Miss Conduct S04 E13: Chanda Kochhar Part 1 & Part 2

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Chanda Kochhar former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, and the first woman to head an Indian financial institution. Between 1984 to 2017, Chanda was seen as a leading figure at the bank, being on the board of directors (and sometimes chairman) of most of the bank’s subsidiaries.

Chanda was revered and idolised across the country…

…till 2018, when allegations emerged that she had engaged in bank fraud.

Chanda suddenly found herself entangled in investigations by just about every enforcement agency in India, and accused of using her position to issue massive loans to her family and friends.

Her husband and associates, who were caught in this mess as well, are alleged to have enriched themselves through Chanda.

Our 2-part season finale is a deep-dive into Chanda Kochhar's life, her time at ICICI Bank, the whistleblower complaints against her, the subsequent arrests and bail orders, and of course, the numerous, ever-changing chargesheets that have been filed so far

SOURCES: 

Early life and career at ICICI Bank:

India's banking regulations and the 2017 non-performing assets crisis:

Deepak Kocchar, Venugopal Dhoot, Videocon, and NuPower:

Allegations and arrest:

Miss Conduct S04 E12: Nandini and Kundavai

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The Chola dynasty of centuries-old saw the rise of popular and determined kings that consolidated lands in southern and eastern India, the Indian Ocean, and even as far as south-east Asia. Their influence was unparalleled at the time, with king Rajaraja Chola I setting up a political, social, cultural, and economic landscape that took the empire through almost a dozen centuries. 

But before Rajaraja Chola, there was an internal war for power and control, and two of its central characters may have been -- Nandini, a mysterious woman that made it to the top of the Chola food chain, and Kundavai, who was the sister of Rajaraja Chola. History, legend, myth, and fiction makes the stories around Nandini and Kundavai a bit blurry -- who were they and how did they rise to power? Did they even hold real power, during a time when being born male was paramount to all else? And more importantly… did they even exist? 

We bring on board guest Anirudh Kanisetti to help us navigate through the murky waters of Chola history. Anirudh is an Indian historian, author of 'Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas', and host of 'Echoes of India: A History Podcast', right here on IVM. 

Links to Anirudh’s work: 

Echoes of India: A History Podcast - https://ivmpodcasts.com/ivm-show/echoes-of-india-a-history-podcast-61e571e4adf87e3b1d59047b 

Lords Of The Deccan:Southern  India From Chalukyas To Cholas - https://www.amazon.in/Lords-Deccan-Southern-Chalukyas-Cholas/dp/9391165052

Meme emperor at Chola Bhatura Empire - https://www.instagram.com/cholabhaturaempire/?hl=en 

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S04 E11: Anne, The Princess Royal

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The Princess Anne, who is Queen Elizabeth II's second child and only daughter, is a darling of the royal family. Hard-working, witty, not scared of a challenge, and recycles her clothes -- the bar is low for the British Royal Family, but Anne makes it work in her favour.

Why then did Anne -- a media darling and the apple of Britain's eye -- end up becoming the only member of the current royal family to get a criminal conviction??

In this surprise episode that keeps Nisha guessing, Ragavi will take you all through a saga of Princess Anne's inability to keep her pet dogs in check, leading to many embarrassing moments and a criminal conviction too! 

Sources:

Miss Conduct S04 E10: Narmada Akka

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Narmada Akka was one of the senior-most female cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), not to be confused with the communist parties in other states that are currently politically active.

Narmada was one of the public faces of the banned Maoist communist party, which is marked by the Ministry of Home Affairs as an insurgent group.

She was one of the central members of the party, and she was considered to be responsible for framing policies and guidelines for all the female members of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (or the PLGA).

Her leadership saw some of the most deadly attacks in the Naxal territories of Eastern and Central India, with hundreds of armed forces personnel, police, and innocent civilians dying in violent clashes.

SOURCES: 

On the CPI(M) and Naxalism:

 

Narmada Akka:

Miss Conduct S04 E09: Priya Seth

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Priya Seth was a normal middle-class girl from Rajasthan, with ambitions of making it big in the city. She had a loving family that doted on her, and an education that many would have given an arm and leg for. Yet, Priya's idyllic, comfortable life twisted into something much darker -- when she was accused of murder of a man she met on a dating app.

