Tell about Chipko Aandolan ?

The Chipko andolan is a movement that practised the methods of Satyagraha where both male and female activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt.

A few months later in 1974, the government announced the auction of 2,500 trees near Reni village in Uttarakhand, overlooking the Alaknanda river. The villagers came together to protest the actions of the government by hugging the trees.

On March 24, 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees in Reni, a local girl rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the village Mahila Mangal Dal, at Reni village. Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site and confronted the loggers

Confrontation happened and talking between the two groups failed. The loggers started to shout and abuse the women, threatening them with guns.

The Chipko movement was a turning point in forest conservation efforts in India. Chipko, signifying 'embrace or hug', was the strategy of hundreds of villagers -mostly women- in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, to save the forest cover on the Garhwal Himalyas.

Reckless felling of trees on the hill slopes was having a devastating effect on the livelihood of the villagers. The floods in 1970, when the Alakananda River broke its banks, led to massive landslides that blocked the river and washed away hundreds of hamlets downstream.

The women, in a peaceful protest, resorted to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled. The women kept an all-night vigil guarding the tress from the cutters until a few of them, unable to do anything, left the village

The news of resistance spread like wildfire to nearby villagers and more people joined in. Finally, the news reached the ears of the then state chief minister Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, who set up a committee to consider the matter. Eventually, it ruled in favour of the villagers.

Widespread protests followed in the early 70s, when villagers led by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, a Gandhian, literally embraced the trees to save them from the woodcutters' axe.

In the early 70s, the government decided to give a portion of the forests in Alakananda valley to a sports company, which needed a particular variety of wood for manufacturing their products.

Angry villagers of Gopeshwar in Chamoli, whose livelihood depended on the forests, opposed the government's decision.

Over the last 30 years, forests nearly two-thirds the size of Haryana have been lost to encroachments (15,000 sq km) and 23,716 industrial projects (14,000 sq km), according to government data. The government also acknowledged that artificial forests are not an answer to this.

The forest department had earlier prohibited the villagers from felling ten trees, for making farming tools but gave permission to Simon company, to cut 300 trees

The tipping point came when government on January 1974, announced the auction of 2,500 trees, overlooking the Alaknanda river.

In March, when the lumberjacks arrived, a girl who saw them informed the village heads. Women in large groups came out and stopped the lumbermen by hugging the trees despite being threatened.

The women put up a brave fight and kept night-long vigils for weeks until the woodcutters retreated.

The movement was unique as some of the top leaders of the Chipko Andolan were local women - Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi and Bachni Devi

Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sundarlal Bahuguna, Govind Singh Rawat, Dhoom Singh Neji and Shamsher Singh Bisht played critical roles in galvanizing the villagers and gave a direction to the movement.

The Chipko movement had a far reaching impact on the environmental laws of the country.

Sunderlal Bahuguna appealed to the then prime minister Indira Gandhi who stopped the felling of trees.