<P> The final flash point began a few months later, when the government announced an auction scheduled in January 1974, for 2,500 trees near Reni village, overlooking the Alaknanda River . Bhatt set out for the villages in the Reni area, and incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions of the government by hugging the trees . Over the next few weeks, rallies and meetings continued in the Reni area . </P> <P> On 25 March 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees, the men of the Reni village and DGSS workers were in Chamoli, diverted by state government and contractors to a fictional compensation payment site, while back home labourers arrived by the truckload to start logging operations . A local girl, on seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the village Mahila Mangal Dal, at Reni village (Laata was her ancestral home and Reni adopted home). Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site and confronted the loggers . When all talking failed, and the loggers started to shout and abuse the women, threatening them with guns, the women resorted to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled . This went on into late hours . The women kept an all - night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters until a few of them relented and left the village . The next day, when the men and leaders returned, the news of the movement spread to the neighbouring Laata and others villages including Henwalghati, and more people joined in . Eventually, only after a four - day stand - off, the contractors left . </P> <P> The news soon reached the state capital, where then state Chief Minister, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, set up a committee to look into the matter, which eventually ruled in favour of the villagers . This became a turning point in the history of eco-development struggles in the region and around the world . </P> <P> The struggle soon spread across many parts of the region, and such spontaneous stand - offs between the local community and timber merchants occurred at several locations, with hill women demonstrating their new - found power as non-violent activists . As the movement gathered shape under its leaders, the name Chipko movement was attached to their activities . According to Chipko historians, the term originally used by Bhatt was the word "angalwaltha" in the Garhwali language for "embrace", which later was adapted to the Hindi word, Chipko, which means to stick . Over the next five years, the movement spread to many districts in the region, and within a decade throughout the Uttarakhand Himalayas . Larger issues of ecological and economic exploitation of the region were raised . The villagers demanded that no forest - exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and local communities should have effective control over natural resources like land, water, and forests . They wanted the government to provide low - cost materials to small industries and ensure development of the region without disturbing the ecological balance . The movement took up economic issues of landless forest workers and asked for guarantees of minimum wage . Globally Chipko demonstrated how environment causes, up until then considered an activity of the rich, were a matter of life and death for the poor, who were all too often the first ones to be devastated by an environmental tragedy . Several scholarly studies were made in the aftermath of the movement . In 1977, in another area, women tied sacred threads, Raksha Bandhan, around trees earmarked for felling in a Hindu tradition which signifies a bond between brother and sisters . </P>

Chipko movement is started by this environmental activist