ABSTRACT

Ecofeminism is a practical movement for social change arising out of the struggles of women to sustain themselves, their families, and their communities. These struggles are waged against the "mal-development" and environmental degradation caused by patriarchal societies, multinational corporations, and global capitalism. The binaries of nature and culture which captured the essence of ecofeminism to some extent is detectable in the words of major Indian ecofeminist activists. The binaries are built to foreground the ecofeminist concerns but often they are subtle and polymorphous. Globalization and postmodernism, with their ideologies of consumption and commodification, demanded more complex readings. Western philosophical discourses that seeped into the Indian thought processes post-colonization accelerated this attitudinal change. Indian society shares a unique relationship with its environment, and the texts from ancient India bear testimony to this bond, which was once considered divine. Globalization with its consumerism and neoliberal policies altered the Indian identity.