Chipko movement

On September 8, 1983, Pandurang Hegde, an environmental activist from Karnataka, started the Appiko (Kannada for Chipko, "to hug") movement to protest against the felling of trees, While best known as an environmental activist and as a passionate defender of the Himalayan people Bahuguna died on May 21, 2021, due to COVID-19 complications. On May 21, 2022, Bahuguna's daughter, Madhu Pathak edited and published a Awards [ ] • 1987: • 1981: • 1986: • 1989: Honorary Degree of Doctor of • 2009: Books [ ] • Sundar Lal Bahuguna Sankalp ke Himalaya • India's Environment: Myth & Reality with • Environmental Crisis and Humans at Risk: Priorities for action with Rajiv K.Sinha • Bhu Prayog Men Buniyadi Parivartan Ki Or (Hindi) • Dharti Ki Pukar (Hindi) • James, George Alfred (2013). Ecology is Permanent Economy: The Activism and Environmentalism of Sunderlal Bahuguna. Albany: State University of New York. References [ ] • Sharma, Seema (10 January 2018). The Times of India . Retrieved 17 October 2018. • betterworldheroes.com. • ^ a b . Retrieved 21 May 2021. • ^ a b c The Tribune, 8 July 2007. • The New York Times, 12 April 1992. • • culturopedia.com. • Pallavi Takur, Vikas Arora, Sheetal Khanka (2010). Chipko Movement (1sted.). New Delhi: Global Vision Pub. House. p.131. 9788182202887. • Shiva, Vandana (1990). Staying alive: women, ecology, and development. London: Zed Books. p.70. 9780862328238. • ^ a b c d Goldsmith, Katherine (1997). Resurgence & Ecologist . Retrieved 8 October 2...

Chipko: an unfinished mission In 20 years, Chipko has acquired many facets, primarily as a conservation endeavour by the poor, a struggle for local control of natural resources and an effort by women to protect their environment. Chipko influenced the world, but have its local objectives been met? Author toured the districts of Garhwal and Kumaon and met the people behind the Chipko and those whose lives it has touched. He traceds the origins and the spread of Chipko and assesses its contributions, its discord and its standing today. In the Crosscurrents section five chipko observers, some of whom have been linked with the movement, present their views and a Chipko heroin, Gayatri Devi recounts the hard days. Chipko: an unfinished mission "NO WOMAN ever had to hug a tree to protect it," says Chandi Prasad Bhatt, the founder of Chipko. "It was not necessary to do so, for the mere threat was enough." The concept of hugging a tree to defend it was so powerful, it brought in a new consciousness to the country that put environment at its centre. Chipko -- "to hug" in Hindi -- today evokes romantic images of poor, village women in the hills of northern India determinedly hugging trees to prevent them from being cut down by the very axes of forest contractors that also threatened their lives. But Chipko's multi-faceted identity has resulted in it meaning different things to different people. For some, it is an extraordinary conservation movement of the poor; for others, it is a l...

“What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air.” – Song of Women of the Chipko Movement The Chipko movement, now known worldwide, grew out of Gandhian nonviolent social action or satyagraha, “truth-force.” After Indian independence, Mira Behn and Sarala Behn, English women who had been close co-workers of Mahatma Gandhi, settled in different areas of the Himalayas. As they worked for village development they identified growing environmental problems. They were joined by Gandhian activists Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chandi Prasad Bhatt and others who in the 1960s formed the Uttarakhand region Sarvodaya movement or “upliftment of all,” applying the Gandhian principle of swadeshi or self-reliance. Concern became acute about the effects of commercial logging by outside contractors: landslides and soil erosion, severe flooding, loss of water resources, lack of wood and fodder for villagers’ use – and overall, destruction of local livelihoods, cultures and ecosystems. “Chipko” means to “cling to” or “hug.” Organized resistance grew and the first vigil to guard the trees took place in 1971. In 1972 local poet Ganshyar Raturi wrote a poem that became famous: Embrace the trees and Save them from being felled The property of our hills Save them from being looted A milestone was the mobilization of women in March 1974 by Gaura Devi, a woman elder who confronted gun-wielding loggers saying “Brothers! This forest is the source of our livelihood. If you destroy it, the mountain will come ...

