Chipko Movement

Chipko Movement

Chipko is a hindi word. It means ‘to clasp’, ‘to hug’. The Chipko movement or Chipko Andolan is a social-ecological movement that practised the Gandhian methods of satyagraha and non-violent resistance, through the act of hugging trees to protect them from being felled. The Chipko movement started in the year 1974, a contractor went to the forest in the Chamoli district of Uttar Pradesh, to cut trees. Gaura Devi, a brave village woman, came to know of it. She took a group of 26 women to the forest and they hugged the trees there. They said that the woodcutters would have to cut their bodies before cutting the trees. The trees were saved. Their actions inspired hundreds of people.

This incident showed a new way to save the trees and led the Chipko Movement. Sunder Lal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt are the main leaders of the Movement. Bahuguna once said that, a tree is like ten sons because it gives ten valuable things: oxygen, water, energy, food, clothes, medicines, timber, fodder, flowers and shade.

Refer the given composition to answer the following questions:

1. Which language the word ‘Chipko’ belongs to?

(A) English        (B) Rajasthani  (C) Punjabi       (D) Hindi

2. What does the word ‘Chipko’ stands for?

(A) hit                 (B) hug               (C) hurt              (D) happy

3. What kind of movement is Chipko Andolan?

(A) social-political                       (C) political-ecological

(C) social-ecological                    (D) none of these

4. What type of method did this movement practice?

(A) Gandhian    (B) Violent         (C) Political       (D) Hunger strike

5. When did the Chipko movement start?

(A) 1947             (B) 1794             (C) 1974             (D) 1749  

6. From where did this movement start?

(A) Gaura District                        (B) Chamoli District

(C) Chameli District                    (D) Gauri District

7. Who started this movement?

(A) Children      (B) Ministers    (C) Women       (D) Men

8. Who was the first lady to initiate this movement?

(A) Gauri Devi                                (B) Gauri Singh

(C) Gaura Devi                               (D) Gaura Singh

9. Who is the main leader of this movement?

(A) Chandi Prasad Bhatt            (B) Sardar Patel

(C) Bhagat Singh                          (D) Dr. Radhakrishanan

10. Who compared a tree with ten sons?

(A) Lal Bahadur Shastri             (B) Pt. Nehru

(C) Indira Gandhi                        (D) Sunder Lal Bahuguna

Answer keys
(1) (D); (2) (B); (3) (C); (4) (A); (5) (C); (6) (B); (7) (C); (8) (C); (9) (A); (10) (D)