By Sukant Deepak

December 02, 2022 (IANSlife) ‘The Chipko Movement: A People’s Movement’ by historian, activist, and writer Shekhar Pathak, translated from Hindi by Manisha Chaudhry (Permanent Black & Ashoka University) has won The New India Foundation announces the winner of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2022.

This book prize recognizes and celebrates excellence in non-fiction writings on modern/ contemporary India by writers from all nationalities. The winner receives a cash award of INR 15 lakhs, a trophy, and a citation.  

The winner was selected by a six-member jury panel including political scientist and author Niraja Gopal Jayal (Chair); entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal; historian and author Srinath Raghavan; historian and author Nayanjot Lahiri; former diplomat and author Navtej Sarna; and attorney and author Rahul Matthan.

The Jury citation for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2022 reads - “This is the definitive history of the Chipko movement by a scholar who has practically lived it. It is fitting that a book that tells the story of a movement through the eyes of the local communities, especially women, should be as readable as this. Translated from Hindi by Manisha Chaudhry, Shekhar Pathak’s book is a salutary reminder of the transformative, and not just an important work of history but one that speaks to the contemporary moment and its twin crises of ecology and democracy.”

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