Environmental Movements of Uttarakhand | Uttarakhand State PSC (UKPSC): Preparation - UKPSC (Uttarakhand) PDF Download

 Page 1


Environmental Movements of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand has been a land of environmental movements. Living close to
the nature people find forests and environment part of their life. It not only
provides them source of livelihood but also is a part of their social and
cultural life. There is no conflict between traditional lifestyle adopted by
people of the state and environment. But means of modern development tried
to break this relationship. The resource intensive and resource destructive
means adopted as a part of modern development practices, not only had an
impact over economic interests and livelihood of people but also on their
cultural and emotional relationship with forests and environment. Thus they
protested against destruction and unsustainable use of forest and natural
resources resulting into movements like Chipko ans Maiti.
Chipko Movement
The Chipko Movement, was a forest conservation movement in Garhwal
Himalayas of Uttarakhand. It began in 1970 in Reni village of Chamoli
district, and went on to become a rallying point for many future
environmental movements all over the world. It created a precedent for
starting nonviolent protest in India, and its success meant that the world
immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire
in time many similar eco-groups by helping to slow down the rapid
deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness, and
demonstrate the viability of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing
civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and
marginalised people. The Chipko Andolan or the Chipko movement is a
movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha
Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi
and others.
It was a non violent movement aimed at protection and conservation of
trees and forests from being destroyed. The name of the Chipko moment
originated from the word ‘embrace’ as the villagers used to hug the trees and
protect them from wood cutters from cutting them.. It was the strong uprising
Page 2


Environmental Movements of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand has been a land of environmental movements. Living close to
the nature people find forests and environment part of their life. It not only
provides them source of livelihood but also is a part of their social and
cultural life. There is no conflict between traditional lifestyle adopted by
people of the state and environment. But means of modern development tried
to break this relationship. The resource intensive and resource destructive
means adopted as a part of modern development practices, not only had an
impact over economic interests and livelihood of people but also on their
cultural and emotional relationship with forests and environment. Thus they
protested against destruction and unsustainable use of forest and natural
resources resulting into movements like Chipko ans Maiti.
Chipko Movement
The Chipko Movement, was a forest conservation movement in Garhwal
Himalayas of Uttarakhand. It began in 1970 in Reni village of Chamoli
district, and went on to become a rallying point for many future
environmental movements all over the world. It created a precedent for
starting nonviolent protest in India, and its success meant that the world
immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire
in time many similar eco-groups by helping to slow down the rapid
deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness, and
demonstrate the viability of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing
civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and
marginalised people. The Chipko Andolan or the Chipko movement is a
movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha
Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi
and others.
It was a non violent movement aimed at protection and conservation of
trees and forests from being destroyed. The name of the Chipko moment
originated from the word ‘embrace’ as the villagers used to hug the trees and
protect them from wood cutters from cutting them.. It was the strong uprising
against those people, who were destroying the natural resources of the forests
and disturbing the whole ecological balance. The Chipko Movement gained
momentum under Sunderlal Bahuguna, an eco activist, who spent his whole
life persuading and educating the villagers, to protest against the destruction
of the forests and the Himalayan mountains by the government. It was he,
who made appeal to the Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi to ban
the cutting of tress. He shouted the slogan ‘ecology is the permanent
economy’. Another main leader of the movement was Mr. Chandi Prasad
Bhatt, who advocated the development of small scale local industries, which
were based on the sustainable use of the forests resources for the local
benefits. There were many slogans that originated during that period.
The Movement: Inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and the Sarvodaya
movement, In the year 1964 Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS)
(«Dasholi Society for Village Self-Rule»), was set up by Gandhian social
worker Chandi Prasad Bhatt in Gopeshwar, with an aim to set up small
industries using the resources of the forest. Their first project was a small
workshop making farm tools for local use. Its name was later changed to
DGSS from the original Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in the
1980s. Here they had to face restrictive forest policies, a hangover of colonial
era still prevalent, as well as the «contractor system», in which these pieces
of forest land were commodified and auctioned to big contractors, usually
from the plains, who brought along their own skilled and semi-skilled
laborers, leaving only the menial jobs like hauling rocks for the hill people,
and paying them next to nothing. On the other hand, the hill regions saw an
influx of more people from the outside, which only added to the already
strained ecological balance.
