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www.GOALias.blogspot.comrise of popularmovementsNature of popular movementsTake a look at the opening image of this chapter. What do you seethere? Villagers have literally embraced the trees. Are they playingsome game? Or participating in some ritual or festival? Not really. Theimage here depicts a very unusual form of collective action in whichmen and women from a village in what is now Uttarakhand wereengaged in early 1973. These villagers were protesting against thepractices of commercial logging that the government had permitted.to prevent them from being cut down. These protests marked thebeginning of a world-famous environmental movement in our countryChipko movementchapter7The movement began in two or three villages of Uttarakhand when theforest department refused permission to the villagers to fell ash treesfor making agricultural tools. However, the forest department allottedthe same patch of land to a sports manufacturer for commercialuse. This enraged the villagers and they protested against the moveof the government. The struggle soon spread across many parts ofthe Uttarakhand region. Larger issues of ecological and economicexploitation of the region were raised. The villagers demanded thatno forest-exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and localcommunities should have effective control over natural resourceslike land, water and forests. They wanted the government to providelow cost materials to small industries and ensure development ofFascinating!But I wonder how itrelates to the history ofpolitics.Two historicpictures of theearly Chipkomovement inChamoli,Uttarakhand.Credit: Anupam Mishra