ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTS AND GANDHI’S ECOLOGICAL VISION: A STUDY ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION BY DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS IN ODISHA

• Main Author: Braja Kishore Sahoo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: CEOs Ltd. 2016-01-01
• Series: Innovative Issues and Approaches in Social Sciences
• Subjects: Interventions; Human Rights; Gandhian Ideals
• Online Access: http://www.iiass.com/pdf/IIASS-2016-no1-art06.pdf

The state continues to be the key institution around which struggles for environmental justice in India are articulated. Its dominant role in the economy and its hierarchical, authoritarian and legitimate role as arbiter of rights and resources, the violation of its own environmental laws or acts in ways inimical to environmental justice has been protected by indigenous people. In my paper, I draw on the theme of the protest movements against developmental projects which are rooted in the livelihood and survival of the common people and the violation of human rights. The threats of displacement, loss of livelihood, alienation from their own surroundings are catalysts for this strand of the movement. The indigenous peoples facing threats to their rights, lands and cultures are the major force behind the mobilization against the corporate, government, policies and other forces which threaten them to fragment, displace, assimilate or drive towards cultural disintegration. I describe the main aim of these movements are based around the re-scaling of development projects to the local level, the defense of common property resources and the restoration of participatory, community based forms of environmental management. Based on this perspective, I discuss how the peoples of Odisha protest against developmental projects particularly Neo-Gandhian activists incorporating the political thinking and practice practiced by Gandhiji.This research shows that protest movements against developmental projects in Odisha were by and large successful by incorporating procedural, corrective and social aspects of justice inherent in Gandhian ecological ideas.