P easant M ovements Peasant movements or agrarian struggles have taken place from pre-colonial days. The movements in the period between and tended to remain localised, disjointed and confined to particular grievances. Well-known are the Bengal revolt of - against the indigo plantation system and the ‘Deccan riots’ of against moneylenders. Some of these issues continued into the following period, and under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence movement.
For instance, the Bardoli Satyagraha ( , Surat District) a ‘non-tax’ campaign as part of the nationwide non-cooperation movement, a campaign of refusal to pay land revenue and the Champaran Satyagraha ( – ) directed against indigo plantations. In the 1920s, protest movements against the forest policies of the British government and local rulers arose in certain regions. Recall our discussion on structural changes in Chapter . Between and peasant organisations arose.
The first organisation to be founded was the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha ( ), and in the All India Kisan Sabha. The peasants organised by the Sabhas demanded freedom from economic exploitation for peasants, workers and all other exploited classes. At the time of Independence, we had the two most classical cases of peasant movements, namely the Tebhaga movement ( – ) and the Telangana movement ( – ). The first was a struggle of sharecroppers in Bengal in North Bihar for two thirds share of their produce instead of the customary half.
It had the support of the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The second was directed against the feudal conditions in the princely state of Hyderabad and was led by the CPI. New farmer’s movements began in the 1970s in Punjab and Tamil Nadu. These movements were regionally oganised, were non-party, and involved farmers rather than peasants (farmers are said to be market-involved as both commodity producers and purchasers).
The basic ideology of the movement was strongly anti-state and anti-urban. The focus of demand were ‘price and related issues’ (for example, price procurement, remunerative prices, prices for agricultural inputs, taxation, non-repayment of loans). Novel methods of agitation were used: blocking of roads and railways, refusing politicians’ and In our current information age, social movements around the globe are able to join together in huge regional and international networks comprising non-governmental organisations, religious and humanitarian groups, human rights association, consumer protection advocates, environmental activists and others who campaign in the public interest. …The enormous protests against the World Trade Organisation that took place in Seattle, for example, were organised in part through internet-based network.