Medha Patkar(born 1 December 1954) is an Indian social activist and social reformer turned politician. She is the founder member of Narmada Bachao Andolan and was National Convener of National alliance of people’s Movement (NAPM), an alliance of progressive people's organisations. She was a representative to the World Commission on Dams, to research the environmental, social and economic impacts of the development of large dams globally.

Her struggle began with the demand of information about the development plans of the Narmada Valley

How can the government make plans to bulldoze a culture, a way of life steeped in history without consulting or rehabiliating the people who would be affected?? , she asked

The question became the movement !!

Since 1985,She mobilized massive peaceful marches and rallies against the project though repeatedly beaten and areested by the police.Joined the tribals in resisting evacuation and resigning themselves to drown in the rising waters.

“I am not anti-tecnology,I am all for it:beautiful,harmonious,equitable,sustainable,egalitarian,non-destructive technology,not this gigantic technology which is apocalyptic, destroying thousands of homes,hearts.habitatas, ecology, geography, history, and finally, benefiting so few, and at such great cost. this is mindless ans rhis is violence”

Worked to obtain just compensation for people affected by dams which have already been built on the Narmada as well as opposing other dams in the Narmada Valley.1997: helped tribal communities stop construction of the Upper Veda and Lower Goin dams

As an outgrowth of her work to stop dam construction, helped establish a network of activists across the country-

The National Alliance of

People’s Movements

Received numerous awards:• Deena Nath

Mangeshkar Award• Mahatma Phule

Award • Goldman

Environment Prize• Green Ribbon Award

for Best International Political Campaigner by BBC

• Human Rights Defender’s Award from Amnesty International

Gujrat Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra

SUNDARLAL BAHUGUNA

Sunderlal Bahuguna (born 9 January 1927) is a noted Garhwali environmentalist, leader of Chipko Movement and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and satyagraha

For years he has been fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas, first as a member of the Chipko Movement in the 1970s, and later spearheaded the Tehri Dam movement starting 1980s, to early 2004.He was one of the early environmentalists of India,and later he and people associated with the Chipko movement later started taking up environmental issues, like against large dams,He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, on 26 January 2009.

Chipko movementChipko movement started in 1973 spontaneously in Uttar Pradesh, in an effort to save trees and forests from felling by forest contractors. In Hindi, “Chipko" literally means "to stick" and people started sticking to trees when it was being cut. Chipko Movement later inspired Appiko Movement in Karnataka. One of Sunderlal Bahuguna's notable contributions to that cause, and to environmentalism in general, was his creation of the Chipko's slogan "Ecology is permanent economy." Sunderlal Bahuguna helped bring the movement to prominence through about 5,000-kilometer trans-Himalaya march undertaken from 1981 to 1983, travelling from village to village, gathering support for the movement. He had an appointment with the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and that meeting is credited with resulting in Ms. Gandhi's subsequent 15-year ban on felling of green trees in 1980. He was also closely associated with Gaura Devi, one of the pioneers of the movement.

He has remained behind the anti-Tehri Dam protests for decades, he used the Satyagraha methods, and repeatedly went on hunger strikes at the banks of Bhagirathi as a mark of his protest.[11] In 1995, he called off a 45-day-long fast following an assurance from the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao of the appointment of a review committee on the ecological impacts of the dam, thereafter he went on another long fast another fast which lasted for 74 days at Gandhi Samadhi,Raj Kot during the tenure of Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, he gave personal undertaking of project review. However despite a court case which ran in the Supreme Court for over a decade, work resumed at the Tehri dam in 2001, following which he was arrested on 20 April 2001.

Eventually, the dam reservoir started filling up in 2004, and on 31 July 2004 he was finally evacuated to a new accommodation at Koti, a little hillock, along the Bhagirathi where he lives today, continues his environment work.Sunderlal Bahuguna has been a passionate defender of the Himalayan people, working for temperance, the plight of the hill people (especially working women). He has also struggled to defend India's rivers

Anti Tehri Dam protests