Uttarakhand > Personalities of Uttarakhand - उत्तराखण्ड की महान/प्रसिद्ध विभूतियां
प्रसिद्ध उत्तराखंडी महिलाये एवम उनकी उपलब्धिया !!! FAMOUS UTTARAKHANDI WOMEN !!!
पंकज सिंह महर:
BACHNI DEVI
In 1977, Bachni Devi, ironically herself the wife of a contractor, led village women to save Adwani forest. By directly disobeying her husband's wishes, Bachni Devi struck a blow for the liberation of hill women through active participation in matters affecting their own lives. The hardship endured by Uttarakhandi women, made worse by social disintegration and ecological degradation in the hills, galvanized women like Bachni Devi to organize and fight the system that was ravaging their land and their families.
In her own words as recorded by the PANOS Institute Oral Testimony Programme:
"My husband was a forest contractor. He cut a huge amount of timber... forest after forest. .... He was the major contractor and I was his enemy in this struggle.... The whole village backed me.... He never said anything to the [other] agitators. But he was very angry with me.... We even stopped speaking to each other.... It was a matter of sadness."
Now a widow of 72, Bachni Devi's struggle continues:
"Now that the road has come.... the availability of grass and firewood has dwindled. Now people come from far distant places. They cut grass and firewood and put in on the buses and take it away.... there is a crisis for us."
पंकज सिंह महर:
--- Quote from: M S Mehta on October 29, 2007, 03:19:11 PM ---
Gaura Devi (1925-91)
Forest is like our mother's home. We will defend it - come what may." After Gandhi's Satyagrah, this housewife, born in Lata village in Chamoli, gave he next weapon, in the fight against state oppression - Chipko movement. Women's natural environment, which provides, fuel, fodder & water is under tremendous stress. Chipko literally means to hug a tree and die with it, if need be ! A long series of forest movements over last two centuries in Himalayas have been an assertion of usufructuous rights of the community to the forest. The State has tried to curtail it ever since the Raj days. The battle is on..
Source..
http://www.uttaranchal.org.uk/uww_wog.php
--- End quote ---
GAURA DEVI
In 1974, during the activist phase of the Chipko movement, the courage and vigilance of Uttarakhandi women saved many forests. As the state government and contractors distracted the menfolk, the women perceived the danger. Under the leadership of Gaura Devi, an illiterate, spirited fifty-year old woman, the women and children embraced the trees of Reni forest just as the axemen disembarked from their trucks. By warding off the hatchets with their own bodies, Gaura Devi led the village women to effect non-violent grassroots resistance to the unbridled exploitation of Uttarakhand's natural resources. A four-day standoff eventually ended in victory for the women villagers and the movement spread like wildfire across the Himalayas.
Sadly, Gaura Devi faded into obscurity, forgotten by the media more interested in following the personalities of the movement. She died in 1991 after long years spent in service to her community. In recent years however, her legacy has been recognized and celebrated widely, leading to renewed interest in this leader of the Chipko movement.
पंकज सिंह महर:
--- Quote from: M S Mehta on October 29, 2007, 03:20:15 PM ---Ichhagiri Mai
Ichhagiri Mai alias Tinchari Mai (1912-92)
"Comissioner, send me to prison; I have burnt the liquor shop down. And I won't stop with this one..." The woman avenger - against liquor in Pauri Garhwal in 70-80s. Government earns considerable revenue by licensing country liquor shops in the hills. For men it is a cheap way of escapism. Finally it is women who have to pay the price in terms of violence, abuse and no money to run the household. Tinchari Mai was an illetrate sanyasini (nun).
--- End quote ---
TINCHARI MAI
Tinchari Mai started her life as Deepa Nautiyal in the village of Majyur in Thailsain. Her early years were marked by greater sorrow than even most hill women. Orphaned at an early age by both parents, an uncle raised her until she was married off at the age of 7 to an army man. Although a child bride, her married years were happy ones, as she grew up in the home of her new family. However, at 19, her husband fell in battle. Widowed at such a young age, she was ill-treated as widows often are in backward and superstitious villages. She eventually left to become a sannyasin, travelling to Lahore and then Haridwar, where she began speaking out against the corruption of monks and ascetics.
Icchagiri Mai as she came to be known, returned to the hills to work for their social and economic uplift. She even sat in dharna outside the Prime Minister's house, and succeeded in getting Nehru's ear and having water supplied to her adopted village near Kotdwar. She would also champion education and fight the evils of alcoholism, earning her the title Tinchari Mai in the process. Until she passed away in 1992, she campaigned tirelessly for the welfare of Uttarakhandis. [/color]
पंकज सिंह महर:
RAJ MATA KARNAVATI
In 1640, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan invaded Garhwal. Led by the courageous Queen Mother, Karnavati, the Garhwali defenders crushed the numerically superior forces from the plains. Rather than executing prisoners, she cut off the noses of all captured troops as a symbol of defiance. This act earned the Queen Mother the title "Nak-katti-Rani", the queen who cuts off noses. She later successfully saw her son, the much-loved King Prithvi Pat Shah, ascend to the throne.
पंकज सिंह महर:
उत्तराखण्ड की पहली मेयर मनोरमा शर्मा हैं, जो All India Council of Mayors की भी चेयर मैन हैं.
कुछ तथ्य
First Women Chairperson of All India Council of Mayors
Chairperson of All Asian Council of Mayors.
First Mayor of Uttarakhand.
Convener 1st Asian Mayors Conference
Ex-Vice President All India Council of Mayors
Ex-President Uttrakhand Mahila Congress
Ex-Convener All India Mahila Congress (Panchayat Raj Prakoshth)
AICC Active Member
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