As India goes through a sweeping process of economic transformation, environmental sustainability concerns must be at the forefront of its development discourse. India's food grain production has increased considerably from the 1960s to the 1980s, and its economy has developed significantly in the 1990s and 2000s. One might think that, with its robust economic development and self-sufficient food production, all segments of the Indian population have benefited and all issues related to food sovereignty have been resolved. That is not the case today.

The chapters of this book have presented perspectives on the economic development discourse as they took shape within the Chipko movement (1970s), the Narmada Bachao Andolan (1980s and 1990s), and the contemporary Navdanya movement. Social justice is at the core of each of these three movements. Social equity is an important component of social justice. In an equitable society, there should not be any discrimination that prevents people from functioning socially, politically, and economically. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the real world.

By social justice, we generally mean how both the good and bad aspects of life are distributed among the members of a society. Social justice is related to ‘distributive justice’, meaning how the goods and services of a society are distributed. Some of the themes of social justice involve equity, human rights, environmental justice, sustainability, and globalization.