User:Bhadauria1947.lko/sandbox

Root of Chipko Andolan

(R.S.Bhadauria, Ex- Principal Chief Conservator of Forests U.P.)

Chipko Andolan ( synonym- Green Movement) that shook the age -old forestry practices in U.P. Himalayas during early seventies (1970-75), has a  very  interesting history behind it. During (1970-71, I was the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Kedarnath Forest Division (then known as Class-1 Forest Division), with H.Qrs at Gopeshwar in Chamoli District of Garhwal region. Because of my working as per the rule book of the department, an extraordinary situation arose which led me to become the prime reason,  causing   this movement to originate.

The place where this movement surfaced, & thrived, is interior part of Himalayas  in District Chamoli,  a  newly carved out district, having no  big city or any industry. As a result, there was no local market demand  of  timber except for agricultural tools and house building/ repairs of local people,  for which  provision existed in Forest Department rules to meet individual’s bona fide demand by granting   standing trees as Petty Demand  (PD), at a nominal fixed price. But such timber granted under PD had to be used by the grantee only, and could neither be sold nor given to others. This scenario of demand and supply of timber in U.P. hills, prevailed ever since the British started forest management in hills.

Under such a situation, all the timber harvested after auction by the Forest Department, used to be brought down by contractors to the markets in the plains region. But during early seventies, new district township at Gopeshwar was being built, as such some local demand for timber including that of Public Works Department (PWD), had arisen. Consequently, market forces gave rise to pilferage of PD timber, in to the local market.. This illegal channel of timber supply was facilitated through a saw mill, set up in Gopeshwar by a local NGO known as Dasoli Gram Swaraj Sangh (DGSS). Timber from trees granted to local villagers, under P.D system. found way to local  market,  after having been sawn at this saw mill, with the result bogus demand for. trees under P.D, grew manifold and a clandestine trade of timber developed around Gopeshwar town in Chamoli district.. P.D. rules, though required spot verification of the genuineness of applicant’s demand, first by local Forest Guard and then by Range Officer or his authorized subordinate officer before recommending it to the  DFO for sanction, but visiting each and every applicant’s house on foot  in hills was arduous task. Therefore due to practical difficulty and in good faith, many demands used to be recommended routinely without spot verification, trusting the applicant, as in olden days there was no  scope for pilferage of PD

-2- timber. But because of saw milling facility having come up at Gopeshwar and the increasing local demand for  timber in this new  township, the situation  had changed ,..  Initially I also followed the footsteps of my predecessors in granting PD based on the recommendations of Range Officers. But one evening at the local Officers’ Club in Gopeshwar, the Executive Engineer PWD, Mr. Goel, while chatting casually remarked that formerly for Government works, he had to buy and bring sawn timber from Hardwar or Rishikesh markets for building construction but of late the timber became available from the local saw mill at Gopeshwar. He was rather happy at this development but this news jolted me to suspect some kind of theft from the forest.

Next day I called the local Range Officer Mr. Khanduri to enquire about the saw mill and the source of supply of logs to this saw mill. On my insistence he admitted that perhaps the PD grants were the source of supply of logs to the saw mill. He also confessed that it was impossible for him to verify personally each and every Petty Demand (PD) application on the spot due to inaccessibility of areas which could be reached only on foot. I discussed this matter with Assistant Conservator of Forests Mr. N.K. Joshi and he also suspected that PD was being misused due to facility of saw milling at Gopeshwaer. I therefore decided to stop this pilferage by ordering strict spot verification of each application for PD and even follow up verification, until end use of granted timber.

Proper verification of PD applications and my adherence to rules in granting sanction, resulted in weaning out bogus and false demands, thereby reducing the supply of timber logs to the saw mill at Gopeshwar. Soon after, the saw mill faced virtual closure affecting adversely the main source of income for Dasoli Gram Swaraj Sangh (DGSS). The whole chain of middle men who were generating false demand for PD and supplying such timber to saw mill were also affected adversely. This drastic step of mine naturally angered all those affected by my lawful action and naturally, I became an eye-sore for all such persons.

As a consequence of this development, a complaint was sent to U.P. Govt. against me alleging that I was too strict in sanctioning PD, branding me as unsympathetic to public                                                                        and ignorant of the local conditions. To inquire into this complaint, the then Hon’ble Minister of State for Forests U.P. Govt. Mr. Dungar Singh, arrived one evening at Nand Prayag Forest Rest House. When I met him at the rest house, he showed me the complaint and wanted my reply. I narrated the whole background behind this complaint and the Minister hailing from Kumaon hills, could better realize that such complaints often arose if officers followed rules strictly in sanctioning P.D. He therefore wanted to                                                                                -3- close the matter at this stage. Nevertheless I requested him to enquire about the allegations by calling a public meeting at Gopeshwar by informing the complainants to be present in the meeting. I also suggested that the complainants should bring with them all such applicants whose genuine demands for PD were rejected by me. He agreed and a public meeting in the like manner was called at Gopeshwar by informing all concerned to assemble at a fixed time and date. In the meantime I prepared the list of applicants whose demands were rejected and also of those whom I had sanctioned PD on the recommendations of the Range Officers and Assistant Conservator of Forests – Mr N.K.Joshi. The public meeting took place on appointed date and time at Gopeshwar with sizeable attendance. First I let the people speak about their grievances. It was here that I saw a man who stood up, introducing himself as Chandi Prasad Bhatt, President of Dasoli Gram Swaraj Sangh (DGSS) and spoke on behalf of complainants about the right of PD being denied to genuine applicants. One or two more persons spoke in similar tones.

