The Voice of the ‘Artificial Child’ Critically Analysing the Artificial

Abstract

New social movements focus on human rights, gender equality, environmental sustainability, right to information, anticorruption,
and the revival of marginalised communities. They differ from earlier movements by addressing non-economic
grievances through grassroots mobilisation and identity politics rather than traditional party structures. These movements
are primarily social and cultural, only secondarily political and economic, and operate outside the conventional political
domain. Emerging in India after the 1970s, they represent widespread citizen mobilisation that challenges the state and
advocates participatory democracy. This article, based on secondary sources, provides an overview of major new social
movements in India-Chipko Movement, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ekta Parishad, Mazdoor Kisan Sakti Sanghathan,
and India Against Corruption — that transformed national discourse on environment, gender, human rights, and
accountability. These movements demonstrate a shift toward pluralistic, people-centred development and reveal how
collective action outside party politics reshapes democratic engagement.