{{Short description|Indian activist (1925–1991)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Gaura Devi | image = Gaura_devi_fair_use_only.jpg | image_size = | caption = Gaura Devi | birth_name = | birth_date = 1925 | birth_place = Lata, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India | death_date = 4 July 1991 (Aged 66) | known_for = Chipko movement }} '''Gaura Devi''' (1925 – 1991) was a grassroots activist and a rural women community leader from India who played an important role in the Chipko movement.<ref name="ms">{{Cite web|url=http://mountainshepherds.com/about/chipko-heritage/|title=Chipko Heritage|last=Parallelus|website=mountainshepherds.com|access-date=23 August 2017}}</ref> She was conferered <ref>{{Cite web |title=07-11-2025 : Governor Takes Salute at Ceremonial Parade During the State Foundation Day Silver Jubilee Celebrations. {{!}} LOK BHAVAN UTTARAKHAND {{!}} India |url=https://governoruk.gov.in/07-11-2025-governor-takes-salute-at-ceremonial-parade-during-the-state-foundation-day-silver-jubilee-celebrations/ |access-date=2025-12-21 |language=en}}</ref> the Uttarakhand Gaurav Samman in 2025 posthumously.
==Life== Gaura Devi was born in 1925<ref name="चिपको आंदोलन को गूगल कर रहा 'सलाम', जानें कौन थीं गौरा देवी">{{cite news|title=चिपको आंदोलन को गूगल कर रहा 'सलाम', जानें कौन थीं गौरा देवी- Navbharattimes Photogallery|url=https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/photomazza/education-career/know-who-was-chipko-woman-gaura-devi/know-who-is-chipko-woman-gaura-devi/photomazaashow/63460304.cms|language=hi-IN}}</ref> in a village named Lata in the state of Uttarakhand. She moved to a nearby village named Raini by the Alaknanda River. By the age of 22 she was a widow with a child. Her new village was near to the border with Tibet.<ref name="ms"/> Gaura Devi was elected to lead the Mahila Mangal Dal (Women's Welfare Association) in the wake of the Chipko movement. The organisation worked on the protection of community forests.<ref name="tree">{{Cite web|url=http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/gaura-devia-forgotten-hero-of-chipko-movement-in-gharwal|title=Gaura Devi....A forgotten Hero of Chipko Movement In Gharwal|website=www.speakingtree.in|access-date=23 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Lessons from the mountains|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2000/05/21/stories/13210414.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160613080731/http://www.thehindu.com/2000/05/21/stories/13210414.htm|url-status=dead|work=The Hindu|date=21 May 2000|archive-date=13 June 2016}}</ref>
==Birth of Chipko== {{main|Chipko Movement}} Gaura Devi came to the forefront of the Chipko movement in 1974. On 25 March 1974, she was told by a young girl that local loggers were cutting trees near their village. The men of Reni village had been tricked out of the village by news that the government was going to pay out compensation for land used by the army.<ref name=ms/> Gaura Devi and 27 other women decided to tackle the loggers. She confronted and challenged the men to shoot her instead of cutting down the trees and she described the forest as "Vandevta" (God of Jungle) and her ''maika'' (mother's house). Finally, with the help of other women she managed to halt the work of loggers by hugging the trees despite the abuse and threats of the armed loggers. The women of village and Gaura Devi kept guard of the trees that night and over the next three or four days other villages and villagers joined the action.<ref name=ms/> The loggers left leaving the trees.<ref name=chip>[http://nandadevi.prayaga.org/?page_id=50 Chipko 30th Anniversary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305034154/http://nandadevi.prayaga.org/?page_id=50 |date=5 March 2016 }} The Nanda Devi Campaign.</ref><ref name=teh>[https://archive.today/20130203111429/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main6.asp?filename=Ne090411Chipko.asp Chipko! – Hill conservationists] Tehelka, 11 September 2004.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Jain|first=Shobita|title=Standing up for trees: Women's role in the Chipko Movement|url=http://www.fao.org/3/R0465E/r0465e03.htm|access-date=16 June 2021|website=www.fao.org}}</ref> After this incident, the Uttar Pradesh Government established a committee of experts to investigate the issue of felling of trees, and the lumber company withdrew its men from Reni. The committee stated that the Reni forest was an ecologically sensitive area and that no trees should be felled there. Thereafter the government of Uttar Pradesh placed a 10-year ban on all tree-felling in an area of over 1150 km<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=":0" />
Gaura Devi died in July 1991, at the age of 66.<ref name="Delicate hand at cradle, firm in struggle">{{cite news|title=Delicate hand at cradle, firm in struggle|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/uttarakhand/community/delicate-hand-at-cradle-firm-in-struggle/123523.html|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519204728/http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/uttarakhand/community/delicate-hand-at-cradle-firm-in-struggle/123523.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Lessons from the mountains">{{cite web|title=Lessons from the mountains|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2000/05/21/stories/13210414.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160613080731/http://www.thehindu.com/2000/05/21/stories/13210414.htm|url-status=dead|website=The Hindu|date=21 May 2000|archive-date=13 June 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Gaura}} Category:1925 births Category:1991 deaths Category:Women from Uttarakhand Category:Indian human rights activists Category:Garhwali people Category:People from Chamoli district Category:Women human rights activists