Soon villagers and women, began to organize themselves under several
smaller groups, taking up local causes with the authorities, and standing up
against commercial logging operations that threatened their livelihoods. In
October 1971, the Sangha workers held a demonstration in Gopeshwar to
protest against the policies of the Forest Department. More rallies and
marches were held in late 1972, but to little effect, until a decision to take
direct action was taken. The first such occasion occurred when the Forest
Department turned down the Sangh›s annual request for ten ash trees for its
farm tools workshop, and instead awarded a contract for 300 trees to Simon
Company, a sporting goods manufacturer in distant Allahabad, to make
Page 3


Environmental Movements of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand has been a land of environmental movements. Living close to
the nature people find forests and environment part of their life. It not only
provides them source of livelihood but also is a part of their social and
cultural life. There is no conflict between traditional lifestyle adopted by
people of the state and environment. But means of modern development tried
to break this relationship. The resource intensive and resource destructive
means adopted as a part of modern development practices, not only had an
impact over economic interests and livelihood of people but also on their
cultural and emotional relationship with forests and environment. Thus they
protested against destruction and unsustainable use of forest and natural
resources resulting into movements like Chipko ans Maiti.
Chipko Movement
The Chipko Movement, was a forest conservation movement in Garhwal
Himalayas of Uttarakhand. It began in 1970 in Reni village of Chamoli
district, and went on to become a rallying point for many future
environmental movements all over the world. It created a precedent for
starting nonviolent protest in India, and its success meant that the world
immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire
in time many similar eco-groups by helping to slow down the rapid
deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness, and
demonstrate the viability of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing
civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and
marginalised people. The Chipko Andolan or the Chipko movement is a
movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha
Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi
and others.
It was a non violent movement aimed at protection and conservation of
trees and forests from being destroyed. The name of the Chipko moment
originated from the word ‘embrace’ as the villagers used to hug the trees and
protect them from wood cutters from cutting them.. It was the strong uprising
against those people, who were destroying the natural resources of the forests
and disturbing the whole ecological balance. The Chipko Movement gained
momentum under Sunderlal Bahuguna, an eco activist, who spent his whole
life persuading and educating the villagers, to protest against the destruction
of the forests and the Himalayan mountains by the government. It was he,
who made appeal to the Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi to ban
the cutting of tress. He shouted the slogan ‘ecology is the permanent
economy’. Another main leader of the movement was Mr. Chandi Prasad
Bhatt, who advocated the development of small scale local industries, which
were based on the sustainable use of the forests resources for the local
benefits. There were many slogans that originated during that period.
The Movement: Inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and the Sarvodaya
movement, In the year 1964 Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS)
(«Dasholi Society for Village Self-Rule»), was set up by Gandhian social
worker Chandi Prasad Bhatt in Gopeshwar, with an aim to set up small
industries using the resources of the forest. Their first project was a small
workshop making farm tools for local use. Its name was later changed to
DGSS from the original Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in the
1980s. Here they had to face restrictive forest policies, a hangover of colonial
era still prevalent, as well as the «contractor system», in which these pieces
of forest land were commodified and auctioned to big contractors, usually
from the plains, who brought along their own skilled and semi-skilled
laborers, leaving only the menial jobs like hauling rocks for the hill people,
and paying them next to nothing. On the other hand, the hill regions saw an
influx of more people from the outside, which only added to the already
strained ecological balance.
Soon villagers and women, began to organize themselves under several
smaller groups, taking up local causes with the authorities, and standing up
against commercial logging operations that threatened their livelihoods. In
October 1971, the Sangha workers held a demonstration in Gopeshwar to
protest against the policies of the Forest Department. More rallies and
marches were held in late 1972, but to little effect, until a decision to take
direct action was taken. The first such occasion occurred when the Forest
Department turned down the Sangh›s annual request for ten ash trees for its
farm tools workshop, and instead awarded a contract for 300 trees to Simon
Company, a sporting goods manufacturer in distant Allahabad, to make
tennis racquets. In March 1973, the lumbermen arrived at Gopeshwar, and
after a couple of weeks, they were confronted at village Mandal on 24 April
1973, where about hundred villagers and DGSS workers were beating drums
and shouting slogans, thus forcing the contractors and their lumbermen to
retreat.
This was the first confrontation of the movement, The contract was
eventually cancelled and awarded to the Sangh instead. By now, the issue had
grown beyond the mere procurement of an annual quota of the ash trees, and
encompassed a growing concern over commercial logging and the
government’s forest policy, which the villagers saw as unfavorable towards
them. The Sangh also decided to resort to tree-hugging, or Chipko, as a
means of non-violent protest.
