Today is the death anniversary of Sunderlal Bahuguna, the inspiration behind the Chipko movement and a great environmentalist. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Maharashtra Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav paid tribute to him on this occasion.
Sunderlal Bahuguna was an Indian environmentalist and leader of the Chipko movement. He fought tirelessly for the conservation of Himalayan forests. He remained a member of the Chipko movement throughout the 1970s and later led the anti-Tehri Dam movement from the 1980s until early 2004.
Bahuguna was one of India’s earliest environmentalists, and later, he and others associated with the Chipko movement began to raise broader environmental issues, such as opposition to large dams.
Sunderlal Bahuguna’s early life: He was born on January 9, 1927, in Maroda village near Tehri district, Uttarakhand. He claimed at a ceremony in Kolkata that his ancestors, named Bandopadhyay, had migrated from Bengal to Tehri 800 years ago. Bahuguna began organizing hill women in his anti-liquor campaign from 1965 to 1970. He began social activities at the age of 13 under the guidance of Shri Dev Suman, a nationalist who spread the message of non-violence.
Sunderlal Bahuguna adopted Gandhian principles in his life and married his wife, Vimla, on the condition that he would live among the villagers and establish an ashram in the village. Inspired by Gandhi, he trekked through the Himalayan forests and hills.
The Chipko Movement, which is still considered a major step towards environmental protection, is considered an inspiration for Sunderlal Bahuguna. The Chipko Movement was a historic environmental and forest conservation movement that took place in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand in 1973. In the Himalayan villages of Reni and Mandal, rural women embraced trees, or clung to them, to prevent them from being cut down by outside contractors. This movement earned it the name Chipko Movement.
Prominent figures who brought this movement to prominence include Gaura Devi, Sunderlal Bahuguna, and Chandi Prasad Bhatt. This movement not only saved the Himalayan ecosystem from destruction but also laid the foundation for global environmental awareness. The pressure from this movement forced the then-central government to ban deforestation.
In addition to the Chipko Movement, Bahuguna also strongly opposed the construction of the Tehri Dam, for which he embarked on a hunger strike for 84 days. He continued his fight against the Tehri Dam until the very end, and his own house was submerged in the Tehri Dam’s reservoir. He also strongly opposed the Tehri monarchy, for which he was imprisoned.
Sunderlal Bahuguna walked approximately 4,875 kilometers from Kashmir to Kohima to spread awareness about the Himalayas and environmental conservation.
For his outstanding contributions to environmental conservation, he was awarded the
- National Unity Award in 1984,
- the Right Livelihood Award in 1987, and
- the Padma Bhushan, India’s second highest civilian honor, in 2009.
He passed away on May 21, 2021, from COVID-19 at the age of 94. However, his ideals for environmental conservation continue to inspire the world.
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