Social Movements– Judicial Activism Nexus and Neoliberal Transformation in India: Revisiting Save Chilika Movement

Abstract

Both the supporters and distractors of ‘social movements–judicial activism nexus’ project litigation strategies as the greatest challenge to neoliberal transformation in India. This fieldwork-based study on shrimp cultivation in Chilika Lake shows otherwise. By historically situating the developments in Chilika, it shows that in case of unpopular economic policies during the neoliberal period, the judiciary and other state agencies follow a revolving-door strategy and continuously externalise the problematic of resource conflicts by creating a regime of blame-avoidance. This regime nullifies the unity of the communities fighting dispossession by reducing the social movements to immediate livelihood concerns of the masses.