CHIPKO: SOCIAL HISTORY OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL

MOVEMENT

INTRODUCTION: An environmental movement is a social or political movement for the

conservation or improvement of the current state of the environment. Chipko movement
was started in Uttarakhand. It was a movement in which villagers hugged the trees in order
to save them from being felled, they did so by interposing the bodies between them and the
contractors axes. Originally the roots of the movement can be traced back to nearly 260
years ago in Rajasthan where a lady called Amrita Devi along with other villagers laid down
their lives to protect the trees from being felled. After that the king was forced to give a
royal decree for preventing felling of the trees in the Bishnoi villages.

Ramachandra Guha touches upon three aspects:

a) The historical dimension here he interprets the social idiom of Chipko movement in
the context of earlier movements regarding the present access to forest and also
interconnections between the Chipko and state intervention, forestry department
and administrative policies by different government system.
b) He also focuses on how Chipko movement created a money order economy in
Uttarakhand, an uneven demographic profile and the massive participation of
women in the movement due to the traditional dependence on the natural
environment and its resources.
c) He talks about the Chipko movement and the two facets it has, it portrays itself as a
continuation of the earlier social protest as an organized and sustained movement
and also is an expansion in the scale of popular mobilization and development of
popular consciousness. Though none of the two features are exactly how they seem.

THE BACKGROUND: The forestry practices implemented and practiced by the government
of Independent India generated discontent among the people of Uttarakhand . In 1985 a
committee to hear the grievances of the people of Uttarakhand was set up in which they not
only expressed the need for development of local resources but also their view of forest
management practices as forfeiture of hereditary natural rights. The committee asked the
government for a declaration that it would respect the villager’s rights over the forest and
provide Forest preservation and support their economic development as well. However over
time there was a lack of action by the government due to which resentment grew and was
shown in the form of several satyagrahas. The protest against forest management was
combined with the opposition to commercialization and perpetuating underdevelopment of
the hills. Led by Sarvodaya workers, thousands of villagers opposed the forest preservation
policies, widespread distillation and sale of liquor. Later, many of them were arrested for
defying prohibitory orders.

THE 1970 FLOOD : The alarming rate of deterioration of forest, landslides, flood etc ; in the
Alaknanda valley effected the villagers severely which increased their hardships in firewood
collection and labour intensive fodder. The Indian Forest act 1972 added more fuel to it by
restricting the villager’s access to the forest and its resources which resulted in lessening of
the agrarian economy, poverty and migration in large numbers towards cities leaving the
area depopulated in the 1960s.Chandi Prasad Bhatt set up the Dashauli gram Swarajya
Sangh (DGSS) in 1964, Gopeshwar with the aim to generate local employment. In 1971 the
DGSS called for a demonstration in Gopeshwar to put an end to the sale of liquor,
untouchability, to restore the rights of the villagers to be able to use the local forest and
also to give preference to them in the allotment of raw materials. The 1970 floods marked a
turning point in the ecological history of the region, reckless deforestation had wiped off
most of the forest cover resulting in the devastating Alaknanda river floods of July 1970
where major landslides blocked the river and numerous bridges roads and villages were
washed away in Rishikesh.

MANDAL: In early 1973 the DGSS asked the forest department for an allotment of ash trees
to make agricultural implements but this request was sternly refused instead the forest
department granted the Symonds company the rights of usage for Ash trees and asked the
DGSS to use chir tress instead, which were completely unsuitable for the purpose of
agricultural implements. This blatant injustice made the DGSS organize several meetings in
the Mandal where discussions on possible courses of action against the government policies
took place. The two alternatives suggested were either to lie down in front of timber trucks
or to burn resin and timber depots. Both the options were unsatisfactory. Then Bhatt came
up with the idea of embracing the trees, thus Chipko was born. The birth of Chipko
movement preceded the actual advent of Symonds company in Mandal. The government
suggested a compromise where it would allot the DGSS ash trees on the condition that the
sporting goods firm would take away its quota. The authorities couldn’t break down the stiff
resistance of the people and that led the Symonds company to turn away from Mandal
without felling a single tree. This was a great achievement for the locals.

RENI: Despite the early movements the government continued with the yearly auctioning of
the forest in November neglecting the Alaknanda floods of the past. Around 2500 trees to
be felled were marked in Reni. DGSS workers contacted Govind Singh Rawat of CPI which
inspired the villagers to adopt the Chipko technique and protest against the felling. Many
rallies and meetings took place, fearing the tremendous opposition to the felling operations
the forest department resorted to deceit. On March 25, 1975 when the trees were to be
felled the men of Reni and other neighboring villages were asked to report to Chamoli to
receive the Long overdue compensation for lands appropriated. While all the men were
away ,the laborers started the felling operations, when the woman came to know about this
they contacted Gaura Devi (the head of the village Mahila mandal) who gathered all the
women and went to the forest in the absence of the men they resorted to saving the trees
themselves. They hugged the trees and refused to budge and as a result the labourers were
forced to retire.