But the struggle was far from over, as the same company was awarded
more ash trees, in the Phata forest, 80 km away from Gopeshwar. Here again,
due to local opposition, starting on 20 June 1973, the contractors retreated
after a stand-off that lasted a few days. Thereafter, the villagers of Phata and
Tarsali formed a vigil group and watched over the trees until December,
when they had another successful stand-off, when the activists reached the
site in time. The lumbermen retreated leaving behind the five ash trees felled.
The final flash point began a few months later, when the government
announced an auction scheduled in January 1974, for 2,500 trees near Reni
village, overlooking the Alaknanda River. Bhatt set out for the villages in the
Reni area, and incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions
of the government by hugging the trees. Over the next few weeks, rallies and
meetings continued in the Reni area.
On 25 March 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees, the men of
Reni village and DGSS workers were in Chamoli, diverted by state
government and contractors to a fictional compensation payment site, while
back home labourers arrived by the truckload to start logging operations. A
local girl, on seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the
village Mahila Mangal Dal, at Reni village (Laata was her ancestral home
and Reni adopted home). Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site
and confronted the loggers. When all talking failed, and the loggers started to
shout and abuse the women, threatening them with guns, the women resorted
to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled. This went on into late
hours. The women kept an all-night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters
Page 4


Environmental Movements of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand has been a land of environmental movements. Living close to
the nature people find forests and environment part of their life. It not only
provides them source of livelihood but also is a part of their social and
cultural life. There is no conflict between traditional lifestyle adopted by
people of the state and environment. But means of modern development tried
to break this relationship. The resource intensive and resource destructive
means adopted as a part of modern development practices, not only had an
impact over economic interests and livelihood of people but also on their
cultural and emotional relationship with forests and environment. Thus they
protested against destruction and unsustainable use of forest and natural
resources resulting into movements like Chipko ans Maiti.
Chipko Movement
The Chipko Movement, was a forest conservation movement in Garhwal
Himalayas of Uttarakhand. It began in 1970 in Reni village of Chamoli
district, and went on to become a rallying point for many future
environmental movements all over the world. It created a precedent for
starting nonviolent protest in India, and its success meant that the world
immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire
in time many similar eco-groups by helping to slow down the rapid
deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness, and
demonstrate the viability of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing
civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and
marginalised people. The Chipko Andolan or the Chipko movement is a
movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha
Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi
and others.
It was a non violent movement aimed at protection and conservation of
trees and forests from being destroyed. The name of the Chipko moment
originated from the word ‘embrace’ as the villagers used to hug the trees and
protect them from wood cutters from cutting them.. It was the strong uprising
against those people, who were destroying the natural resources of the forests
and disturbing the whole ecological balance. The Chipko Movement gained
momentum under Sunderlal Bahuguna, an eco activist, who spent his whole
life persuading and educating the villagers, to protest against the destruction
of the forests and the Himalayan mountains by the government. It was he,
who made appeal to the Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi to ban
the cutting of tress. He shouted the slogan ‘ecology is the permanent
economy’. Another main leader of the movement was Mr. Chandi Prasad
Bhatt, who advocated the development of small scale local industries, which
were based on the sustainable use of the forests resources for the local
benefits. There were many slogans that originated during that period.
The Movement: Inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and the Sarvodaya
movement, In the year 1964 Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS)
(«Dasholi Society for Village Self-Rule»), was set up by Gandhian social
worker Chandi Prasad Bhatt in Gopeshwar, with an aim to set up small
industries using the resources of the forest. Their first project was a small
workshop making farm tools for local use. Its name was later changed to
DGSS from the original Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in the
1980s. Here they had to face restrictive forest policies, a hangover of colonial
era still prevalent, as well as the «contractor system», in which these pieces
of forest land were commodified and auctioned to big contractors, usually
from the plains, who brought along their own skilled and semi-skilled
laborers, leaving only the menial jobs like hauling rocks for the hill people,
and paying them next to nothing. On the other hand, the hill regions saw an
influx of more people from the outside, which only added to the already
strained ecological balance.
Soon villagers and women, began to organize themselves under several
smaller groups, taking up local causes with the authorities, and standing up
against commercial logging operations that threatened their livelihoods. In
October 1971, the Sangha workers held a demonstration in Gopeshwar to
protest against the policies of the Forest Department. More rallies and
marches were held in late 1972, but to little effect, until a decision to take
direct action was taken. The first such occasion occurred when the Forest
Department turned down the Sangh›s annual request for ten ash trees for its
farm tools workshop, and instead awarded a contract for 300 trees to Simon
Company, a sporting goods manufacturer in distant Allahabad, to make
tennis racquets. In March 1973, the lumbermen arrived at Gopeshwar, and
after a couple of weeks, they were confronted at village Mandal on 24 April
1973, where about hundred villagers and DGSS workers were beating drums
and shouting slogans, thus forcing the contractors and their lumbermen to
retreat.
