Social Movements in modern India boils down to one single thing…..’ Change.’
Change is the only constant thing in the universe. Today’s modern civilization is the soul result of millions of years of evolution and changes.
The water in a pond is stagnant. And, stagnant water is a perfect environment for pests. Slowly and steadily, stagnant water becomes a hazard for its environment and spreads its motionless impact.
River water is always flowing. Its persistent flow has the potential of crushing the strongest stones into pebbles and pebbles into specks. River’s flow is what takes its place. It remains fresh forever, and its uses are innumerable.
The above concept clearly explains the importance of changes, or I would say constant changes. This concept holds firmly to our society and surroundings. Indian society has an enormous amount of changes. Changes that shaped the present. Changes that took sacrifices. Changes that were meant to happen. Ladies and Gentlemen, all the credit for such changes belong to the Social Movements that took place in India.
In this article, I am going to describe all the things that you need to know about Social Movements in modern India.
What Is A Social Movement?
A social movement is a campaign led by a group of people to make a positive and much-needed change(mostly progressive) in society. The size of the groups is extremely variable.
Man is a social being. We live in a society and follow some general etiquette. We have the right to stand against what is wrong and make the necessary changes to make it right. This brings in the role of a social movement. And that’s what the social movement campaigns do. Types of Social Movements in modern India have an incredibly vast reach.
Social Movements are target-oriented. A particular social movement focuses on a particular issue. The time period for which a social movement lasts is variable. It may last days or months and, if required, years.
Who can start a Social Movement in modern India?
Literally, anyone can start a Social Movement if it adds progressive changes.
Friendly Remember: We Indians got Independence by doing so. Back to the topic, political leaders, entrepreneurs, social activists, professors, tribals are the people who have led most of the campaigns.
You must have read about the Chipko movement by Bhisnos in your school days. If the intent is right, that’s the impact of a Social campaign.
How can one start a Social Movement in modern India?
Operating a Social Movement is a mammoth task. Leaders need a strong foundation of facts about the issue they have opted to solve. Social Movement in modern India requires nothing but good intent. Good intent is the primary need for a social movement. All the other things are secondary.
Here are some key tasks you can complete in order to start a social campaign.
a) Get your Why?
Once you answer ‘Why you want to conduct a campaign,’ the rest of the part becomes very easy.
b) Know about the issue: What is the issue all about? How can I solve this? What are the causes of the social movement? What role can social movement play? Find out. Discover every single fact related to the issue you want to solve
c) Connect: Connect with the people with the same mission as you. Tell them about your ideas. And the campaign.
The best way to increase your network is to be genuine about the characteristics of the social movement.
d) Gain Publicity: Since it is a campaign, you need people to hear about it and understand it. You may require the Media to take an interest.
This plays a big role in social movement success. Public speaking is a bare essential for a campaign leader.
e) Have a lot of courage: You are on your mission to bring a change. And you are going to face a lot of ebbs. And that requires a lot of courage and resistance too. So sharpen your sword and be ready.
Need Of Social Movements In Modern India:
The world is changing every day.
The best way to complete a job is to create a system. A system is the core aspect of a rightly done job. The system that was suitable a semi century ago might be irrelevant today. Whether it’s an entrepreneurial system or a government policy, every system needs updates. Even your android needs an update every once in a while. Okay, I know that’s a bad one, but you got the picture, right? The role of a social movement comes in when a big update is needed to be made.
Characteristics of a social movement also include an idea of stopping an unnecessary change, which is also meant to add friction to the well-being of society. ‘Save Mollem’ Campaign, which was in talks lately, is one such example. The ultimate need for a social campaign is for the well-being of society and the environment.
Environmental Need: Environmental, social movement in modern India is one of the most needed types. Wildlife sanctuaries, animal reserves, forests are prone to be affected by human greed and extreme industrialization. Save Mollem, Dehing Patkai, Save Aarey are some of the most recent environmental campaigns in India. Protests, strikes, and digital movements were undertaken in all the above-mentioned movements. All three were successful. But it is a matter of shame that social campaigns were required to save nature.
