PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Jyotirmath.
To mark the 52nd anniversary of the Chipko Movement, initiated by legendary Gaura Devi for forest conservation, a commemorative programme was held in Raini village of Chamoli district, the origin of the movement. Like every year, the villagers organised a Chipko Festival during which the village Mahila Mangal Dal planted trees and organised cultural programmes.
Notably, an ordinary village woman called Gaura Devi emerged as an epitome of extraordinary courage as she confronted workers unleashed by contractors to fell down trees for a project on March 26, 1974. She hugged trees and then others followed her. They formed circles and stopped those trees from being felled by loggers. Hence it is called the Hugging Movement or Chipko Movement which became well-known across the world as a grassroots, non-violent resistance by rural women for forest conservation.