THE GOVERNMENT STEPS IN: After the incident at Reni, two things happened first, there
was widespread participation of women in the movement in the absence of the men and
DGSS activists. Second, Chipko movement could now no longer be treated by the
government as just a reaction of the local industry deprived of raw materials. After this
incident the chief minister of UP H.N Bahuguna agreed with the local people to set up a
committee to investigate the incident. Headed by Virendra kumar the committee came to
the conclusion that the 1970 flood was due to widespread deforestation in the Alaknanda
catchment. Which then resulted in a ban of commercial fellings for 10 years in that area.
Many other important steps were taken too which brought about a turning point in the
history of eco-development struggles in the region and around the nation.

CHIPKO SPREADS TO TEHRI AND CHIPKO IN KAMUAN: On the occasion of Van Diwas,
Chipko activists in Tehri district informed the forest department of the felling of resin-
scarred chir trees. When the department did not respond to the call to save the trees, a
direct action programme commenced on ,25th July, another historic day, the death
anniversary of Sridev Suman's. Following Teri forest actions were opposed in different parts
of Garhwal another regions as well. Sunderlal Bahuguna underwent a two week fast in
October 1947 at Uttarkashi’s Hanuman Mandir to call for a change in the existing forest
policy. Chipko soon moved to regions like Bhageerathi valley, silyara, loital, Amritsar
Badyagarh etc;
In Kauman the Chipko Andolan had first been introduced during the Nainadevi fair at
Nainital in 1974. However, it gathered momentum following the major landslides at
Tawaghat. In the landslide, 45 men and 75 heads of cattles perished. Following which forest
actions were opposed in several other places. Many chipko movements now started and
were organized by the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini (USV) where women activists led the
protest. Young activists of USV also opposed the auctions that were scheduled despite the
Tawaghat disaster.

CHIPKO RETURNS TO CHAMOLI : Chipko witnessed a resurgence in chamoli, when despite

its early successes commercial fellings continued to threaten the ecological stability of
different habitations. Whether we take the case of Pulna village or Pindar Valley women
have led these movements and saved trees despite the fact that their menfolk were
involved in selling of the forest while women continued to be highly dependent on the
forest for fuel, fodder, agriculture and animal rearing .Whereas men were lured by promise
of modern economy and the opportunity to earn more money. This led to open conflict of
interest between men and women of the village.

THE BADYAGARH ANDOLAN : Guha has extensively talked about the Badyagarh andolan
which occurred in the Badyagarh Patti of Tehri Garhwal district in the winter of 1978-79 and
touched upon it by its patterns of mobilisation, type of organisation, participation of
different social groups ,its ideology ,methods and the relationship between the leadership of
the rank and file. The patti of Badyagarh is situated in Rishikesh consisting of the
homogeneous and cohesive village communities. The growing opportunities for individuals
vis-à-vis education, health, governmental employment due to commercialisation had been
lessened but had not entirely eroded the cooperative spirit of the community. Along with
the under-development of the hills the commercial forestry in the region which started
around 1965 also angered the villagers. The felling increased every month by the
contractors who aimed not to leave behind any part of land with tree coverage. This
angered the Sarvodaya workers and the villagers. Thus over 3000 villagers and their leaders
were called upon for a protest which happened on 25 December 1978. However,it only
acquired momentum when Bahuguna went on a hunger strike. Even after Bahuguna’s arrest
the villagers stood their ground which finally back led to the defeat of the contractors and
the labourers. People of all the sections participated as they were equally effected by the
deforestation. This movement has shown its moral content clearly and loudly in many ways.
CHIPKO AND POPULAR CONSCOUSNESS : Guha has outlined several important
characteristics of the movement related to the popular perceptions –
first the link between forest and humans ,humans have always depended on nature and its
resources Chipko as a movement aims at preventing the alienation of humans from nature
which can otherwise be a dire consequence. Second, Chipko and community solidarity the
general manifold benefits of forest cover to the hill economy has led to massive mobilisation
of people against ecological degradation and their unity has been the prime reason for
success of the Chipko movement. Third, the attitude towards officials the attitude of the
villagers towards the state officials especially the forest department has been hostile due to
the neglect towards the villagers basic needs of fuel fodder health education and
employment. Fourth and final women and Chipko, women play an immmensely important
role in the Chipko movement the economic role of women is culturally specific to the hill
family. They have been heavily dependent on the forest for fuel and fodder. Due to this
livelihood they have been successful in organising and leading the movement even in the
absence of menfolk and other activists.

