Gandhian Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Father Of Forest Conservation And one of the Great "Citizens Of Mother Earth".


Gandhi Peace Prize 2013 winner Chandi Prasad Bhatt is a great environmentalist, Gandhian and thinker. 

Gandhi Peace Prize is an award that is bestowed to individuals and organisations for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through peace and other Gandhian methods.

Born on June 23, 1934, Bhatt was co-founder of Chipko movement, adopting non-violence in preventing deforestation in the Garhwal region of Himalayas by hugging trees to prevent them from being felled during the early 70s. For his contribution towards the movement, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1982. In 2003, he was appointed a member of the 'National Forest Commission', which reviewed all existing policies and legal frameworks relating to forest management. In 2005, he was conferred the Padma Bhushan. 

He was inspired by Gandhian leader Jai Prakash Narayan and actively participated in the Sarvodaya movement, Bhoodan and Gramdan. He organised hill villages for economic development and fighting liquor abuse. He founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeshwar in 1964, to organise fellow villagers for employment near their homes in forest-based industries, specially ash trees and herbs for ayurvedic medicine, and to combat exploitation due to discriminate forest policies. 

Curtailment of the villagers' rights to trees and forest products in favour of outside commercial interests  enabled Bhatt, in 1973, to mobilise the society members and villagers into the collective Chipko Movement (Hug the Trees Movement) to force revision of forest policies dating from 1917. Women played the leading role. 

The Chipko movement, though primarily a livelihood protection movement rather than a forest conservation movement, went on to become a rallying point for future non-violent environmental protests and movements, all over the world. It helped to slow down the rapid deforestation, exposed the vested interests, increased ecological awareness and demonstrated the viability of people power which stirred up the existing civil society in India to address the issues of tribal and marginalised people. It was a unique movement to save forests, globally. 

In the words of Former President of India Late Pranab Mukherjee, while honouring him with Gandhi Peace Prize, “Shri Bhatt, I salute you for your dedicated, tireless and invaluable work for the conservation of the environment. I also thank you for your immense contribution to our nation and wish you good health as well as long years of continued service to our people.”  

He is now 89 years old; but still active to raise the voice for Himalayan ecosystem. He has been against the mindless rampaging on the Himalayas in the name of development; he always stressed that it must be stopped. He is in true sense, the Father of Forest Conservation and one of the"Citizens Of Mother Earth". 


C:\Users\Prabhat\Desktop\Chipko.jpgC:\Users\Prabhat\Desktop\cp bhatt.jpg    

Story by Prabhat Misra, Founder of Red Tape Movement.

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