State, Community and Social Movements in Eastern India

Social movements and protests in contemporary India is the reflection of socio-political instability, emerging voices of dissents and rising aspirations of the people. Contentious collective issues triggered many violent ‘cycles of protests’ which had shown enormous repercussions on almost all the spheres of public life, sometimes emanating complete breakdown of order. Volatile movements, sluggish nature of the state, and sometime proactive temperament of communities often aggravate the problem. The state cannot accommodate all the demands, often competing demands by communities. The relationship between the state, communities and social movements in various parts of India require comprehensive understanding of protests and movements through which one can assess the broader socio-political structures in various sites of India. The present paper makes an attempt to review various movement studies and their theoretical standpoints and tries articulate the dynamics of existing relationship between the State, communities and social movements in eastern part of India. Further, it also tries to articulate the role of caste, class, gender and ethnicity in the process of mobilization.