Essay Example on Changes in existing policies happen only when a firm Action

Changes in existing policies happen only when a firm action is taken by the people against it One such people's movement was the Chipko Movement Chipko means to stick which was done by hugging the trees to stop the authorities from cutting them This is one of the largest environmental movements held in India and serves as a great example of the power of people The first signs of Chipko Movement can be traced back to the 18th century Rajasthan by the Bishnoi community Bishnoi is a faith under Hinduism which considers nature sacred and forbids any harm to it Harm to animals and trees is prohibited in this culture This belief system of the Bishnoi community was challenged by rulers in 1730 who ordered mass felling of Khejri Scientific name Prosopis cineraria trees to burn lime for the construction of a new palace against the orders of the Maharaja King of Jodhpur Amrita Devi along with people from 83 Bishnoi villages hugged the trees The cutters needed to cut the people before they could reach the trees which posed a dilemma Amrita Devi lost her life while battling for the trees and proclaimed 

One of Chipko s striking characteristics was the participation of women in large numbers Uttarakhand s environmental degradation affected the agriculture hence affecting women the most The Chipko Movement displayed how an act of cutting trees for blooming the rich could be an issue of survival for the poor Nature is the means and ends of livelihood of the poor and they are much more dependent on forests as compared to the richer class Not only women male activists also played an important role namely Chandi Prasad Bhatt Sunderlal Bahuguna Govind Singh Rawat Dhoom Singh Neji and Shamsher Singh Bisht Ghanshyam Raturi was the Chipko poet whose songs are still popular in the Himalayan region As per United Nations Environment Programme report Chipko activists started working a socio economic revolution by winning control of their forest resources from the hands of a distant bureaucracy which is only concerned with the selling of forestland for making urban oriented products On 26 March 2004 Reni Laata and other villages of the Niti Valley celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Chipko movement where all the surviving original participants united