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Trepan Singh Chauhan |
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Chetna Andolan
Location : Dist Tehri Garhwal, Uttaranchal
Trepan Singh Chauhan a product of the Chipko Movement (Environment Movement by Women in the Himalayas during the early eighties against the indiscriminate felling of trees by companies) is being supported by SRUTI since 1995. Trepan is working in around 60 villages situated in the mid Himalayan region of Tehri Garhwal district. With 90% of men migrating in search of employment, women are the backbone of the region. Trepan decided to make them the prime focus of his work. They actively took up the issues of unemployment, migration and corruption in the implementation of Government schemes. Through village meetings and public hearings, they exposed the extensive defalcation of government funds and demanded transparency in public expenditure.
The issue of liquor has been one of the major issues in the area and Chetna Andolan has taken up this issue. They have been protesting against illegal selling of liquor and indiscriminate granting of licenses to open liquor shops in the area by the administration to earn revenue. The response has been mixed as most men do not support, but women continue to struggle.
Chetna Andolan has now taken up the issue of forest management in the area. Forests are the prime sources of livelihood for the people. With the forest department abdicating its role in protecting and conserving the forest the people, primarily women, have been protecting the forests in and around their villages for quite some time. When these forests have been regenerated, the forest department wants to assert its ownership. The people are opposing this and demanding that the Van Panchayat Adhiniyam (Village Forest Act) be made applicable to their area. This Act has been in existence pre-independence but the government refuses to make it applicable as it empowers the people to manage its forests. Along with this the Chetna Andolan has started its own nurseries to provide people saplings of fruit and other environment friendly species as opposed to saplings of commercial trees being promoted by the forest department. These nurseries have started from people’s contribution.
Another area of interest has been to preserve the fast dwindling natural wealth of hills, especially the rare medicinal plants and herbs, in the wake of widespread smuggling activity. The people of Gangi, situated at an altitude of 10,000 ft have donated 20 acres of land for setting up a herbal garden.
