This document summarizes alternatives to destructive development models that threaten sustainability and equity. It outlines examples of grassroots initiatives across South Asia and the world that embody more just and environmentally sound principles of living. These include initiatives empowering women farmers in India, reviving traditional agriculture and food sovereignty in Africa, and transition towns in Europe based on solidarity economy. The document argues for "eco-swaraj" or radical ecological democracy as a vision that decentralizes power, prioritizes well-being and nature over growth, and draws from many worldviews emphasizing community, cooperation and respect for limits. It presents research priorities for understanding transformative alternatives and their impacts on people and environments.

1. Eco-swaraj: Alternatives to
Destructive Development
Research priorities for a Sustainable and Equitable
World
Ashish Kothari
Kalpavriksh / Vikalp Sangam /
Global Tapestry of Alternatives

2. India’s Impressive Growth
• 5th largest economy of world, high growth rates, a billion
mobile connections …

3. But …. ‘development’ has also meant …
Violence against nature, communities,
and cultures … growth as cancer

4. Growth-based ‘development’ is inherently
unsustainable
• Several planetary boundaries
already crossed
• We are already at 1.5XEarth
• Runaway climate change is at
our doorstep
Rockstrom et al 2009

5. Destruction of India’s environment and
livelihoods
– >5.5 million ha. forest diverted in last 60 years
– >60% land degraded
– 70% waterbodies polluted or drained out
– 40% mangroves destroyed
– 15 of the world’s most polluted cities
– Nearly 10% wildlife threatened with extinction
– Extensive chemical poisoning
Direct impact on livelihoods of 400
million people
Smitu Kothari

6. Economic growth
can’t produce water..

7. Self-devouring growth
World Bank (2013): Costs of
environmental damage = 5.7%
points econ. Growth
(impacts taken into account)
•urban & indoor air pollution
•inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene
•agricultural damage by soil salinity, water-logging and soil
erosion
•pasture degradation
•deforestation
India (CII/GFN, 2008): Ecological footprint
twice its biocapacity – UNSUSTAINABLE!

8. Richest 20% = 83% of income
Growing wealth / income inequities
10% richest Indians earn as much as 75% population

9. Displacement & jobless growth;
continuing and new poverty
• 1991-onwards, 90% new jobs in informal
sector, very vulnerable
• % below poverty line (deprived from basic
needs): up to 70%
• 60 million people displaced by
‘development’ projects
• COVID/lockdown: above sections most
affected

10. Shrinking
democracy
Govt/corporate attack on
dissenting civil society: ‘anti-
development’, ‘anti-national’,
‘terrorist’
Killing of environment/human
rights defenders:
 4 a week! (Global Witness)
2021: targeting of youth
environment / labour activists in
India

11. More detail &
analysis …
• Social, ecological,
economic impacts
of economic
globalisation
• People’s
resistance &
alternatives

12. COVID (and
related global
crises):
an excuse for more
authoritarianism, profit-
making, unsustainability
or
opportunity for systemic
transformation towards
justice, equity, sustainability?

13. Are there alternatives?

14. Resistance …
(to capitalism, state domination, patriarchy,
racism, human-centredness, etc)
… is part of the alternative … other
ways of being, other worldviews

15. Satyagraha:
Civil disobedience against injustice,
across world (including in COVID period)

16. South Asia: alternative initiatives for well-being
Water
Crafts /
manufacturing
Shelter
Food /
agriculture
Energy
Governance
Livelihoods
Conservation
Village
revitalisation
Urban sustainability
Learning
Health
Producer
companies
Gender

17. •Empowering dalit women farmers, through collectives
•Securing women’s land rights
•Reviving traditional agricultural diversity / practices (millets)
•Creating community grain banks
Deccan Development Society, India:
conservation, equity, food sovereignty, livelihood
security

18. COVID outreach by DDS women
• 20,000 kg foodgrains for
relief
• 1000 glasses of millet
porridge / daily to
municipal/health/police
workers

19. Maha Gram Sabha, Gadchiroli
(Maharashtra, India)
• Federation of 90 villages
• Aims: stopping mining,
sustainable livelihoods, forest
rights & conservation, local
governance, women’s
empowerment, cultural
identity
Mendha-Lekha: ‘we are govt in our village’

20. COVID-time
resilience through
community
mobilization and
collective rights in
India

21. Maati Sangathan, Uttarakhand (India)
Women’s empowerment through nature-based livelihoods

22. Livelihood revival with hybrid
knowledge: handlooms, Kachchh
“The loom is my computer”: Prakash
Vankar, Bhujodi village
Sheetal Hiteshbhai, Siracha village

23. Gram swaraj (village self-rule) & rural
revitalisation:
outmigration is not inevitable
Ralegan Siddhi & Hivare Bazaar (Maharashtra), Kunariya
(Kachchh), Kuthambakkam (TN), Kudumbashree (Kerala)

