FEMALES FOR FORESTRY

      Since time began, the natural broad-leaved forests of the Himalayas have played a significant role in the life of the people of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, the forests are the foundation of the whole economy of the hill village. Green leaves and grass, for example, provide fodder are the animals, whose dung is used as fertilizer for the croplands. Dry twigs and branches are the only source of domestic cooking fuel. The fores provide large supplies of fruits, edible nuts, fibers and herbs for local consumption. 

      The forests break the flow of the seasonal rainfall that lashes the slopes of this mountain range every year during the monsoon. This creates springs and ever - flowing streams which are vital for the mountain people and their animals during the hot summer months.

        For many years, however, large areas of these rich forest resources are getting destroyed. For example, the forests of Tehri - Gadhwal were exploited to supply timer  for the expanding railway network in the plains. Europeans in mussourie wanted cultivation of new food  crops like potatoes , leading to large - scale clearing of mixed oak forests. There was clearly a contradiction between the village people's basic needs, and the requirements of the state to earn money. In 1930 , the people of Tehri-Gadhwal began a non-cooperation movement called satyagrah, a form of peaceful resistance to obtain justice in opposition to the oppressive forest laws. In that year, a large number of people were killed in Tilari by the armed forces of the kingdom of Tehri-Gadhwal, when they formed a protest meeting against official forest policy. 

     This grass-roots struggle against commercial cutting of the Himalayan forests of Uttar Pradesh has forced the state government to rethink its strategy. Commercial felling, in face, is now banned above a height of 1000m. But there are large  areas of degraded forests, and the Forest Department has failed to reafforest them. As a result, there is now a severe scarcity of animal fodder and domestic fuel, and acute water shortage. The women suffer the most. In many parts of the hills, women now have to walk all day to collect the daily requirements of fodder, fuel and water. Inspired by the Chipko movement, the village women have now started to manage and protect local forests, to ensure their regeneration. 

       Under the leadership of Shri Sundar Bahuguna and Shri Chandi Prasad of Tehri Gaghwal District, in Uttaranchal, tree lovers came forward to save the Deodar Forests that lie on the Slopes of the Himalayas. In this movement, the tree lovers used to embrace the trees to save them from being cut. It was popularly known as the Chipko Movement.

      Conservation of forests is our moral duty. Our constitution now reads "It is every citizen's fundamental duty to conserve and thereby improve forests, lakes, rivers, environment, alongwith wildlife, and also to have compassion towards organisms."