After this I got up to answer the allegations. First I spoke at length about the purpose of PD. and rules for sanctioning it. Then I exposed in detail the modus operandi of running the saw mill at Gopeshwar misusing timber of PD grantees, and selling sawn timber to local PWD and other consumers which was nothing but a kind of theft of forest produce. I, as part of my duty had to curb this wrong practice to save forests and to allow PD only to genuine applicants for their bona fide use. Thereafter I asked the audience, if there was anybody present in the meeting whose genuine demand for PD was rejected but none responded. Then, I challenged the complainants to produce any applicant any time even after the meeting to prove the wrong and unjustified rejection of his application. I was naturally hurt by wrong allegations, fabricated and concocted due to other reasons. I was also emotionally surcharged and in the same vein I declared that if any rejection was proved wrong, first, after verification, I would suspend the staff who recommended rejection and then I would also resign from the service owning my fault. Hearing this, the Minister was taken aback at my daring the public but finding no takers from the opposite side, he appreciated my courage of conviction when he rose to address the meeting. It is worth mentioning here that in those days there was no Act or Rule to regulate saw milling activity and anybody could install a saw mill anywhere and this is how the saw mill of DGSS had come up at Gopeshwar.. . The Minister was thoroughly satisfied that I was right in taking corrective measures to curb misuse of P.D and complaint was nothing but a retaliatory action of wrong doers. Before closing the meeting the

-4- Minister mildly reprimanded the complainants while supporting and appreciating my action, sense of duty and commitment to save the forests. I was happy that my stand on PD issue was vindicated.

After few days a small group of people gathered below my office campus, and started beating drums ostensibly to attract my attention. I along with entire office staff came out to know what it was about. On enquiry it was revealed that representatives of Dasoli Gram Swaraj Sangh, wanted to meet me to discuss timber supply problem in and around Gopeshwar town. I agreed for the meeting and Shri. Chandi Prasad Bhatt along with some others were ushered into my office. Mr. Bhatt a very polite, courteous and well mannered man, first apologized for the past happenings and then put up his view point regarding  timber harvesting policy of Forest Department .which ignored  interest of locals.

Briefly stated, according to Govt, policy the forest areas due for harvesting as per written forest working plans, were marked  every year for felling, divided into felling lots and auctioned in annual open auction held at Dehradun in the month of July. Harvesting of trees in hills particularly in Higher Himalayas, bringing the converted timber down to the markets in the plains was not only an uphill task but also time consuming and capital intensive in terms of investment. Therefore only those timber contractors who had enough finances to invest and experience of harvesting in mountains, used to bid in the auctions. Since timber markets were all situated in plains, and there being no road network in hills, the sleepers sawn out of logs in the forest, were first carried manually to nearby river banks and then floated down through rivers to plains. Shri Bhatt’s grouse was mainly on two grounds, first the system did not cater to the needs of local people as all the timber was floated down to the plains, the second, no financial benefit accrued to the local people as all the benefits went to the contractors who were from the plains region. On my asking him to suggest remedial measures he suggested that one or two timber lots should be excluded from auction and be allotted at fixed price to local organizations like his Sangh for local sale to consumers. Since allotment of tree lots at a fixed price without auction was not within my powers, I agreed to forward his proposal to U.P. Govt., which alone could take decision in the matter.

As promised, I recommended his proposal to U.P. Govt. stating reasons of local demand which had arisen of late due to developmental activities having  started in hills. The govt. turned down my proposal and we were back to square one. Faced with this situation, an alternative proposal                                                                        was put up to me by DGSS to make some smaller lots for auction, which would be within financial reach of local bidders. As it was within my power, I made two smaller lots besides the usual big ones and included them in the sale list for the ensuing annual auction of 1970. On the appointed date for the

-5- auction at Dehradun the DGSS group and some other local bidders participated in the auction at Dehradun. When these small lots were put up for auction, the big contractors also jumped into the fray and out-bided the local bidders by huge margins, ostensibly with the purpose of not letting them buy the                                                                       lots. Since it was an open auction nobody could be stopped from biding and the lots went to highest bidders,. rendering the local bidders out of race. Thus, even this attempt of locals for getting the timber lots failed.

After this incident, the chasm between the locals and big contractors operating in that area widened further. The feeling of frustration and rather unspoken humiliation at the hands of big contractors in the auction, changed the course of events which laid the foundation of struggle culminating slowly in to Chipko Movement.

Annual auctions were over in July 1970 and by the time approval of sale obtained from higher authorities,, was communicated to the purchasers the winter had set in Himalayas. Therefore it was usual practice in higher hills to start work of harvesting after the winters. Accordingly the contractors made preparations to start work in those lots since April 1971 onwards.

