National Alliance of Peoples' Movements

Struggle against injustice and discrimination - Assertion of rights with reconstruction towards sustainability and self-reliance

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) started as a process in 1992 and took a definite shape in 1996.

It is an alliance of a large number of people’s organizations and movements in India. People’s rights over natural resources, appropriate decentralized democratic development, towards a just, sustainable and egalitarian society, with true internationalism is what we assert. Our ideology is against corporate globalization, communalism and religious fundamentalism, casteism, untouchability and discrimination of all kinds, which are some of non-negotiable tenets of NAPM.

NAPM is a process of likeminded groups, movements and organizations, retaining their autonomous identities. NAPM is also a coming together of such people’s movements, for support and joint action, for bringing the people oriented development paradigm to the center stage of politics and public life. NAPM brings together struggles of various marginalized sectors into an inter-sectoral alliance, which asserts the primacy of ownership of natural resources by communities, who live on and sustain by those resources.

Beyond the movements, NAPM tries to integrate various civil society organizations and individuals having faith in a common comprehensive ideology.

NAPM brings together various vibrant strands of ideology and attempts aholistic, just blend. It combines the ideas of Gandhi, Marx, Lohia, Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar along with femenist and eco-socialist conceptualization into the emerging paradigm of sensible and sensitive development, justice and peace.

The focus of NAPM is to develop linkages across the various sections of dalits (depressed castes), women, working class, tribals and youths as well as sensitive intellectuals. NAPM has built its strength and made an impact through its allies – the fishworkers, farmers and farm labourers, dam affected and development induced displaced, hawkers and construction workers, various sections of the unorganized workers, women, dalits, victims of communal tension and minorities across all classes struggling from annihilation of caste system to various organizations challenging imperial global powers like the WTO, IMF, World Bank etc. that cause privatization of services and subjugation of agricultural lands, forest and other natural resources.

In the name of development and industrialization, the State is bringing in unconstitutional and anti-people enactments and policies like the SEZ Act, JNNURM, repeal of ULCA in many states, Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 etc. that are not only leading to evictions but exploitation of the resources at the cost of the urban and rural poor, including land and would have serious socio- economic- environmental impacts. The slum dwellers in the dilapidated chawls, fishworkers in the coastal region, farmers, dalits, adivasis, and artisans in rural and tribal areas and all the unorganised sector workers are left without space, physical to political. The right to life, livelihood and participation in the development planning process is denied to all these communities. The corporatisation and related privatization of social services and infrastructure with support and interventions of global, multilateral and bilateral financial institutions like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, JBIC, DFID etc. is further depriving people of social services and access to basic needs, which is not approved of by NAPM. We demand a comprehensive policy where minimum social services like water, housing power, education and health will be established as basic human rights, accessible and affordable to all.

Striving for radical change, NAPM works to influence appropriate processes of democratic development planning, choice of technology and justice in the distribution of development benefits. NAPM promotes the use of alternative technology fin the water, energy, housing, farming and other sectors, towards building a self-reliant lifestyle.

NAPM allies have engaged in struggles as well as in constructive work and the alliance values both as two necessary prongs of its common strategy.

In the existing political scenario, NAPM stands out as a unique force in people’s politics. It challenges the present corrupt, criminal electoral politics in India and strives for electoral reforms. The total surrender of the statutory system to global powers and communal forces is seen by NAPM as a blow to the democracy and sovereignty of our nation state. It is imperative that we should truly bring about the people’s sovereignty. We must fight the global imperialism and religious fundamentalism as the dual enemy that attacks people’s right to life and every human right. The alternative paradigm NAPM propagates is based on a vision of equity, simplicity and self reliance.

The Desh Bachao Desh Banao (Save the Nation – Build the Nation), a nation-wide campaign, as aimed at evolving a national movement, to bring this ideal of an alternative world into reality, as a collective peoples political force, the NAPM seeks yo challenge and transform the existing political system that promotes a development paradigm that is anti-poor and anti-development. Sangharsh towards this end started in a full-fledged way as Sagharsh, since 2007. NAPM intends to take on the political establishment, with the might of the people. NAPM, as one of the initiators of the process of Sangharsh, along with other peoples movements and organizations is committed to escalate this indefinite action and will not relent until it has achieved its goal.

NAPM appeals to all likeminded organizations and concerned people to join hands together to strive for a world of equity and justice, informed by a the vision of a casteless, feminist and participatory eco-socialism.

You are invited to actively participate in this nation building effort. NAPM welcomes your being a ally of peoples movements, struggles and reconstruction, with the active contribution of your skills, knowledge, funds and other resources towards a collective peoples movement across India.

Subscribe to our various periodicals or contact us directly to get to know more about NAPM.

National Conveners:
D. Gabriele (Tamil Nadu)
Sr. Celia (Karnataka)
Ulka Mahajan (Maharashtra)
Arundhati Dhuru (Uttar Pradesh)
Mukta Srivastava (Mumbai)
Rajendra Ravi (Delhi)
Thomas Kocherry (Kerala)
P. Chennaiah (Andhra Pradesh)
Aruna Roy (Rajasthan)
Medha Patkar (Madhya Pradesh)
Sanjay M.G. (Mumbai)
Anand Mazgaonkar (Gujarat)
Uma Shankari (Andhra Pradesh)
Indrajit Mukherji (W.Bengal)
Mohd. P. T. M. Hussein (Kerala)
Sandeep Panday (U.P.)
Prafulla Samant Roy (Orissa)
Subash Ware (Maharashtra)
Geeta Ramakrsihnan (Tamil Nadu)
N.D. Kohli (Maharashtra)
Amarnath Bhai (U.P.)