24. Right to a Sustainable City
‘’Homes in the City’, Bhuj (Kachchh, India)
•self-reliance in water, waste management, sanitation
•re-commoning spaces
•livelihoods & dignified housing for the poor
•empowerment of women and girls (Sakhi Sangini)
(Hunnarshala, Sahjeevan, Kutch Mahila Vikas
Sangathan, ACT, Setu)

25. Urban actions by middle classes …
Lake revival / conservation,
water harvesting, garbage
management (Bengaluru, Salem)
Participatory budgeting
(Bengaluru/Pune)
Zero-waste retail (Goa)

26. Technology by/for/with/of people
Technological innovations to reduce ecological impact,
governed democratically
(malkha cotton weaving, AP; Hunnarshala housing,
Kachchh; Solar passive architecture, Ladakh)

27. Alternative Education, Media, Communications,
Arts
Many alternative learning spaces:
•Adharshila (MP); Jeevanshala, Narmada; SECMOL, Ladakh; Marudam (TN); Swaraj
University (Raj); Beeja Vidyapeeth, Uttarakhand; Bhoomi College, Karnataka
Media free from govt & corporate control:
•Community radio (>150); FM?
•Mobile-based (CGNetSwara, Chhattisgarh)
•Movement newsletters, folk theatre
•Film/video (Video Volunteers)
•Internet (Scroll, Wire, Countercurrents …)
•‘Social’ networks … virtual communities Pic: Puroshottam Thakur

28. The government responds…
• Laws/policies:
– 73/74 Constitutional amendments for self-governance
– Right to Information Act
– Rural Employment Guarantee Act
– Forest Rights Act
• Programmes:
– Organic farming in 16 states: Sikkim 100% by 2015, Andhra
‘natural farming’, Ladakh by 2025
– Renewable energy
– Kudumbashree women’s livelihoods, Kerala)

29. Alternatives across the world
Commons
Solidarity
economy
Degrowth
Buen vivir / sumaq kawsay /
kametsu asaike
Ubuntu / ukama / unhu
Ecofeminism
Agroecology / permaculture
Biocivilisation
Ecosocialism
Zapatista
Kurdish Rojava
Kyosei
Country
Transition
Nayakrishi
Agaciro
GNH Agdal

30. Kurdish Rojava women’s movement
• Autonomy, direct democracy, ecofeminist
principles in midst of war zone
Images: courtesy Kurdish Women’s Movement

31. Solidarity economy, alternative currencies, open software:
options for urban youth
Beki local currency, Biekerech,
Luxembourg
Time-banking at neighbourhood
school, Athens, Greece
Pagkaki coop café, Athens
In India:
• Open software / ethical hacking
• Alternative media
• Transformatory arts (e.g. ‘Justice Rocks’
• Millet/organic food restaurants
• Non-profit shops

32. Eco-swaraj:
Radical ecological democracy
(Radical = going to the roots, challenging the conventional)
• achieving human well-being, through:
– empowering all citizens & communities to participate in
decision-making
– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice
– respecting the limits of the earth
Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not
state or private corporation

33. Ecological resilience &
wisdom
(rights of nature, conservation)
Radical democracy / swaraj
(direct citizens’ power, accountable
representative institutions, borderless
world)
Economic democracy:
Earthshastra
(producer sovereignty, localised
self-reliance, caring/sharing,
commons)
Social justice & wellbeing
(justice, equity of genders, ethnicities,
castes … )
Culture & knowledge
diversity
(new learning, knowledge
commons, celebrating
creativity, spiritual / ethical
deepening)
Eco-swaraj
Flower of transformation
VALUES

34. RADICAL POLITICS, ECONOMICS & JUSTICE
Direct/radical democracy : decisions in hands of people
everywhere (“in our village, we are the government”):
people’s assemblies, referendums
Bioregional/biocultureregional governance: beyond nation-
state
Social justice and well-being: struggles for human rights -
gender equality, castelessness, anti-racism, etc
Cultural / knowledge diversity: sustaining diversity of
languages, cuisines, faiths, knowledges

35. ECONOMICS OF PERMANENCE*: Earthshastra
Economics as part of ecology (oikos)
Open localisation: community-level self-sufficiency/sovereignty in basic
needs, larger trade built on this
Production, consumption (prosumption) locally controlled
Re-integrating work & leisure: livelihoods
Re-commoning private & state property (including knowledge)
Demonetisation & decentralisation of currencies: Relations of
caring/sharing, local exchange systems
* JC Kumarappa

36. Doublespeak:
Self-reliance (atmanirbharbharat) and ‘Net-zero by 2070’
Really?!?!?!
Coal mining; contract farming; mega-solar/wind parks; ‘ease of
doing business’ for big corporations

