Where did the Chipko Movement First Started in India?

The Chipko movement, also known as the Chipko Andolan, was a nonviolent social and environmental movement launched by rural Indian peasants, notably women, in the 1970s. Its goal was to defend forests and trees from government-sponsored logging. In 1973, the movement began in the Indian Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, which was at the time a part of Uttar Pradesh. The activists' principal strategy of embracing trees to obstruct loggers is reflected in the Hindi word Chipko, which means "to hug or to cling to."

Background of Chipko Movement in India

• The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh saw a rise in development after the Sino-Indian border conflict was resolved in 1963, particularly in the rural Himalayan areas. 
• Many international logging corporations looking for access to the region's abundant forest resources were drawn to the interior routes constructed during the conflict. 
• The government's policy prevented the villagers from managing the lands. It denied them access to the lumber, even though the rural villagers relied heavily on the forests for subsistence directly, for food and fuel, and indirectly, for services like water purification and soil stabilization. 
• Commercial logging operations were frequently poorly managed, and the clear-cutting of forests reduced agricultural yields, caused erosion, depleted water supplies, and increased flooding in many of the surrounding communities.