2. “Embrace the trees and
Save them from being felled;
The property of our hills,
Save them from being looted.”
Ghanasyam Raturi, A Chipko
poet
3. Introduction
Started in1970s
Non-violent movement of
organised resistance to
cutting down of trees.
Indian villagers fighting to
protect forests
First Chipko Movement- April
1973
4. Why chipko movement?
The forests of India are a critical resource for the
livelihood of rural peoples throughout the country.
These forests have been increasingly felled for commerce
and industry.
If the Himalayas are not saved all of India will be turned
in to a desert, Fodder will not be available.
There will be Soil Erosion and land slides.
The Chipko movement was started to prevent the cutting
of trees.
Chipko Movement aimed at protection and conservation of
trees and forests from being destroyed.
5. When it all started…
In the 18th Century.
Amrita Devi of Bishnoi Community in rajasthan
Group of eighty-four later grew to a few hundreds.
Resisted the orders of cutting down of trees by
Maharaja of Jodhpur
Laid down lives of 263 villagers for a noble cause.
Mharaja later realized his blunder and declared that no
one should ever cut trees in that village of rajasthan
6. What is “Chipko” Movement?
The name of the movement
comes from the word 'embrace',
as the villagers hugged the trees,
and prevented the contractors'
from felling them.
In the 1970s, an organized
resistance to the destruction of
forests spread throughout
India and came to be known as
the Chipko movement. The
name of the movement comes
from the word 'embrace', as
the villagers hugged the trees,
and prevented the contractors'
from felling them.
7. The April 1973 Chipko Movement
The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April
1973 in the village of Mandal in the upper Alakananda
valley and over the next five years spread to many
districts of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh.
It was sparked off by the government's decision to allot
a plot of forest area in the Alaknanda valley to a sports
goods company.
This angered the villagers because their similar demand
to use wood for making agricultural tools had been
earlier denied.
With encouragement from a local NGO, DGSS (Dasoli
Gram Swarajya Sangh), the women of the area, under
the leadership of an activist, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, went
into the forest and formed a circle around the trees
preventing the men from cutting them down.
8. Some Major leaders of Chipko
Movement
Chandi Prasad Bhatt:
A leader within the Chipko movement.
Bhatt’s teachings focus on the protection of the Himalayan
Mountains from deforestation.
Organized rallies to protect the forest from mass
destruction.
9. Sunderlal Bahuguna
Gandhian Activist, philosopher
Appealed to Indira Gandhi (the then PM of India); result:
Green felling ban
5,000 kilometre trans-Himalaya footmarch in 1981-83 to
spread the Chipko message.
11. Major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on green falling in
the Himalayan forests of that state by the order of Mrs
Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Ban on
cutting the trees for the 15 years in the forests of Uttar
Pradesh in 1980.
By 1981, over a million trees had been planted through
their efforts
It generated pressure for a natural resource policy which is
more sensitive to people's needs and ecological
requirements.
New methods of forest farming have been developed, both
to conserve the forests and create employment.
The Chipko is still working to protect the trees today
through the same nonviolent methods.
Outcome of chipko movement
12. Quotes.
“What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air.”
- Dhoom Singh Negi, Bachni Devi and many other village women,
were the first to save trees by hugging them.
“Ecology is permanent economy”
- Sunderlal Bahuguna
"The solution of present-day problems lie in the re-
establishment of a harmonious relationship between
man and nature. To keep this relationship permanent
we will have to digest the definition of real
development: development is synonymous with
culture. When we sublimate nature in a way that we
achieve peace, happiness, prosperity and, ultimately,
fulfilment along with satisfying our basic needs, we
march towards culture.“
-Sunderlal Bahuguna