This was the first confrontation of the movement, The contract was
eventually cancelled and awarded to the Sangh instead. By now, the issue had
grown beyond the mere procurement of an annual quota of the ash trees, and
encompassed a growing concern over commercial logging and the
government’s forest policy, which the villagers saw as unfavorable towards
them. The Sangh also decided to resort to tree-hugging, or Chipko, as a
means of non-violent protest.
But the struggle was far from over, as the same company was awarded
more ash trees, in the Phata forest, 80 km away from Gopeshwar. Here again,
due to local opposition, starting on 20 June 1973, the contractors retreated
after a stand-off that lasted a few days. Thereafter, the villagers of Phata and
Tarsali formed a vigil group and watched over the trees until December,
when they had another successful stand-off, when the activists reached the
site in time. The lumbermen retreated leaving behind the five ash trees felled.
The final flash point began a few months later, when the government
announced an auction scheduled in January 1974, for 2,500 trees near Reni
village, overlooking the Alaknanda River. Bhatt set out for the villages in the
Reni area, and incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions
of the government by hugging the trees. Over the next few weeks, rallies and
meetings continued in the Reni area.
On 25 March 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees, the men of
Reni village and DGSS workers were in Chamoli, diverted by state
government and contractors to a fictional compensation payment site, while
back home labourers arrived by the truckload to start logging operations. A
local girl, on seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the
village Mahila Mangal Dal, at Reni village (Laata was her ancestral home
and Reni adopted home). Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site
and confronted the loggers. When all talking failed, and the loggers started to
shout and abuse the women, threatening them with guns, the women resorted
to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled. This went on into late
hours. The women kept an all-night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters
until a few of them relented and left the village. The next day, when the men
and leaders returned, the news of the movement spread to the neighbouring
Laata and others villages including Henwalghati, and more people joined in.
Eventually, after a four-day stand-off, the contractors left.
Both female and male activists did play pivotal roles in the movement
including Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi, Chandi Prasad Bhatt,
Sundarlal Bahuguna, Govind Singh Rawat, Dhoom Singh Negi, Shamsher
Singh Bisht and Ghanasyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs are still
popular in the Himalayan region. Chandi Prasad Bhatt was awarded the
Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1982, and Sundarlal Bahuguna was awarded the
Padma Vibhushan in 2009.
Imapct: The news soon reached the state capital, where the then state Chief
Minister, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, set up a committee to look into the
matter, which eventually ruled in favour of the villagers. This became a
turning point in the history of eco-development struggles in the region and
around the world.
The struggle soon spread across many parts of the region, and such
spontaneous stand-offs between the local community and timber merchants
occurred at several locations, with hill women demonstrating their new-found
power as non-violent activists. As the movement gathered shape under its
leaders, the name Chipko movement was attached to their activities.
According to Chipko historians, the term originally used by Bhatt was the
word «angalwaltha» in the Garhwali language for «embrace», which later
was adapted to the Hindi word, Chipko, which means to stick. Over the next
five years, the movement spread to many districts in the region, and within a
decade throughout the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Larger issues of ecological
and economic exploitation of the region were raised. The villagers demanded
that no forest-exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and local
communities should have effective control over natural resources like land,
water, and forests. They wanted the government to provide low-cost
materials to small industries and ensure development of the region without
disturbing the ecological balance. The movement took up economic issues of
landless forest workers and asked for guarantees of minimum wage. Globally
Chipko demonstrated how environment causes, up until then considered an
activity of the rich, were a matter of life and death for the poor, who were all
too often the first ones to be devastated by an environmental tragedy. Several
Page 5


Environmental Movements of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand has been a land of environmental movements. Living close to
the nature people find forests and environment part of their life. It not only
provides them source of livelihood but also is a part of their social and
cultural life. There is no conflict between traditional lifestyle adopted by
people of the state and environment. But means of modern development tried
to break this relationship. The resource intensive and resource destructive
means adopted as a part of modern development practices, not only had an
impact over economic interests and livelihood of people but also on their
cultural and emotional relationship with forests and environment. Thus they
protested against destruction and unsustainable use of forest and natural
resources resulting into movements like Chipko ans Maiti.
