He helped stop loggers by getting villagers to hug trees. Decades later, he fought just as hard against a dam, and lost his own home to it anyway. This article covers Sunderlal Bahuguna’s two great campaigns, and how differently each one ended.
Must Know
The Chipko Movement
- Who He WasSunderlal Bahuguna (9 January 1927 – 21 May 2021) was born in Maroda, in the Tehri Garhwal region of present-day Uttarakhand.
- The MovementHe was the best-known leader of the Chipko Movement, an anti-deforestation movement in the Indian Himalayas. Its name comes from the Hindi word for “to cling.”
- The MethodThe movement’s method was direct: villagers hugged trees to physically stop loggers from felling them. They put their own bodies between the axe and the tree.
- Where It StartedThe idea is credited to Bahuguna and his wife, Vimla Bahuguna. It spread widely after a 1973 protest in Reni village, Chamoli district.
- The ResultHis advocacy is credited with winning a 15-year government ban on green-tree felling in the Himalayas, above an altitude of 1,000 metres. That was a real, concrete policy win, not just a symbolic protest.
- His DeathHe died on 21 May 2021, from COVID-19 complications, at AIIMS Rishikesh.
Good to Know
Before Chipko, and After It
- His Own PhraseBahuguna coined the phrase “Ecology is permanent economy.” It summed up his central argument: healthy forests matter more to long-term livelihoods than short-term timber revenue.
- Before ChipkoBefore Chipko, he had already campaigned against untouchability and organised hill women in an anti-liquor drive, from 1965 to 1970. That was well before he became known as an environmentalist.
- The Long WalkFrom 1981 to 1983, he walked roughly 5,000 kilometres across the Himalayan range on foot. He built village-level support for forest conservation, one village at a time.
- Turning to the DamFrom the 1980s, he shifted his focus to opposing the Tehri Dam. He led repeated hunger strikes against it, including a 45-day fast in 1995 and a 74-day fast at Raj Ghat.
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Great to Know
Two Campaigns, Two Endings
- Very Different OutcomesBahuguna’s two great campaigns had very different outcomes. Chipko succeeded in changing government policy. The Tehri Dam was built anyway, despite decades of comparable effort against it.
- Losing His Own HomeHe was personally displaced by the dam he fought against for over two decades. His own ancestral home was submerged when the reservoir filled, in July 2004.
- National RecognitionHe and Vimla Bahuguna jointly received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award, in 2009.
- A Later, Similar FightHis environmental activism sits alongside a later fight over a different river. The Narmada Bachao Andolan opposed dam-building on the Narmada, raising the same debate over development, displacement, and ecological cost. See EnvEco0036 — Medha Patkar and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
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