On April 24, 1973, the Gandhian social worker Chandi Prasad Bhatt rallied the women of Mandal in the Garhwal division of what was still part of Uttar Pradesh to stop Symonds (a company manufacturing sports products) from cutting down trees. The women embraced the trees and prevented them from being cut. The action started what has become famous as the Chipko movement. The forests of the area, which is now in Uttarakhand, had attracted timber companies in the 1960s and the hill slopes were being decimated by commercial logging. Local people, however, were not allowed to cut trees for fuel or fodder. Then in 1970, the Alakananda flooded its banks and the already bare slopes aggravated the disaster, causing major mudslides and landslides. Yet the logging continued unabated. For the villagers, the last straw was the government’s permission to Symonds. Chandi Prasad Bhatt, well-known in the area for his cooperative organisation Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh, mobilised the people. The Symonds permit was cancelled. Also read: Logging, however, continued. When, in 1974, forests affected by the Alakananda floods were once again earmarked for logging, it enraged the villagers and it was the women who drove out the contractors. The State set up a committee, and the outcome was a 10-year ban on logging, later extended for a further 10 years. The Chipko movement gained momentum. Chipko was successful primarily because of the simplicity of method and the involvement of local people, for w...

The Chipko movement ( chipko andolan, Today, beyond the Background [ ] Inspired by Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh ("Dasholi Society for Village Self-Rule"), was set up by Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in the 1980s. Here they had to face restrictive forest policies, a hangover of Hastened by increasing hardships, the [ spelling?] of landslides and land Event [ ] Villagers including women began to organise themselves under several smaller groups. It was started in 1973, taking up local causes with the authorities, and stand up against commercial logging operations that threatened their livelihoods. In October 1971, the Sangha workers held a demonstration in 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 unfavourable 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 (50 miles) away from Gopeshwar. Here again, due to local opposition, starting on 20 June 1974, 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 unt...

On May 21, 2021, Sunderlal Bahuguna passed away from COVID-19 at the age of 94. His passing didn’t make the news in any of the major outlets in the US. But it got extensive coverage in India. Bahugana was the most well-known leader of the Chipko movement in India, an anti-deforestation movement in the Indian Himalayas in the 1970s. Most of the Chipko activists were rural, poor, mostly illiterate women, living subsistence livelihoods. They took on a powerful government forestry department that was increasingly in bed with big private companies and won. The movement is named for an infamous action in which village people reportedly hugged and chained themselves to trees to stop loggers from cutting them. “So, Chipko in Hindi means hugging,” said Haritima Bahugana, Sunderlal’s granddaughter. “They used to hug the trees, and they used to say, ‘if you're going to cut this tree, you're going to cut me as well, because it has got equal life than I have.’” The Chipko movement not only provoked greater environmental consciousness across India, but also inspired other environmental movements across the world. The beginnings of the movement The Chipko movement began in 1973 in Uttarakhand, a rural, mountainous region in northern India. Many men in Uttarakhand left for jobs in the towns and cities, and women stayed behind, depending on the forests for their livelihoods. They gathered firewood for heating and cooking, grass to feed their livestock, and wild medicinal herbs. But as more...

• Share On Facebook • Share On Twitter • Share On WhatsApp • • Pinterest • LinkedIn • Reddit • Gmail • • shares Trees are our best friends. They do so much for us humans, and ask for nothing in return. But sometimes, they need a hug. At least they did in 1960s and 70s, when the government started allowing foreign companies to fell trees in the lush forests of Uttar Pradesh (Present day Uttarakhand) at an unprecedented scale. This not only worried the communities that lived nearby, but actively posed a threat against their livelihood, and it eventually led to one of the first ecofeminist movements in India. With that, we bring you the story of Chipko Andolan – a true feminist movement! Also read: The story of Chipko Andolan begins with the Sino-India conflict, which in 1963 translated into the government of India allowing major infrastructural developments in the otherwise densely forested area. The communities that lived near and around these forests depended upon them for food and fuel. With the rise of infrastructure, foreign logging companies began eyeing the lush green forests that remained unhampered in Uttar Pradesh (Present day Uttarakhand), and they started exploiting these forests for commercial use. In 1970, a flood devastated these earlier impenetrable areas: continuous logging of trees had left the communities of people who lived nearby vulnerable to otherwise avoidable disasters. The unchecked deforestation created all kinds of problems: lower agricultural yie...