Chipko Movement
The Chipko Movement, was a forest conservation movement in Garhwal
Himalayas of Uttarakhand. It began in 1970 in Reni village of Chamoli
district, and went on to become a rallying point for many future
environmental movements all over the world. It created a precedent for
starting nonviolent protest in India, and its success meant that the world
immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire
in time many similar eco-groups by helping to slow down the rapid
deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness, and
demonstrate the viability of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing
civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and
marginalised people. The Chipko Andolan or the Chipko movement is a
movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female
activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha
Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi
and others.
It was a non violent movement aimed at protection and conservation of
trees and forests from being destroyed. The name of the Chipko moment
originated from the word ‘embrace’ as the villagers used to hug the trees and
protect them from wood cutters from cutting them.. It was the strong uprising
against those people, who were destroying the natural resources of the forests
and disturbing the whole ecological balance. The Chipko Movement gained
momentum under Sunderlal Bahuguna, an eco activist, who spent his whole
life persuading and educating the villagers, to protest against the destruction
of the forests and the Himalayan mountains by the government. It was he,
who made appeal to the Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi to ban
the cutting of tress. He shouted the slogan ‘ecology is the permanent
economy’. Another main leader of the movement was Mr. Chandi Prasad
Bhatt, who advocated the development of small scale local industries, which
were based on the sustainable use of the forests resources for the local
benefits. There were many slogans that originated during that period.
The Movement: Inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and the Sarvodaya
movement, In the year 1964 Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS)
(«Dasholi Society for Village Self-Rule»), was set up by Gandhian social
worker Chandi Prasad Bhatt in Gopeshwar, with an aim to set up small
industries using the resources of the forest. Their first project was a small
workshop making farm tools for local use. Its name was later changed to
DGSS from the original Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in the
1980s. Here they had to face restrictive forest policies, a hangover of colonial
era still prevalent, as well as the «contractor system», in which these pieces
of forest land were commodified and auctioned to big contractors, usually
from the plains, who brought along their own skilled and semi-skilled
laborers, leaving only the menial jobs like hauling rocks for the hill people,
and paying them next to nothing. On the other hand, the hill regions saw an
influx of more people from the outside, which only added to the already
strained ecological balance.
Soon villagers and women, began to organize themselves under several
smaller groups, taking up local causes with the authorities, and standing up
against commercial logging operations that threatened their livelihoods. In
October 1971, the Sangha workers held a demonstration in Gopeshwar to
protest against the policies of the Forest Department. More rallies and
marches were held in late 1972, but to little effect, until a decision to take
direct action was taken. The first such occasion occurred when the Forest
Department turned down the Sangh›s annual request for ten ash trees for its
farm tools workshop, and instead awarded a contract for 300 trees to Simon
Company, a sporting goods manufacturer in distant Allahabad, to make
tennis racquets. In March 1973, the lumbermen arrived at Gopeshwar, and
after a couple of weeks, they were confronted at village Mandal on 24 April
1973, where about hundred villagers and DGSS workers were beating drums
and shouting slogans, thus forcing the contractors and their lumbermen to
retreat.
This was the first confrontation of the movement, The contract was
eventually cancelled and awarded to the Sangh instead. By now, the issue had
grown beyond the mere procurement of an annual quota of the ash trees, and
encompassed a growing concern over commercial logging and the
government’s forest policy, which the villagers saw as unfavorable towards
them. The Sangh also decided to resort to tree-hugging, or Chipko, as a
means of non-violent protest.
But the struggle was far from over, as the same company was awarded
more ash trees, in the Phata forest, 80 km away from Gopeshwar. Here again,
due to local opposition, starting on 20 June 1973, the contractors retreated
after a stand-off that lasted a few days. Thereafter, the villagers of Phata and
Tarsali formed a vigil group and watched over the trees until December,
when they had another successful stand-off, when the activists reached the
site in time. The lumbermen retreated leaving behind the five ash trees felled.
The final flash point began a few months later, when the government
announced an auction scheduled in January 1974, for 2,500 trees near Reni
village, overlooking the Alaknanda River. Bhatt set out for the villages in the
Reni area, and incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions
of the government by hugging the trees. Over the next few weeks, rallies and
meetings continued in the Reni area.
