This talk is based on her PhD research on two social movements in India - the over three -decade -old Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), spread across three states, and the more recent anti- POSCO movement led by the PPSS in Odisha. The movements cover two distinct periods in India's post-colonial history and she looks at the organisation, leadership, decision making processes and outcomes of these movements and also link them to the role of the state and society. The presentation will also discuss aspects such as those of the agency of women and the affected communities- largely adivasis in the case of the Sardar Sarovar dam and the NBA and scheduled castes in the case of POSCO.
Meena Menon is a doctoral scholar in the School of History at the University of Leeds, UK, where she is studying social movements in India. She is an independent journalist and author and former bureau chief of The Hindu in Mumbai. She is also author of the books Riots and After in Mumbai: Chronicles of Truth and Reconciliation (Sage, 2012), Reporting Pakistan (Penguin Randomhouse, 2017), A Frayed History: The Journey of Cotton in India (co author; Oxford University Press, 2017), Organic Cotton: Reinventing the Wheel (Kalpavriksh and Deccan Development Society, 2004) and The Unseen Worker: On the Trail of the Girl Child (co-author, Books for Change,1998)