Gaura Devi as Part of International Women’s Day Celebrations | 05 Mar 2020
Why in News
- The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is celebrating Women's Week from 1st March to 8th March 2020.
- International Women's Day is observed on 8th March every year.
- MHRD remembered the women of history who have made significant contributions in the past and planted a sapling in memory of Gaura Devi, a Chipko Activist.
The Chipko Movement
- The Chipko movement was a non-violent agitation in 1973.
- It is best remembered for the collective mobilisation of women for the cause of preserving forests, which also brought about a change in attitude regarding their own status in society.
Gaura Devi
- The movement was led by Gaura Devi, who saved their communal forest from clear felling, beginning a decade of Chipko direct actions by women throughout the Uttarakhand region.
- Gaura Devi led the first all-women action to save their community forest and mobilised the women of this region to protect their natural heritage.
- During the activist phase of Chipko in the1970s, the courage and vigilance of Uttarakhandi women saved many forests and earned them a hallowed place in the history of the global environmental movement.
- From this action, Chipko was to emerge as a peasant movement in defence of traditional forest rights, continuing a century-long tradition of resistance to state encroachment.
Source: PIB