On 25 March 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees, the men of
Reni village and DGSS workers were in Chamoli, diverted by state
government and contractors to a fictional compensation payment site, while
back home labourers arrived by the truckload to start logging operations. A
local girl, on seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the
village Mahila Mangal Dal, at Reni village (Laata was her ancestral home
and Reni adopted home). Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site
and confronted the loggers. When all talking failed, and the loggers started to
shout and abuse the women, threatening them with guns, the women resorted
to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled. This went on into late
hours. The women kept an all-night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters
until a few of them relented and left the village. The next day, when the men
and leaders returned, the news of the movement spread to the neighbouring
Laata and others villages including Henwalghati, and more people joined in.
Eventually, after a four-day stand-off, the contractors left.
Both female and male activists did play pivotal roles in the movement
including Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi, Chandi Prasad Bhatt,
Sundarlal Bahuguna, Govind Singh Rawat, Dhoom Singh Negi, Shamsher
Singh Bisht and Ghanasyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs are still
popular in the Himalayan region. Chandi Prasad Bhatt was awarded the
Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1982, and Sundarlal Bahuguna was awarded the
Padma Vibhushan in 2009.
Imapct: The news soon reached the state capital, where the then state Chief
Minister, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, set up a committee to look into the
matter, which eventually ruled in favour of the villagers. This became a
turning point in the history of eco-development struggles in the region and
around the world.
The struggle soon spread across many parts of the region, and such
spontaneous stand-offs between the local community and timber merchants
occurred at several locations, with hill women demonstrating their new-found
power as non-violent activists. As the movement gathered shape under its
leaders, the name Chipko movement was attached to their activities.
According to Chipko historians, the term originally used by Bhatt was the
word «angalwaltha» in the Garhwali language for «embrace», which later
was adapted to the Hindi word, Chipko, which means to stick. Over the next
five years, the movement spread to many districts in the region, and within a
decade throughout the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Larger issues of ecological
and economic exploitation of the region were raised. The villagers demanded
that no forest-exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and local
communities should have effective control over natural resources like land,
water, and forests. They wanted the government to provide low-cost
materials to small industries and ensure development of the region without
disturbing the ecological balance. The movement took up economic issues of
landless forest workers and asked for guarantees of minimum wage. Globally
Chipko demonstrated how environment causes, up until then considered an
activity of the rich, were a matter of life and death for the poor, who were all
too often the first ones to be devastated by an environmental tragedy. Several
scholarly studies were made in the aftermath of the movement. In 1977, in
another area, women tied sacred threads, called Rakhi, around trees destined
for felling. According to the Hindu tradition of Raksha Bandhan, the Rakhi
signifies a bond between brother and sisters. They declared that the trees
would be saved even if it cost them their lives.
Women’s participation in the Chipko agitation was a very novel aspect of
the movement. The forest contractors of the region usually doubled up as
suppliers of alcohol to men. Women held sustained agitations against the
habit of alcoholism and broadened the agenda of the movement to cover
other social issues. The movement achieved a victory when the government
issued a ban on felling of trees in the Himalayan regions for fifteen years in
1980 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, until the green cover was fully
restored. One of the prominent Chipko leaders, Gandhian Sunderlal
Bahuguna, took a 5,000 kilometre trans-Himalaya foot march in 1981–83,
spreading the Chipko message to a far greater area. Gradually, women set up
cooperatives to guard local forests, and also organized fodder production at
rates conducive to local environment. Next, they joined in land rotation
schemes for fodder collection, helped replant degraded land, and established
and ran nurseries stocked with species they selected.
One of the major achievements of the Chipko movement was the ban on
cutting the trees for the 15 years in the forests of Uttar Pradesh in 1980. Later
on the ban was imposed in Himachal Pardesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar,
Western Ghats and Vindhayas. All this was done on the order of the Indian
Prime Minister after the strong protests by the activists through out the
country.
Chandi Prasad Bhatt- Born in Chamoli district awarded Indira Gandhi
Award for National Integration for the year 2017-18. He won Roman
Magasaysay Award in 1982, Padmshree in 1986, Padma Vibhushan in
2005, Gandhi Peace Prize in 2014, Satya Sai Award for Human
Excellence in 2016. Main proponent of Chipko Movement, founder of
Dasauli Gram Swaraj Mandal, he has also written many books including ‘
Parvat Parvat Basti Basti’, ‘ Pratikar Ke Angoor’, ‘ Future of Large
Projects in Uttarakhand’, ‘Ecosystem of Central Himalaya’, ‘Chipko
Anubhav’. A known Gandhian, influenced by Jai Prakash Narayan joined