How three women turned into environmental defenders in India

At Idinthakarai beach, 53-year-old Mildred put her phone down on the sand, adjusted her saree, and with a broad smile, walked to the water. She dove in and began to swim against the waves. After a few minutes, she walked out drenched, beaming with joy. “Did you collect enough shells?” she asked, before bending down and running after the lapping water to pick up some shells for herself.

As a child, Mildred recounted, she would collect these shells, make small decorative pieces and sell them on the beach.

But these idyllic memories and her love for the ocean stand in sharp contrast to the turbulence that she has been witness to in the decades since. Mildred, who goes by one name, has been at the forefront of protests in Idinthakarai against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, around 8 km away, and has led and participated in a range of agitations against the project, from marches to sit-ins and hunger strikes. She currently has 127 cases filed against her, for alleged offences ranging from sedition to waging war against the government.

Mildred is a figure that many activists and researchers characterise as an environmental defender.

A 2016 report by the United Nations notes that environmental defenders are “often ordinary people...

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