India, Oct. 8 -- Dr. Ravi Chopra, an eminent environmentalist and Director of the People's Science Institute in Dehradun, has been a decades-long voice for the fragile Himalayan ecology. His commitment was brought into sharp public focus in 2019 when the Supreme Court appointed him to chair the High-Powered Committee (HPC) overseeing the massive Char Dham highway project, a $1.5 billion endeavor to widen 900 kilometers of roads in Uttarakhand. However, in early 2022, Dr. Chopra made the dramatic decision to resign. His resignation-which he described as an act of protest-came after the Supreme Court, citing "security concerns," overruled the HPC's primary environmental recommendation to limit road width to 5.5 meters in the vulnerable terra...