Types Of Social Movements In Modern India:
A good campaign with some proper intent has the ability to crust the social issues into specks. If we talk about types, social movements, based on the kind of issue range from Environmental to Political to Entrepreneurial to Social Rights. A lot of social rights activists have led lots of social rights campaigns in the past few decades.
Based on the Lead of the campaign, Social Movements in modern India can be classified into the following three types.
1)Environment Social Movements:
The name says it all. Rivers, trees, forests, wildlife sanctuaries are very prone to get cut, polluted, and vanished. The cause of such a social movement in India is to protect these environmental elements and to sustain the environmental benefits for the future generation.
The Save Dehing Patkai protest was one of the recent environmental Social Movements in modern India. Its role was to stop the coal mining operations that may contribute to the already big problems faced by the wildlife sanctuary of Dehing Patkai.
2)Political Movements in India:
Political Movements are meant to bring a change in social rights and policies in case there is something wrong with them. Sometimes, they are led by political parties.
3) Digital/Online Movements:
Now, this is the Social movement for the class of 2020. This is the new generation of social movements in India and around the world. One may consider it as an indirect campaign, and that is fairly true.
But, let me explain it my way.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Social media creators, are the new generation leaders of their own social movements. Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and all the other social platforms act as their tools for conducting social campaigns. They have their own community; they have their own purpose; they have their own skillset, which they teach through their content. The purpose of these really modern-day campaigns is to create a self-dependent, dynamic, and better India. India likes never seen before.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this kind of campaign only become successful when the audience sees it as a way of growth. No doubt, there is a lot of trash content on social media, but it is our duty to ignore the worst and promote the best.
A lot of research, a lot of effort, a lot of knowledge is accessible by one single click. One can find business coaching; one can learn from the best teachers; one can lead social campaigns through the medium of social media. That is the power of good content and good content creators. Content creators can really prove to be a catalyst to promote Social Movements in modern India.
Characteristics Of A Social Movement In Modern India:
As we said before, a massive environmental movement was held in Dehing Patkai to save the environment and wildlife sanctuary from the adverse effects of coal mining in their Elephant reserve. Also, the open cast mining project was illegal since they had no approval for mining from the Central Government.
This section is meant to explain the features of the Social Movement in India by the example of the Dehing Patkai campaign.
Genuine and Unselfish Intent:
Rohit Choudhary, an environmental activist, was the first to oppose the illegal mining project. Assam is home to a lot of animal species that are prone to extinction. Illegal coal mining has been affecting wildlife for a really long time. There was an alarming long need for the citizens to take some serious action and save the wildlife sanctuary. This explains why the intent of execution should be the top priority in the list of characteristics of a social movement.
Spreading Awareness:
The need for a social movement was made very obvious by the news and, majorly, social media. Nearly 50,000 petitions were signed in favor of the Elephant reserve of Dehing Patkai.
Songs, banners, copies, almost every possible way was used to make the campaign succeed. Internet personalities, actors, activists are among the people who took an interest. All the protests and efforts took the issue to the High Court of Guwahati.
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Execution:
The aim of the campaign was an absolute need of the hour. The High Court made the decision in nature’s favor. The entire campaign ended up with the NBWL giving an order to turn the Dehing Patkai Wildlife sanctuary into a National Park. Coal mining, too, has been suspended. The execution of such a social movement clearly inspired the entire world to stand against environmental issues and to solve them.
P.S: Social Movements in modern India requires a great number of soft skills to covey your genuine message to the people. There is a high possibility that society may take your message for granted. Therefore you need a really good skill set of communication.
Role Of Social Movements In Modern India:
The role that a social movement plays in our society is above all. What makes it a respectful thing is the passionate efforts of the people to make a difference in society. Everyone has the right to express their opinions. People of India tend to divide into groups based on their opinions on a common topic. The concept of Social Movements in modern India does not take sides or divides people into groups. Instead, it believes in maintaining the oneness and diversity of its people while making a change. The role of social movements in modern India is to inculcate the habit of developing and maintaining unity. And Unity. Is. Strength.
Social movements have the ability to change people’s thought processes. Its role in shaping the new India is what nothing else can play better. Digital campaigns have a very big impact on the opinions of young India. Over the past few years, there have been an increase in students who are willing to produce jobs rather than the ones who are willing to do jobs. Shaping young entrepreneurs is one of the best things that digital movements have done so far.
