Chipko movement

Geography glossary

Topic: Natural Vegetation and Forests of India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Forest and Wildlife Resources"

Meaning

The Chipko movement was a non-violent, village-based movement against commercial tree felling in the Garhwal Himalaya. It began in 1973 in Chamoli district (then Uttar Pradesh, now Uttarakhand). Protesters hugged trees to stop the axes. Chipko is Hindi for "to hug" or "to cling to".

It matters because it led to a 1980 ban on felling green trees in the Uttarakhand Himalaya. It also showed that ordinary villagers, especially women, can protect forests through community action and planting native species.

Explanation

Why it started (cause)

  • The trigger was forest auctions: the government auctioned forest patches to outside contractors for commercial felling.
  • Hill villagers lost their daily needs:
  • fodder (leaves and grass for cattle)
  • fuelwood (wood for cooking and heating)

  • water sources

  • Bare slopes became unsafe:

  • With the trees gone, nothing held the soil on steep slopes.
  • This led to landslides and floods in the Alaknanda valley.

How it unfolded (process)

  • 1973: the movement began in Chamoli district.
  • Turning point at Reni village (Chamoli), March 1974:
  • The men of the village were away.
  • Women led by Gaura Devi, head of the village women's group (Mahila Mangal Dal), hugged the trees.

  • The loggers had to turn back.

  • Method: the protest was non-violent. People put their bodies between the tree and the axe.

Leaders

  • Chandi Prasad Bhatt: belonged to the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS), a cooperative based in Gopeshwar, Chamoli.
  • Sunderlal Bahuguna: spread the message across the Himalaya through padyatras (long protest walks on foot).
  • Gaura Devi: led the women at Reni. The best-known Chipko action was led by village women, not by the two male leaders.

What it achieved (results)

  • 1980: a 15-year ban on felling green trees above 1,000 m in the Uttarakhand Himalaya.
  • Community afforestation works: afforestation means planting trees on bare land. Chipko showed that villagers planting native species succeed. Local trees such as oak work better than commercial pine.
  • Women's role became visible: the hill women who collect fodder, fuel and water became known as the first guards of the forest.
  • Its ideas spread to later movements: Appiko, Beej Bachao Andolan and Navdanya.

Where it occurs

  • Origin: Chamoli district, Garhwal Himalaya. It was then in Uttar Pradesh and is now in Uttarakhand.
  • Key village: Reni in Chamoli, the site of the March 1974 action.
  • Base of the DGSS: Gopeshwar, Chamoli.
  • River valley affected: the Alaknanda valley, which suffered landslides and floods after felling.
  • Area of the 1980 ban: the Uttarakhand Himalaya above 1,000 m.
  • Movements it inspired:
Movement Place, year Focus
Appiko Karnataka (Western Ghats), 1983 The Chipko idea in the south. Appiko means "to hug" in Kannada
Beej Bachao Andolan Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand "Save the seeds": protects traditional crop varieties
Navdanya Uttarakhand and beyond Promotes chemical-free, diverse farming and seed banks

Don't confuse with

  • Appiko movement: this is Chipko's southern version, in Karnataka (Western Ghats), 1983. Chipko began in Chamoli (Garhwal Himalaya), 1973.
  • Beej Bachao Andolan: it is also from Uttarakhand (Tehri Garhwal), but it saves seeds and traditional crop varieties, not trees.
  • Joint forest management (JFM): this is a government system in which the forest department and villages manage forests together (Odisha 1988, national guidelines 1 June 1990). Chipko was a people's protest from below, not a government scheme.
  • Bishnoi conservation: this is faith-based protection of blackbuck, nilgai and peacocks in Rajasthan. Chipko was a livelihood-based protest against commercial felling in the Himalaya.

Prelims Hooks

  • Chipko began in 1973 in Chamoli district, then in Uttar Pradesh and now in Uttarakhand.
  • Reni (Chamoli), March 1974: the women's action was led by Gaura Devi of the Mahila Mangal Dal. Trap: it was led by women, not by Bahuguna or Bhatt.
  • Chandi Prasad Bhatt belongs to the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS), Gopeshwar. Sunderlal Bahuguna spread the movement through padyatras.
  • 1980: a 15-year ban on felling green trees above 1,000 m in the Uttarakhand Himalaya.
  • Appiko is Karnataka, 1983. Beej Bachao Andolan is Tehri Garhwal. Both "Chipko" and "Appiko" mean "to hug".
  • Chipko showed that community afforestation with native species (oak rather than commercial pine) succeeds.

Mains Points

  • Chipko as an environmental model (GS-III):
  • Commercial felling on fragile Himalayan slopes caused soil erosion, landslides and floods in the Alaknanda valley. Villagers also lost fodder, fuel and water.
  • Women-led non-violent protest won the 1980 ban and showed that native-species community planting works.

  • Its ideas spread through Appiko, Beej Bachao Andolan and Navdanya.

  • People at the centre of forest governance (GS-I/GS-III):

  • Chipko showed that the people who depend on a forest are its first guards, if they get a share of its benefits.

  • Indian forest policy moved away from exclusion (colonial reserved forests, the 1952 policy). It went through participation (the 1988 policy, JFM) to rights (the Forest Rights Act 2006, which gives the gram sabha legal power to protect its community forest).

  • Gender and the environment (GS-I):

  • Hill women collect fodder, fuel and water, so they feel forest loss first.
  • Chipko made women's role in forest protection visible. This supports giving women a real voice in village forest committees.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Class 10, Ch 2 "Forest and Wildlife Resources" (primary)