There is an interesting age-old custom which is followed in certain parts of the Garhwal Himalayas – the owner of a piece of land need not necessarily be the owner of the tree! In the upper reaches of the Tons valley, access rights are demanded and given if a tree on your land sires another on your neigbour’s land!
Suranjan Banerjee
The ‘Chipko Andolan’ if translated in English literally means The Hugging Movement and frankly speaking, that says a lot about it. Chipko, in short was an uprising against outside agencies which were exploiting natural resources in the mountains and disturbing the ecological balance. When these agencies tried chopping trees, the unarmed people of Garhwal rose up in protest to defend their dear forests. 
But the big question was how would they prevent the forest from being razed? The method they employed was unique – they would cling to the trees when the w oodcutters tried to chop them. Thus, they dared to be killed before anyone planted their axe on the trees. The movement was led by the hardy, illiterate village women who knew the consequences of deforestation long before the subject became a media hype.
Community resistance to state-condoned logging occurred repeatedly during the 20th century. The Chipko Movement of 1973 was one of the most famous among these. It was sparked off by the Government’s decision to allot a plot of Horn Beam forest in the Alaknanda valley to Symonds, a sports goods company from faraway Allahabad. This angered the villagers because their similar demand to use wood for making agricultural tools had been denied. With encouragement from a local NGO, Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS), villagers organised to protect the forest from the logger’s by hugging the trees and defying the axes.
In the next decade, Chipko spread rapidly to other parts of UP Himalayas. In over a dozen separate incidents, villagers successfully stopped felling operations. The auction of forest was also disrupted. The movement received wide publicity and its two main leaders, Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Sunder Lal Bahuguna have emerged among the best known environmentalists in India.
The link between forests and humans
It has been found that almost everyone in the villages is aware of the importance of forest cover in regulating soil and water regimes. Chipko has contributed to heightened awareness - the interesting question is the extent to which this ecological consciousness predates Chipko. It is a known fact that all over Garhwal grass cutting has traditionally not been allowed on the steep hills overlooking settlements. The cliff has a thick crop of grass and shrubs in the absence of which, boulders would come tumblimg down the hill during the monsoon - hence the ban. Chipko also aims at halting the growing alienation of humans from nature, an alienation with potentially damaging consequences.
Chipko and community solidarity
An ecological consciousness, however attenuated, and the manifold benefits of forest cover to the hill economy (and ecology) can explain Chipko’s success in mobilizing all sections of hill society. In response to criticism that the ‘andolan’ depended largely on Bahuguna’s appeal, if the movement did not enjoy popular support, it would have terminated with Sunderlal’s arrest and removal. As villagers see it, efforts to put out forest fires, which they are obliged to do under the settlement, are made in the belief that their property was being destroyed. Thus, when the government started indiscriminate felling, it was resented.
Women and Chipko
Some analysts see a direct casual link here. According to Sunder Lal Bahuguna, “due to washing away of fertile soil, the menfolk are compelled to leave their families and wander in search of employment, thus making the women bear all responsibilities, collecting fodder, firewood and carrying water, which form the main chores besides farming.”
The men who do not leave the hills also do not work as hard as the women do and this interpretation can be disputed for, the important economic role of women is culturally specific to the hill family and not merely a result of changed ecological or economic conditions. Can one then relate the subordinate position of women in Uttarakhand to the enthusiastic support given by them to the chipko andolan |
