Dehradun, March 31 -- Book Review

'The Chipko Movement - A People's History' by Shekhar Pathak.

A movement needs a cause, ideological construct(s), leaders, followers, foot soldiers, and most of all a chronicler who can leave an authentic narrative for posterity. For, at the end of the day 'history is fickle, in what it decides to pickle!'

Chipko had a cause - trees had to be saved from felling (on which all were agreed). There were multiple world views - Sarvodaya, Marxist, social activism, rural livelihoods, eco-feminist as well as the political demand for statehood for the highlanders-which often coalesced in a mass movement. Although the initial thrust came from the Dasholi Gram Swaraj Mandal, later Sangh (DGSS), a Gandhian institu...