ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the historical and contemporary processes that are reflected in the diverse array of independent social and political activity in India. It provides a historical contextualization of social movements in contemporary India and reviews the different movements. The chapter describes the relationship between the movements and the state, some debates within these movements and analyzes the movement in the Narmada Valley. A new effort is the formation of Independent Initiative, which has brought together some of the most respected academics, jurists, and journalists to monitor the defense of democracy wherever it is threatened. The state can play the role of a buffer in the face of increasingly predatory transnational corporations. Farmers face the adverse impacts of the new economic policies that not only have reduced or withdrawn the subsidies to agricultural inputs but also threaten to increase dependence on transnational chemical and seed companies.
