UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

The Chipko movement arose when local communities resisted large-scale logging contracts granted to outside companies. Villagers, especially women, hugged trees to prevent them from being cut, symbolically placing their bodies between the axes and the forest. The movement underlined the ecological and livelihood value of forests for local people. Therefore, its central objective was to protect forests from commercial felling, which is accurately captured in option A.

Option A:
Option A correctly reflects a community-based response to forest degradation. It demonstrates how environmental protection and livelihood security can be closely linked in hill economies where people depend on forests for fuel, fodder and soil stability. The movement later became a global symbol of non-violent ecological resistance.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect because Chipko activists were not campaigning for large dams; in fact, many environmental movements have opposed dams due to displacement and ecosystem impacts. Dams and logging involve different types of projects and different protest histories.

Option C:
Option C is incorrect since the movement was rooted in traditional, low-input agriculture and forest use. Promoting chemical fertilisers is more characteristic of intensive agriculture policies rather than forest conservation struggles.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because open-cast coal mining would destroy large tracts of land and forest. Chipko stood against such destructive exploitation of natural resources, so supporting expanded mining would go against its core philosophy.

Ecofeminism highlights how the same structures that dominate and exploit nature also marginalise women, arguing that gender justice and ecological sustainability are interconnected.

Option A:
Incorrect; ecofeminism values the knowledge and experiences of women and communities and does not restrict environmental debates to scientists.

Option B:
Incorrect; ecofeminism does not blame women for environmental degradation; instead it critiques power relations that shape resource use.

Option C:
Correct; it captures the core ecofeminist idea of linked oppression of women and nature and the role of women’s empowerment in environmental protection.

Option D:
Incorrect; gender is an important lens because men and women often have different roles, responsibilities and vulnerabilities in relation to the environment.