Environmental Struggles in the Konkan Region

Abstract

The thesis examines the role of women in two struggles related to environment and development in newline the Konkan region - the anti-Special Economic Zone (SEZ) struggle and anti-Jaitapur nuclear power newline protest (JNPP) in Raigad and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra. In particular, it attempts to chart the newline trajectories of women s participation in these struggles. Understanding the phenomenon of women newline negotiating the private spaces of home and the public spaces of struggle, this dissertation pays newline attention to individual stories to create linkages between their lives inside their homes and their lives newline as participants in struggles. The study tries to understand the processes through which women entered newline the struggle and how their social relations are constructed and reconstructed through their newline participation in struggles. newline Moving beyond the lens of women s everyday life experiences and their presence in large numbers in newline the said struggles, the thesis attempts to understand the nature of women s role and its impact on their newline lives and the relation it has with their changing understanding of the issues involved, and how they newline see models of development as hindering, or enhancing their well-being. newline The primary mode of data collection for this study was in-depth interviews. Twenty-four women were newline interviewed from both sites. In addition to interviews, discussions with local level leaders were newline conducted. Grey literature on both movements, including handbills, pamphlets and materials produced newline by local committees leading the struggles were analysed. News coverage on the struggles also formed newline part of secondary data. newline The study found that women s participation in collective struggles associated with issues of newline environment and local ecology that affect livelihoods enable, not necessarily a questioning of newline conventional gender roles in entirety, but possibilities of reconstitution of their identities to some newline extent through the spaces they share as individuals and as community members. From home makers, newline paddy field cultivators and fisherwomen, they seemed to have moved beyond, dealing with newline government officials or the concerned authorities in an informed way. Strong community and regional newline affiliations help in gaining a collective identity, even as agencies associated with the SEZ and NPP newline attempt to draw on needs and anxieties of individuals through offering monetary compensation. newline Women had a clear understanding of the environmental consequences of both projects, and their newline impact on livelihoods and well-being. A clear finding of the study was that women articulated the newline need to have autonomy in decision-making about development projects affecting their own local newline environments, and sought to define their geographical village spaces in sustainable ways. In the newline Konkan region, the land and the sea are strong markers of cultural identity, and also define newline social/gender relations and the rhythms of everyday life. While not averse to change per se, women newline also articulated a strong sense of being able to retain these identities