How the grassroots action gets the goods

When communities face a shared problem that needs a resolution, who do they turn to? And can’t such initiatives evolve into lawful alternatives to insurgencies such as the Maoist-led one in parts of the central Indian countryside that mobilize people, mostly Adivasi forest-dwellers and peasants, by claiming there is no alternative to destroying the existing government structures and building in their place their so-called Janatana Sarkar, a new authority at war with the republic? “There are alternatives to this crisis, however, that look at the overall well-being of everyone rather than just a few, while ensuring ecological regeneration.” Kothari is a key initiator and coordinator of the Vikalp Sangam, or the ‘Alternatives Confluence’, an evolving process and platform with which nearly 85 people’s movements and civil society groups are associated. Organisations associated with the TBF aligned with the Vikalp Sangam, which amplified TBF’s story by connecting it to a broader network of similar initiatives across India, fostering solidarity and learning. It showed how grassroots action, rooted in local knowledge and collective decision-making, can reverse decisions made without keeping the welfare of local communities and the local ecology at the centre, and create a viable alternativea core principle of Vikalp Sangam.