Abstract

Between 2018 and 2025 ecological movements and grassroots activism in India gained renewed momentum in response to mounting environmental crises such as deforestation climate change water scarcity air pollution and industrial exploitation of natural resources. Citizens civil society organizations indigenous communities and youth-led initiatives played pivotal roles in shaping environmental debates resisting unsustainable projects and advocating for ecological justice. Movements like the protests against the felling of trees in Aarey Colony (Mumbai) resistance to coal mining in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand mobilizations for river conservation in Kerala and nationwide campaigns for clean air and climate action reflected the vitality of grassroots environmentalism in contemporary India. This paper examines the trajectory of ecological movements during this period highlighting the interplay of local struggles national policy debates and global climate discourse. It argues that grassroots act