Social movements in modern India have planted a sense of revolution in the minds of our society. Making a change seemed like a really, really difficult thing in the past century. But, over a period of years, the thought of making a change has become more common and less difficult than it used to be.
Justice is the primary right of every individual. Unfortunately, there are some gaps that become hurdles for some citizens to get justice. Those gaps are needed to be filled in some way or the other. That’s where social movements play their role. Social Movements in modern India have also proven to be successful in bringing in modern policies and bringing justice. Nirbhaya Movement is one of the most famous movements of its kind.
Causes Of Social Movements In Modern India:
I know I have been talking a lot about changes, but that doesn’t become any less correct. It is still one of the big causes of social campaigns to take place.
Justice to the fewer fortunate is one of the causes of social movements, the details of which have been discussed in the previous section.
Crimes, malfunctions, corruption, and unethical elements of a particular system brings in the need for a social movement in that particular system. How big is the need for a strong system has been discussed above?
When a system becomes inefficient, the people of the system tweak it a little bit for the ease of execution of their tasks. The problem kicks in when some of them take it to the extent that the adjustments become a parasite for the system. So the ultimate answer to the question of ‘What are the causes of social movements in modern India? Boils down to the black sheep and crooked practices of a particular system. Social Movements In Modern India have always been undertaken when it is the only option left.
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Educational Movement: The causes of social campaigns can also be explained by this amazing example.
In many countries like Germany, education is free. Such countries believe in the fact that education is a basic necessity. Unfortunately, in a country like India, education is seen as a business by entrepreneurs. According to some stats, the coaching institutions have an annual turnover of Rs 1 lakh crores. That’s huge! Thousands and lakhs of rupees are taken from parents to coach their children for entrance, boards, and placement exams.
In order to turn the flow to the other side, many educators in India have decided to run campaigns by providing free education for the above-mentioned exams. Both offline and online educators are trying their best to provide free education to children. Because every student deserves an education. This campaign is to oppose education mafias and change the way education is seen in India. This is by far the best of all the Social Movements in modern India.
Also, starting a social movement can be a little bit dangerous. There have been cases of threats and attacks on a particular member or members of campaigns by the opposition. Such things require a lot of attention. But history knows that all the social movements have a 100% success rate if they have a really genuine approach and intent.
Need Changes in Social Movement
Social Movements in modern India and all over the world have always been proven to be heard and make a change. Since the social campaigns are a group of like-minded people they make sure that their voices are reached to the desired authority. This is the top factor that makes social movements worth the efforts. This guarantees a 100% success rate.
Faith is ignited among the people. People of our society can rest assured that in case there is any kind of gap in the system, they have the power to fill the gap. They have a sense of security that their voices are going to be heard. Freedom of speech makes all the social movements in modern India what they are. We, the people of India, have the power of expressing our opinions. And we can make social movements in our medium.
Authorities have become aware of the fact that any sort of inconvenience won’t be tolerated anymore. People have the right to act. People have the power to make a change. And to change their direction in the flow they want.
Also, the social right movement like MeeToo have broken the barrier and exposed a lot of parasites of our society.
Citizens are becoming aware that they are not alone. Let’s take an example of the Anti Depression organizations that acts as a social movement in modern India. Depression and PTSD are becoming common over the past few years. There are a lot of cases.
There are a lot of organizations that are ready to help people with mental health issues and make a change in their lives. They are easily accessible, and just one call away. They surely may not act directly as a social movement like the others but are definitely making some real changes.
I feel there is a need for more such social movements in modern India.
Conclusion
The above article is backed by research, logical thinking, and facts. We went into the roots of the needs, causes, ideas, types, and concepts of social movements in modern India. As citizens of India, we do not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments. We have done our best to present to you the ideologies behind different social campaigns. Across the globe, a lot of campaigns take place, and behind each of them is an urgent need for change and filling the gaps. The intent of this article was to give the best description of the previously mentioned factors.
Sometimes social movements in modern India is perceived as a very unethical practice. Our intention is to vanish such intentions and give a crystal clear idea about the core of the social movements.