Write a short note on the significance of the Chipko Movement. (UPSC CSE Mains 2019 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1).
Chipko Movement
- It wasa forest conservation movement in India. It created a precedent for starting non-violent protest in India.
- It began in 1973 in Uttarakhand, then a part of Uttar Pradesh (at the foothills of Himalayas) and went on to become a rallying point for many future environmental movements all over the world.
- Causes for Movement
- There was reckless deforestationwhich denuded much of the forest cover, resulting in the devastating Alaknanda River floods of July 1970.
- The incidences of landslides and land subsidencedue to rapid increase in civil engineering projects.
- Impacts
- It was a movement that practised methods of Satyagraha where both male and female activistsfrom Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi and others.
- Sunderlal Bahuguna gave the movement a proper direction and its success meant that the world immediately took noticeof this non-violent movement, which was to inspire in time many similar eco-groups by-
- helping to slow down the rapid deforestation,
- expose vested interests,
- increase social awareness and the need to save trees,
- increase ecological awareness, and
- demonstrate the viability of people power.
- In the Western Ghats region, it was an important inspiration for the great Appiko movement for saving forests and it gathered support for similar movements against environmental degradation.
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