ABSTRACT
The contributions of People's Science Movements (PSMs) in India for the creation of 'alternative' technologies and forms of organization are best known through the work of Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, a state-wide active PSM group, but are much broader. The chapter reviews the contribution of PSMs, with the aim of understanding the dynamics of development of alternative technologies and forms of organization that have contributed to innovation emerging in collaboration with the rural poor, who presently constitute the majority of the grassroots in India. It shows how the PSMs' framings and strategies define the ideological and material spaces in various parts of the country and contribute to ecological, social and technological justice for the Indian poor. The chapter discusses the challenge of pathway construction with the aim of reflecting on the potential of PSM experiments in achieving self-reliance within the sphere of local economies in order to advance the wider process of structural change in India.