In the mean time Dasoli Gram Swaraj Sangh, under the leadership of Shri Chandi Prasad Bhatt, planned to block the harvesting of trees, in auctioned lots, as a retaliatory measure to end the monopoly of big contractors. For this blockade to succeed, they planned to keep the women folk in the forefront for obvious reasons. Women folk were persuaded and motivated to oppose cutting of trees. The strategy planned was that women supported by men would embrace the trees when contractor’s lumbermen would approach the trees to cut them. In order to thwart any possible attempt by contractors or the Forest dept. to take any pre-emptive remedial measure, this strategy was kept a closely guarded secret until actual felling operations were to commence in April 1971. This is why throughout winters there was no overt or covert protest or any activity to suggest that they would create any problem in harvesting of auctioned trees.

Before the harvesting commenced, I was transferred in March 1971, as Director of  a new   Zoological Park to be built  at Kanpur and I handed over charge to Shri N.S Negi at the end of the month. Later, as I learnt from my successor- Shri Negi that protests were planned                                                                  to disrupt harvesting of those lots which the local bidders could not purchase in the auctions, but  somehow  Shri Negi succeeded in  persuading protestors. not to resort to this kind of illegal action.

-6- Therefore nothing untoward happened in that harvesting season, but the big contractors had by then sensed the impending trouble which they would eventually face in future. Consequently a truce like situation emerged which enabled the locals to buy smaller lots in the next year’s auction of 1972. However despite this success, the Sangh (DGSS) kept on pressing for allotment of Ash trees, locally                                                                                used in making agricultural tools But the Govt. turned down their demand, while at the same time, Allahabad based Simon Co –a Sports Goods Manufacturing Co., was allotted Ash trees by the Govt. at fixed price, for manufacturing sports goods. This discrimination further fuelled the smoldering fire and the DGSS supported by local villagers forced the loggers of the Simon Co, to stop cutting of allotted Ash tress during 1973 season. This situation further worsened and ultimately culminated in to blocking of harvesting in a Deodar timber lot in Reni village near Joshimath in adjoining Badrinath Forest Division in Chamoli district, where womenfolk of that village, on March 26, 1974, led by one Smt. Gaura Devi and  supported by DGSS. embraced the trees and the lumbermen had to retreat facing stiff resistance. The blockade plan had succeeded.

The news of success of such a blockade spread to other areas in Tehri- Garhwal region and another activist Shri Sunder Lal Bahuguna took up the reins of this movement in Tehri region,  In due course, the basis of blockade  metamorphosed in to  a more meaningful form & shape and it’s cause changed from opposition of big contractors to ecological considerations.. The media sprang in to action and soon the movement spread in entire U.P. Himalayas. As regards the nomenclature of this movement as CHIPKO ANDOLAN, I feel that it was rediscovered from the annals of History by some knowledgeable man – may be somebody from media, because a similar movement known by the same name had occurred in feudal state of Jodhpur during British period, when Maharaja Jodhpur, to fill his coffers, sold Khejri Trees - life line of farmers, standing in farmers’ fields. The farmers opposed cutting of trees by embracing the trees. Some one knowing this historical fact, drawing parallel between the two events, named this movement in Himalayas also as. CHIPKO ANDOLAN

After the passage of Wild Life Protection Act of 1972, by Parliament, during early seventies, pace of conservation of forests and wild life had picked up. The wind of change started blowing discarding the age-old perception of treating forests and wild life as harvestable and renewable resource only. In this background, the simple blockade against cutting the trees for the reasons narrated heretofore,                                                                            metamorphosed in to a conservation movement, imbibing ecological exigencies and conservation

-7- philosophy The initial motive, though  was different yet the planners of movement soon adopted more appealing  ground, echoing the voice of  conservation. and thus, movement  started  attracting national and  international appreciation  and support. This resulted in to making Shri Bhatt  a father figure of the movement and  later he was awarded Magsaysay  Award for this endeavour. - When I reminisce the sequence of events leading to  Chipko Andolan, it gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction that my adherence to rules in granting concession timber (P.D.) to villagers, gave birth to a conservation  movement, which otherwise would not have arisen and the country would have missed an opportunity to have a Magsaysay Awardee for this cause. But the way Shri Bhatt, lead and shaped the entire movement with. exemplary perseverance, fortitude, zeal, and steady approach, he did deserve this honour. I on my part, feel rewarded and proud of my contribution and role as a trigger to ignite the fire of protest which driven by force of circumstances proved a salvo, and got transformed in to a wide spread, Chipko Andolan-a sort of Green movement, which changed the direction of Forest Management from commercial cum conservation approach to sheer conservation goal. Emanating from U.P. Himalayas, this movement eventually covered the whole country. .Initially, though my action of tightening the P.D .system was criticized and resisted, yet I stuck to my guns, but at the same time listening sympathetically to Shri Bhatt and his companions, and cooperating to help meet their demands within the framework of forest laws & rules. This approach of mine, definitely encouraged and emboldened them to move ahead step by step to achieve resounding success, the genesis of which I can proudly share and cherish.