A people's forest


In the 1980s, a teacher inspired by Chipko Andolan decided to regenerate forests in his region. The philosophy used to achieve this aim is something that all government afforestation schemes like the Joint Forest Management need to learn from. Sachidanand Bharti was an active participant in the Chipko Andolan during his days as a student in Gopeshwar, Uttarakhand. When he came back to his village Uffrain Khal after finishing studies, he was moved by the trouble women in the mountains had to take for basic needs like fuel wood and fodder and how a degenerated forest meant not just more hard work but embarrassment too.

This resulted in a community movement that has generated a forest on 700 hectares of mountain land and 20,000 ponds over the last 30 years. On November 1, Dudhatoli Lok Vikas Sansthan will be awarded the National Mahatma Gandhi Prize by the Madhya Pradesh government that carries a financial award of Rs.10 lakhs, the biggest monetary award in the country. The organisation, comprising a teacher (Bharti), a postman, a grocery store owner and an ayurvedic healer, owes its success to the community in the 136 villages of Dudhatoli region in Pauri Garhwal which is a 300 square kilometre forest. None of them depend on the organisation for their salary........Read More

 

Source: The Hindu


Comments (0)



Please Login or Register to join groups