CHALLENGES TO ENVIRONMENT and LIVELIHOOD A STUDY FROM GANDHIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Developmental projects and the issues of environmental and livelihood threats associated with it has newlineattracted much attention of the academicians, policy makers and researchers.This is because of newlinetremendous increase in the number of developmental projects and developmental refugees who have newlinebeen facing threat to their life, livelihood and environment in which they live. Therefore resistance to newlineenvironmental and livelihood threats by the poor marginalized peoples have been usually recognized as newlineaccepted form of protest in India as well as in the world. These form of protest have been recognized newlineunder the title of Environmental Justice struggles where the developmental projects were stalled by mass newlineprotest movements. This research is a story about two such movements where poor and marginalized newlinepeople of Odisha state of India have launched the struggle for environmental justice against newlinedevelopmental projects which threaten to undermine their survival. The experience of the rural newlinecommunities struggle for environmental justice in Odisha is the prime concern of this research. In my newlinework, I draw on the theme of the protest movements against developmental projects which are rooted in newlinethe livelihood, survival of the common people and the violation of human rights. The threats of newlinedisplacement, loss of livelihood, alienation from their own surroundings are catalysts for this strand of newlinethe movement. Based on this perspective, I discuss how the main aim of these environmental justice newlinestruggles in Odisha are based around the re-scaling of development projects to the local level, the newlinedefense of common property resources and the restoration of participatory, community based forms of newlineenvironmental management. In this research, drawing on Gandhian environmental justice framework, newlinemy focus is to linking environmental and social justice concerns for community mobilization and struggle newlinefor survival. The findings of this research aim to contribute to an emerging discourse on environmental newlinejustice in Odisha.