Book Review - The Chipko Movement: A People's History

The Chipko Movement: A People's History by Shekhar Pathak
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A spontaneous grassroots movement sprang across the verdant foothills of the Himalayas against the rapacious exploitation by industry and a deluded government sitting far away. The life-sustaining hills and forests were being denuded and replaced by commercially valuable trees like the chir pine. Chir is a resinous tree that is responsible for all the fires raging across the forests today. The highly inflammable fallen pine needles do not disintegrate easily, carpet the hill-sides and do not let normal plants shrubs proliferate.
Chipko, sadly, was hijacked by politics, communists, and self-aggrandizing NGOs and individuals.
The book could have been shorter, there was no need for long lists of names. The defining moment of Gaura Devi could have been highlighted more.
It is a very fine balance to preserve the ecology and sustainable economic development. The pressure on the environment is due not so much due to exploitation of natural resources but because of the population explosion. Ham-handed policies of the government do not really address the issue, just muddle it further.

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