Q.What does the word 'Chipko' mean, and what specific method of protest gave the Chipko Movement its name?

The Chipko Movement began in the early 1970s in the Garhwal Himalayas (present-day Uttarakhand), taking its name from the Hindi word 'chipkna' -- to stick or embrace -- describing its defining tactic of villagers physically embracing trees to place their own bodies between the trees and loggers' axes. It grew directly out of the organising of the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSM) cooperative, and spread rapidly once local villagers began confronting contractors sent to fell trees that had instead been denied to the local cooperative. Women played an especially prominent role: in the widely told episode associated with Reni village, women led by Gaura Devi confronted loggers and stopped a felling operation while many of the village's men were away. Sunderlal Bahuguna helped carry the movement's message more widely, undertaking long foot marches to build public awareness of the ecological importance of Himalayan forests for soil and water conservation, not just their commercial timber value. The movement is credited with influencing restrictions on commercial felling in sensitive Himalayan areas and with shaping India's broader forest policy, and it remains an internationally recognised symbol of non-violent, community-led environmental protest.