16.

Explain the major ecological movements in India.

Ecological movements were started to examine the many issues that are interlinked in an ecological movement:

1. The Chipko movement is the best example of ecological or environmental movements. It is an appropriate example of intermingled interests or ideologies. 
2. For villagers, subsistence was the biggest question at stake: The villagers relied on the forest to get firewood, fodder and other daily requirements. It was a conflict between the livelihood needs of poor villagers and the government's desire to make revenues from selling timber
3. Chipko movement also raised the issue of ecological sustainability. Cutting down natural forests was a form of environmental destruction that had resulted in devastating floods and landslides in the region. For the villagers, these ‘red’ and ‘green’ issues were inter-linked. 
4. Chipko movement also expressed the resentment of hill villagers against a distant government headquartered in the plains that seemed indifferent and hostile to their concerns. So concerns about the economy, ecology and political representation underlay the Chipko movement.