The Chipko legacy

The Chipko movement turns 50 this year. Celebrated as a poster-child of environmental activism, the movement that was born in the villages of Uttarakhand is today a well-thumbed case study for green crusaders all over the world. The success of the movement — the grassroots resistance that it built up, the legislative changes that it brought about — and the arresting visual imagery that it generated, where women hugged trees and stared down bulldozers and musclemen have also made it a popular modern-day David vs Goliath fable. But such a characterisation paints a distorted picture and tells just half the story.