Uttarakhandi environmentalist and social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt awarded with the prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize

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Environmentalist and social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt on 15 July 2014 was awarded with the prestigious Gandhi Peace prize for 2013. He was awarded by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

80-year-old Bhatt is a Gandhian, an environmentalist and a social activist. He, after realizing aspirations of people, dedicated himself to improve lives of villagers. He is the person, who fought against government’s wrong policies on forests through non-violent means.

“The Prize is an expression of our belief that the ideals that Mahatma Gandhi espoused are part of our collective living heritage,’’ the President said in his speech. “This heritage is deeply imbued with the idea of being ‘one people.’ It is a celebration of our diversity, our plural culture, our many languages, religions and different modes of life. This was the idea that moved those who strove for India’s freedom. Our deep and abiding commitment to democracy stems from this idea. We continue to be guided by these ideals; we remain committed to them not because it is our past, but because it is also our future,” he said.
Praising Mr. Bhatt for his dedicated, tireless and invaluable work for the conservation of the environment, Mr. Mukherjee said as a life-long Gandhian, his work embodies a unique love, a love that has long since become universal. “It is a love of nature and nature as encompassing entire creation. The Chipko movement started by him in 1973 followed the same method of peaceful and non-violent Satyagraha for the redressal of the legitimate rights of the hill people to collect wood and fodder and saving them from natural calamities owing to large-scale deforestation.”
In honouring Mr. Bhatt, the President said the countless women and men who became trustees of the nature and who through their embrace expanded “our Swaraj” are being honoured.
A Gandhian and a member of the Sarvodaya movement, Mr. Bhatt organised the Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh in 1964. He dedicated himself through the Sangh to improve the lives of villagers, providing employment near their homes in forest-based industries, and fighting against wrong policies through Gandhian non-violent satyaha
About Chandi Prasad Bhatt
• In 2005, he was awarded with Padma Bhushan 
• At present, he is considered as one of India’s first modern environmentalist 
• He is also known for his work on subaltern social ecology 
• In 1964, he founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeswar. 
• Later, GPSS became a mother-organisation of the Chipko Movement, for which Bhatt was awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1982 
• He was born on 23 June 1934 in Gopeshwar (now in Uttarakhand)

Books written by Chandi Prasad Bhatt
• Pratikar Ke Ankur (Hindi)
• Adhure Gyan Aur Kalpanik Biswas per Himalaya Se Cherkhani Ghatak (Hindi)
• Future of Large Projects in the Himalaya
• Eco-system of Central Himalaya 
• Chipko Experience 
• Parvat Parvat Basti Basti

About Gandhi Peace prize
Gandhi Peace prize is an annual award given by Government of India and was instituted in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It carries a plaque, citation and cash prize .

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