquiet Woods, 1970 flood figures, DGSS, Reni forest, Gaura Devi
- Peasant timeline: Deccan riots (1875), Champaran (1917-18), Bardoli (1928), Kisan Sabhas (1929, 1936), Tebhaga (1946-47), Telangana (1946-51), Naxalbari (1967)
- Workers: first union 1918, AITUC 1920, INTUC 1947, 1974 railway strike
- Dalit: word from early-1970s Ambedkarite usage; Satnami, Adi Dharma, Mahar, Jatava, Anti-Brahman; “on the whole” reformist
- Backward Classes: Madras 1872, Mysore 1918, Bombay 1925; 88 organisations by 1954; G.B. Pant’s speech
- Tribal: Jharkhand (Birsa Munda, dikus, 2000), North East (secessionism to autonomy)
- Women’s movement: WIA (1917), NCWI (1925), AIWC (1926); agrarian struggles; post-1947 lull; mid-1970s “second phase”
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