37. RADICAL ECOLOGY
Re-integrating ourselves within nature, respecting its integrity &
rights … recognizing the commonality of spirit
Unknown artist

38. REPLACING GDP AS INDICATOR OF PROGRESS
Indicators of well-being
• Access to basic needs
• Satisfaction, happiness
• Voice in decision-making
• Good social relations
• Access to / relations with nature
• Equality / equity
Bhutan: Gross National Happiness
New Zealand: Mental well-being as key indicator of development
Sikkim: Well-being of Future Generations Bill
Movement for a New Economics

39. Ecological resilience &
wisdom
(rights of nature, conservation)
Radical democracy / swaraj
(direct citizens’ power, accountable
representative institutions, borderless
world)
Economic democracy:
Earthshastra
(producer sovereignty, localised
self-reliance, caring/sharing,
commons)
Social justice & wellbeing
(justice, equity of genders, ethnicities,
castes … )
Culture & knowledge
diversity
(new learning, knowledge
commons, celebrating
creativity, spiritual / ethical
deepening)
VALUES
Eco-swaraj
Flower of transformation

40. Pre/Post-development worldviews from elsewhere
… a pluriverse
• Indigenous peoples’ territorial struggles and notions of well-
being
– buen vivir: sumak kawsay (Andes), suma qamana (Bolivia), kume
mongen (Chile), kamatse asaike (Peru)
– ubuntu (S. Africa), umuntu (Uganda), ukama (Zimbabwe), eti
uwem (W. Africa)
– kyosei (Japan), sentipensar, minobattsiiwiin (native American),
• Degrowth, Commons, Solidarity economy, Biocivilisation,
Ecosocialism, Ecofeminism …

41. • Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies,
ideologies, polities, cultures…)
• Self-reliance for basic needs (swavalamban)
• Self-governance / autonomy (swashasan / swaraj)
• Cooperation, collectivity, solidarity, commons
• Rights with responsibilities of meaningful participation
• Dignity & creativity of labour (shram)
• Qualitative pursuit of happiness
• Equity / justice / inclusion (sarvodaya)
• Simplicity / sufficiency / enoughness (aparigraha)
• Rights of nature / respect for all life forms
• Non-violence, peace, harmony (ahimsa)
• Subsidiarity & ecoregionalism
• Fun!!!
Worldviews that celebrate life
Values & principles of
transformative alternatives ….

42. Outscaling, not upscaling / multiplying, not replicating
• Resistance + constructive alternatives
• Networking, solidarity, co-learning to achieve critical
mass
• Local to global connect
• Advocacy for policy shifts: transitions towards
transformation
• Collective visioning
Always, respecting pluriverse of ways of knowing and
being
Scale: how can these alternatives
achieve macro-change?

43. Vikalp Sangams (Alternatives Confluences):
collaborations, cross-learning, collective visioning of future
www.vikalpsangam.org

44. Youth Vikalp Sangam … an ongoing process

45. www.vikalpsangam.org
>1500 stories of positive transformation …

47. Commons
Solidarity
economy
Degrowth
Buen vivir / sumaq kawsay /
kametsu asaike
Ubuntu / ukama / unhu
Ecofeminism
Agroecology / permaculture
Biocivilisation
Ecosocialism
Zapatista
Kurdish Rojava
Kyosei
Country
Transition
Nayakrishi
Agaciro
GNH Agdal
Global Tapestry of Alternatives
weaving radical initiatives across world
www.globaltapestryofalternatives.org

48. What does such transformation mean for
research in economics and related fields?

49. Research priorities: what topics?
• Impacts of conventional development on people – is
well-being and happiness increasing?
• Impacts of conventional development on environment
– is our very survival threatened?
• Alternative economic (and other) pathways – what is
already ongoing? What are the impacts? Are they more
sustainable and equitable?
• Alternative pathways – what is the role of ‘ordinary’
people?
• Processes of transformation: how did an initiative get
to where it is? Hurdles, opportunities, methods …

50. Research priorities: what methods?
• Cross-sectional – taking a holistic view (as far as
possible), not narrowly economic
• Participatory – involving communities ‘being
studied’ as central part of research, promoting
local youth as researchers
• Multiple knowledge systems – using traditional
and modern approaches
• Non-obtrusive – life and livelihoods of people
‘being studied’ are more important than our
research!
• Culturally / ecologically sensitive – mindful of
local norms & cultures, environmental factors

51. Rich, complex knowledge systems &
practices as heritage
Tangible
• Agriculture: farming, pastoralism,
fisheries, forestry
• Water harvesting and use
• Food, health/medicine
• Crafts/arts: from items of daily use
to decorative, or sacred / festive
uses
• Technological products
• Building, settlements

52. Literature for an
economics that cares

53. • ashishkothari@riseup.net
• www.vikalpsangam.org
• www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org
• https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org
For more information….