#memory
International Day of Forests.
The Chipko Movement was the pioneering and hugely successful protest that set the tone for many other green campaigns in India.
The ‘tree-hugging’ (‘chipko’) movement started in 1973 in present-day Uttarakhand. The first protest took place in Mandal village, in Chamoli district, where trees were to be felled by a sports goods company. Led by Gandhian social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt, the village women embraced the trees to prevent them from being hacked. Eventually, the company’s logging permit was cancelled. It was Chipko’s first victory.
The Chipko Movement spread across the Himalayan region in the 1970s. 150 villages rallied around Chipko and undertook a dozen major protests. It brought environmental activist Sunderlal Bahuguna into the spotlight. The movement also spread to other parts of India.
Chipko grew into a largely women’s movement for forest rights. Its biggest victory came in 1980, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a 15-year ban on commercial logging in the Uttarakhand Himalayas.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
