(via India Today)
The Chipko Movement was a nonviolent ecological movement by rural villagers, especially women, during the 1970s in India. Villagers sought to preserve the forests slated for government-backed logging and protect the traditional ecological balance of the region.
After the first Chipko protest occurred spontaneously in the Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh in 1973, the movement spread quickly throughout the Indian Himalayas. Chipko – a Hindi word meaning “to hug” or “embrace” – was used to describe the movement because local village women literally hugged trees, acting as a human shield to protect the trees from loggers.
Why it Happened
After the Sino-Indian border conflict ended in 1963, the rural Himalayan regions of Uttar Pradesh experienced a surge in development. Numerous logging companies were interested in the resources to be gained from the region’s expansive forests, and they were welcomed by authorities who were motivated by financial gains. However, many of the commercial logging projects were mismanaged, resulting in soil erosion, lower crop yields, diminished water supply, and flooding. To make matters worse, even though villagers’ livelihoods were dependent on the forests, government policies denied them from managing it. The tipping point came when a severe monsoon flood that killed over 200 people in the region was chiefly caused by logging.
“The Forest is Our Mother’s Home”
Impact
In 1980, the Chipko Movement in Uttar Pradesh celebrated a major triumph when India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi implemented a 15-year ban on green felling in the state’s Himalayan forests. A similar ban was later placed in other states too.
Why were the Women so Invested?
The victims of environmental tragedies were mostly women. Because they were solely in charge of agriculture, livestock, and children, they lost their livelihood and family members in the recurring floods and landslides. Sheer survival thus pushed women to fight for forest rights.
However, this collective mobilization of women sparked conflict in society as men grew uncomfortable with the women’s newfound power and opposed the Chipko Movement. Men couldn’t physically see, let alone understand, the importance of protecting forests because they frequently migrated in search of work. They also deemed the Chipko Movement as “backward” (Jain, 1984).
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