Chandi Prasad Bhatt | |
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| Born | (1934-06-23)23 June 1934 (age 91) |
| Occupation(s) | Environmentalist and social activist |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Movement | Chipko Movement |
| Parent(s) | Ganga Ram Bhatt (father) Maheshi Devi Thapliyal (mother) |
| Awards | Ramon Magsaysay Award (1982) Padma Bhushan (2005) Gandhi Peace Prize (2013) |
Chandi Prasad Bhatt (born 23 June 1934) is anIndian environmentalist and social activist, who founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) inGopeshwar in 1964, which later became a mother-organization to theChipko Movement, in which he was one of the pioneers. For his work Bhatt was awarded theRamon Magsaysay Award in 1982, followed by thePadma Bhushan in 2005.[1]
Today he is known for his work onsubalternsocial ecology, and considered one of India's first modern environmentalist.[2]
In 2013, he was the recipient of theGandhi Peace Prize.[3][4][5]
Chandi Prasad Bhatt was born on 23 June 1934, as the second child of Ganga Ram Bhatt and Maheshi Devi Thapliyal, in a family of priests to the Rudranath Temple inGopeshwar, one of thePanch Kedar, the five Himalayan temples dedicated toShiva, the most venerated amongst them being theKedarnath Temple.[1] His father, who was a farmer as well as a priest at the famousShiva temple at Gopeshwar and the Rudranath temple, died when Chandi Prasad was still an infant and he was raised thereafter by his mother, inGopeshwar,Chamoli District ofUttarakhand in India, which was then still a very small village. He did his schooling inRudraprayag andPauri, but stopped before he could receive a degree.[6]
Farmland was scarce in the overpopulated mountains, and so were jobs. Like most men of the mountain villages, Chandi Prasad taught art to children for a year to support his mother, before eventually forced to work in the plains. He joined the Garhwal Motor Owners Union (GMOU) as a booking clerk, posted at various places including,Rishikesh, Pipalkoti andKarnaprayag.
In 1956, Bhatt found hope when he heard a speech by theGandhian leaderJayaprakash Narayan, who was on a tour of the area. Bhatt and other young people launched themselves into theSarvodaya movement and Gandhian campaigns, ofBhoodan andGramdan and organising villages for economic development and fighting liquor abuse throughout the Uttarakhand.[7]
In 1960, he left his job at GMOU, to commit full-time to his Sarvodaya activities, and by 1964, Bhatt had instituted theDasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (Society for Village Self-Rule) to organise fellow villagers in Gopeshwar for employment near their homes in forest-based industries, making wooden implements from ash trees and gathering and marketing herbs forayurvedic medicine-and to combat vice and exploitation.
Curtailment of the villagers' legitimate rights to trees and forest products in favour of outside commercial interests enabled Bhatt, in 1973, to mobilise the forest-wise society members and villagers into the collectiveChipko Andolan (Hug the Trees Movement) to force revision of forest policies dating from 1917. Women, who regularly walk three to five miles to the forest to gather and carry home fuel and fodder on their backs, took the lead. True to the movement's non-violent philosophy, these women embraced the trees to restrict their felling.[8] Establishment of "eco-development camps" brought villagers together to discuss their needs within the context of the ecological balance of the forest. Stabilising slopes by building rock retaining walls, the campers planted trees, started in their own village nurseries. While less than one-third of the trees set out by government foresters survived, up to 88 percent of the villager-planted trees grew.
In 1974 he and his colleagues led a movement to save the cultural and archaeological heritage of the Badrinath shrine.[9]
Bhatt and his society colleagues have been helped by sympathetic scientists, officials and college students. Yet theirs is essentially an indigenous movement of mountain villagers, and Chipko Andolan has become an instrument of action and education for members, officials and outsiders, in the realities of effective resource conservation.
Although Bhatt has attended meetings in lowland India and abroad as a spokesman for Chipko, he has remained a man of his community. He and his wife continue to live the simple life of their Himalayan neighbours. In the process, he has become knowledgeable and productive in helping ensure his people's hard-won living. In 2003, he was appointed a member of theNational Forest Commission, which reviewed all existing policies and legal frameworks relating to forest management, and submitted its report to the Government in 2005.[10] His active participation at BIPARD Gaya for 2nd CFC's on 15 th of March 2024.[11]
(Selected Books)
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