National Forest Martyrs Day is annually observed across India on 11 September to commemorate brave Forest Guards, Foresters, Range Forest Officers (RFOs), and other frontline personnel officers and officials who laid down their lives while protecting India’s forests and wildlife wealth.
- The day raises awareness about the importance of forests and the risks forest officials face in protecting them.
Background:
In 2013, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India (GoI) officially declared 11 September as National Forest Martyrs Day.
- It was established to remember the Khejarli Massacre in 1730, which took place in Khejarli, Rajasthan.
About Khejarli Massacre:
i.On 11 September 1730, under the order of Abhay Singh, the Maharaja of Marwar (Jodhpur, Rajasthan), Giridhar Das Bhandari, a representative of Maharaja Abhay Singh, went to the Bishnoi community‘s village of Khejarli to cut down Khejri trees for wood.
ii.The people of the Bishnoi community were against the order and over 360 people of the Bishnoi tribe led by Amrita Devi Bishnoi and her daughters, objected to the felling of trees.
iii.They attempted to prevent the soldiers from cutting down the trees by hugging them and their protest to save the trees led to the massacre.
- Over 363 Bishnoi villagers, along with Amrita Devi Bishnoi and her daughters, who all volunteered to save the trees were massacred.
iv.The Khejarli Massacre event is considered one of the earliest recorded incidents of eco-feminism and environmental protest in India.
About Khejri Trees:
i.‘Khejri’ (Prosopis cineraria) is the most dominant tree in western Rajasthan.
- It was declared a state tree in the year 1982-83. This tree is termed as “Kalpavriksha of Thar Desert“, or “The King of Desert.”
ii.Khejri covers about two-thirds of the total geographical area of the State and is linked with the socio-economic development of the Indian Thar Desert.
iii.Khejri is worshipped by a large number of people in the state specifically the Bishnoi community.
Khejarli Massacre, an inspiration to Chipko Movement:
i.The Khejarli Massacre inspired later environmental movements in India, including the famous Chipko Movement of the 1970s, which can be essentially called a Women’s Movement.
ii.The movement began in 1973 near the village of Mandal in the Chamoli district (now in Uttarakhand) as a response to the government’s decision to allot forest land to a sports goods company.
iii.The movement was led by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, an Indian Gandhian environmentalist and social activist, who founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS).
iv.Chipko (“to stick” or “to hug” in Hindi) Movement is considered a non-violent protest in India, leading to a 15-year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests of Uttar Pradesh in 1980.
- Protesters, primarily women, hugged trees to prevent them from being cut down, giving the movement its name.
Note: The Department of Posts (DoP) under the Ministry of Communications (MoC) released a commemorative Postal Stamp on the occasion of World Environment Day on 5 June 1988, using the Khejri Tree as the theme of the stamp.
About the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC):
Union Minister– Bhupender Yadav (Constituency: Alwar, Rajasthan)
Minister of State (MoS)- Kirti Vardhan Singh (Constituency: Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
