Major Environmental Activism in India: Past and Present

In India, the public environmental awareness approach has been expanding simultaneously for many years, and residents are inspired to highlight environment-friendly approaches and take action against industrial pollution. The reactions towards environmental issues are not only confined to protests done by the pollution victims. Individuals have started participating in public hearing meetings for long-term construction projects and have formed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to express their dissatisfaction with government policies. Environmental activism is described as organized participation in environmental concerns that includes an example of ecologically good behavior that is rooted in the political domain. Environmental activism starts by highlighting a minor environmental problem and elaborates on the multidimensional negative future impacts of that problem. This contributes to elaborating on a present environmental issue, studying the life cycle domains of that problem, and lastly highlighting the future scenario. Such a theory is a baseline approach for the formation of future policies based on the present scenario to maintain sustainability. As a result of public awareness and active participation, local population has started discussing the possible past, present, and future policies for the safeguarding environment. Presently, people are coming forward with innovative solutions to counter any environmental issue, and such innovative ideas are supported by many educational and research institutes. This chapter summarises the major present and past cases of India to evaluate the characteristics and evolution of environmental activism till 2023. Environmental activism has a synergid effect with mass media. This concludes that innovations in communications are appreciable in summarizing environmental activism.