Major Forest Movements of Uttarakhand - GovtVacancy.Net

Major Forest Movements of Uttarakhand

The major forest movements of Uttarakhand are as follows:

Before independence, a new forest law was implemented in Tehri state during the time of King Narendra Shah, under which the land of farmers could also be included in the forest land.
Against this system, the people of Rawai started a rebellion against the princely state by declaring Azad Panchayat.
During this movement, on May 30, 1930, on the orders of Dewan Chakradhar Juyal, the army opened fire on the agitators, due to which hundreds of farmers were martyred.
Even today, May 30 is celebrated as Martyrs' Day in this region.

In the 70s, due to the indiscriminate felling of oak trees, the Himputris (women there) gave the slogan that 'Heem daughters' challenge, forest policy change government', van wake vanvasi awake'. These slogans echoed in the forests of Reni village are still being heard today.
This movement started from 1972 with the aim of stopping the indiscriminate and illegal felling of forests. Chipko movement was started in 1974 by 23 year old widow Gauri Devi at Gopeshwar in Chamoli district.
A slogan ("What are the favors of this forest, soil, water and winds, the basis of survival") was given by the Chipko movement women in 1977, which became quite popular.
Environmentalists Sundarlal Bahuguna and Chandiprasad Bhatt played an important role in taking the Chipko movement to its peak. Bahuguna ji gave the slogan "Save the Himalayas, Save the country". For this movement, Chandiprasad Bhatt of Chamoli was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1981.

It was a state level movement started in 1977 in Nainital district.
Despite widespread protests, only the date of the auction was revised and fixed on November 27. In protest against which the chalet hall of Nainital was burnt by the agitators. As a result of which the students were arrested, in February 1978, probably for the first time, Uttarakhand was closed.
In Dwarahat's Chonchari and Paldi (Bageshwar), the people stopped the felling of forests with drums.

There was a movement by the public in protest against the deforestation of the eagle in Dungi-Pantoli of Chamoli district.
Here the hawk forest was transferred by the government to the Horticulture Department. The government had to withdraw its decision after the women's protest.
This movement is known as the Dungi-Pantoli movement.

This movement, launched by the youth of Ufraikhal village (Pauri Garhwal) since the mid-80s, to overcome the water shortage, was quite successful.
The mastermind of this movement was Satchidanand Bharti, the teacher of Ufraikhal. He formed the 'Dudhatoli Public Development Institute'. Which made public awareness in the area and put pressure on the government officials and stopped the indiscriminate felling of forests.

In the Rakshasutra movement started in 1994, the people of Bhilangana Valley of Tehri had pledged to save the trees by tying Rakshasutra on the trees.
The Uttar Pradesh government had identified 2500 trees for cutting.
Before the government started felling the trees, the local women started agitation.
The slogan of this movement was- "trees will remain at the height, river glaciers will survive, trees will be cut, mountains will break, people will die without death, the country will be saved, the village will be happy."

The people of Raini, Lata, Tolma etc. started a sit-in in Lata village on June 21, 1998, demanding restoration of traditional rights over forests and handing over the management of Nanda Devi National Park to the villagers.
And on 15th July, the people of the neighboring village along with their pets entered the Nanda Devi National Park and this movement was named Jhapto Chhino.

The word Maiti means maternal, the father of this unique movement was Kalyan Singh Rawat. In whose mind the idea of the movement came in 1996.
He did not even imagine that this movement would get so much expansion. Seeing the students of Gwaldam Inter College taking care of the forests at Bedni Bugyal during an educational tour, Mr. Rawat realized that girls can do a better job in conserving the environment,
Only after that the Maiti movement organization and all other things started taking shape.
Due to this movement, even today, the tradition of planting saplings by the bride and groom during the marriage ceremony and after that the tradition of taking care of the plants by the people of the maternal side has developed,
Maiti program is printed on the wedding invitation letter and people take full interest in it.

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