CHIPKO IN A HISTORY OF PROTEST : Dhandhak of 1948 and Chipko of 1979 had many
similarities,the main one being that the protests were against the wrongdoings of the
officials who were considered to be the main exploiters. The idea of Chipko can be
understood in terms of the moral economy of Gharwal peasants which was manifested by
the help of tactics of the charismatic leader , Sunderlal Bahuguna. His methods of non-
violence and personal asceticism attracted the large Hindu peasantry. His call to the forest
officials was to change their ways and serve local communities. It evoked a positive reaction
from the people who were exposed to the exploitation by officials during earlier regimes.
The distinctive feature of Sunderlal Bahuguna’s asceticism was that it was accompanied by a
call for support to the higher authorities like the Prime minister at that time ( Indira Gandhi)
and other politicians, to side with the suffering presents. Chipko then became similar to
Dhnadhak in a way that it obtained justice by bringing the wrong doings of the officials to
the notice of the governmental heads.

CUSTOM AND CONFRONTATION IN CHIPKO: Guha argues that the internal ideology of the
peasant actions was not entirely consistent with the formal ideology of the Chipko
movement as presented to the outside world. Locating Chipko culturally and historically
provides a correction to the popular perception of Chipko as a feminist movement
representing a romantic reunion of women with nature judged by the act of hugging the
trees to save them from the contracter’s axe. Many writers trace the origin of Chipko back
to the incident which occurred in Rajasthan in 1763, where Bishnoi woman laid down their
lives to protect the trees from felling . Participation in popular movements in Uttarakhand
dates back to the anti-alcohol agitations led by Sarvodaya workers in 1960s. Even in the
movements at Mandal and Phata it was only men were seen to take the initiative to protect
trees. Women came to the fore in Reni as men were not present during the felling of the
trees at that time. Guha argues that even at the level of participation Chipko can hardly be
called a feminist movement. He further argues that in the act of embracing trees women are
acting as bearers of continuity of the past in a community that is threatened by
fragmentation.
Gandhian institutions were quick to call chipko movement and as a modern example of
satyagraha and calling it direct action in the best of Gandhian spirit. This was supported by
the lifestyle of Bhatt and Bahuguna who showed the highest traditions of Gandhian
constructive work however the perception was not altogether correct. He argues that it was
a limited role that the external ideology played in chipko movement. Rather the villagers
actually fought for basic subsistence which was denied to them by the institutions and state
policies. The non-violent method of the movement is thus an inspired and highly original
response to the forest felling rather than being ideologically motivated.

CHIPKO AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT : Guha talks about the private face of Chipko
i.e of a quintiessential peasant movement and its public profile as one of the most
celebrated environmental movements in the world that continues to propagate its message
till date and contribute significantly to environmental debates in India and abroad.

THE WIDENING OF CHIPKO: In April 1981, Sunderlal Bahuguna went on a fast to urge the
ban on felling of trees in the Himalayas. In response to which the government set up an 8
member expert committee to prepare a report on the Himalayan forest policy. Though in
partial support to the forest department the govt. agreed to allow a 15 year moratorium on
commercial felling in Uttrakhand Himalaya. Chipko successfully brought the commercial
forestry to a stand-still. However there were many threats to the environment other than
state forestry, which were construction of large dams, mining activities and spread of
alcoholism, against which chipko was organised through it’s 3 wings.

THREE ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHIES : There have been interpretations of the local and
national processes of national degradation by three leaders. The first one is by Sunderlal
Bahuguna, the best known leader of the Chipko movement according to him theres a close
link between commercial forestry and the contractors and forest officials who were
responsible for the degradation of the Himalayan environment. He came strikingly close to
the American historian Lynn white and Theodor Roszak who stressed the role of religious
beliefs in determining the attitude of humans towards nature.
The second, Chandi Prasad Bhatt who argue that forest officials and commercial forestry are
only agents of a biased development process which is in favour of the open industrial
complex and against the local needs. While acknowledging the alienation of modern science
from the need of people he emphasises on alternative technologies which are more
environmentally conscious as well as socially just.
Third, Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini which was inspired by Marxism insisted that human
nature relationship must not be viewed in isolation from the existing human relationships.
For USV social and economic redistribution was seen logically prior to ecological harmony. It
prefers organising social movements that confront the state. The grassroots reconstruction
works such as afforestation were deemed responsible for reversing the process of
environment degradation and capitalist penetration.
In their own ways the three wings of chipko have questioned the normative consensus
among the Indian intellectuals and political elites with regards to the feasibility of rapid
industrialisation and technological modernisation. It also helped in defining issues such as
linkages between technology, ecology, politics and culture more sharply and clearly. The
three strands are likely to define the outcomes as well. In conclusion, Chipko movement
attempted to combat the growing social and ecological disintegration of the hill
society,while doing so it questioned the normative consensus among Indian intellectuals
and political elites on the feasibility of rapid industrialisation and technological
modernisation. Although it is best remembered by the collective mobilisation of women,
and the change it brought about in their attitude regarding their own status in society.

GROUP PROJECT MEMBERS :

1 )MANYA DUGGAL – 0818025

2) ANUVRAT SHAWKEEN- 0818019
3) LOVARAJU BARLA- 0818013
4) SUSHANSHU -0818010
5) SHWETA YADAV - 0818052
6) AASHISH AHLAWAT -0818043
7) DIYA SHAN- 0818044