A large number of people congregated at Kotiyada, Chamiyala in Tehri on Wednesday in honour of ghasyaris - women who cut grass for fodder in the mountains of Uttarakhand. The occasion also saw culmination of a month-long competition held in Bhilangana block of Tehri district with Reja
Devi of Amarsar being awarded the best ecologist award which also included Rs 1,00,000 in cheque.
The competition was organised by Chetna Andolan to honour and highlight the skills of ghasyaris with participants being evaluated on the basis of quantity of grass that they were able to cut in two minutes, the quality of the grass that was cut and their knowledge and experience of the forest and its ecology. Any person who injured themselves, pushed another or cut plants other than grass was disqualified. The first round of the competition was held across 112 villages in which more than 1,000 people participated. The second round was held at the Nyay Panchayat level (across 10 Nyay Panchayats) with the final being held on Wednesday. The final competition saw 30 finalists competing on a patch of grass in the forest of Kotiyada village in Tehri.
Reja Devi won the competition and received a silver crown and Rs 1,00,000 in cheque followed by Yashoda Devi of Mald village, who was presented a smaller crown and a cheque for Rs 51,000 and Avali Devi of Anuwa village, who also received a crown along with Rs 21,000 in cheque. The ten next runners up were presented silver coin worth Rs 10,000 each followed by the remaining 17 finalists who received silver coins worth Rs 5,000 each. The meet held on the occasion saw popular folk singer Narendra Singh Negi, playwright Shirish Dobhal, Ghazal singer Bali Singh Cheema, journalist Rajiv lochan Sah and Chetna Andolan leader Trepan Singh Chauhan among others addressing the gathering.
They also elicited focus on the Government’s systematic ‘destruction’ of the livelihoods and rights of Uttarakhand’s peoplet to use, protect and manage their forests. The struggle for community controlled micro hydro electricity projects and the rights of women were also discussed on the occasion.
According to the event organisers, expenses for organising the competition and meeting were paid through contributions made by the public without any assistance being taken from any agency or Government department.