What did she really do? How did she meet this man? Was the plan always to kill him? Or did something go wrong?

Sources:

Miss Conduct S04 E07: Anne Bonny

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This episode takes you through uncharted waters! We talk about Anne Bonny -- one of the most ruthless female pirates that ever sailed the English seas.

Anne Bonny grew up in a respectable household, with a father who despised rule breakers. But Anne did not believe that blood was thicker than water, for she decided to run away with Calico Jack, a deadly pirate that terrorised the Bahamas in the early 1700s. The pair made waves as a power couple, looting merchant and navy ships all along the Caribbean with their massive crew. The world was their oyster! 

That is… till they got caught by the British Navy and were put on trial. Anne Bonny, who had taken to pirating like a duck to water, would suddenly be stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Would she cry an ocean and beg forgiveness? Or would sink along with the rest of her crew? Find out in this surprise episode, where Nisha just about manages to keep her head above water, as Ragavi takes her through the story of this vicious pirate. 

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S04 E06: Jacana Bird

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Surprise! On multiple levels -- not only is the subject of this episode NOT a human person, but both Ragavi and Nisha will hear about it all for the first time from our guest of honour, Mr. Chandrasekaran, Nisha's dad !

Bird Uncle Chandru, as he is fondly called, is an avid amateur ornithologist, who will tell us all about a female criminal bird - the Jacana.

The jacanas are a group of tropical birds in the family Jacanidae, and are noted for their slender, sleek bodies, often appearing as if they walk on water. Aside from entertaining a large harem of male lovers, female jacanas defend their breeding territories… to the death. The females lay eggs and proceed to the next mate, while the males take on all parenting duties.

And what do the females do between getting laid and laying eggs? They stomp around in other jacana nests, destroy their eggs, and -- this is the worst bit -- mate with the male in that nest! Sowing her wild oats, or just natural selection? Yes.

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S04 E05: Professional Poisoners

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People die all the time, right? Death is inevitable, as our wise elders say. So when thousands of young, healthy men randomly drop dead, no one should be surprised… right?

Well… unless a professional poisoner lived in your town.

Between the 1600 to 1900s in Europe, a bunch of women came to be known as professional poisoners. These women were skilled in modern chemistry, and decided to use their skills in a different way -- to help women stuck in abusive marriages.

If you were a woman in Renaissance France, you could walk up to the house of La Voison, the local "witch" who would gladly hand you a giant bottle of arsenic to murder your husband.

If you were a woman in mid-1600s Italy, the mother-daughter duo of La Tofania and Guilia Tofana would supply with a potent blend of poisons to make sure your darling spouse slowly withered away -- slow enough that you could still get his inheritance.

And if you were lucky enough to live in Serbia in the early 1900s, Baba Anujka would have you covered. Although, please remember, modern autopsy methods did exist during this time, so you were likely to get caught quite easily. 

This episode is intended to be an informative listen, and also a cautionary tale -- of criminal women supporting their fellow sisters, in times of dire need.

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S04 E04: Marie Antoinette

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We all know some things about Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the common people got all of the monarchy beheaded and tried to establish a true republic.

We know that she loved partying. That queen threw so many parties during a time of extreme poverty and war, that the commonfolk nastily called her "Madame Deficit".

We know that she didn't really want to be in France. She was a princess of Austria, one of the richest and most respected kingdoms in all civilised Europe. Who would want to leave that? Well, she had to though, since she was just a political pawn used for a marriage alliance.

We also don't know this as well, but she really struggled to consummate her marriage with Prince Louis, and for a long time they did not have children.

Marie still craved children though. She wanted to be useful, a queen. And a woman's rightful place in the 1700s was as a dutiful wife and mother.

So till she could have her own children, Marie decided to kidnap one.

His name was Armand Gagné. And he was a 5-year-old orphan boy that Marie picked up on the side of the road. She paid off the child's grandmother and kept the child at the palace for her own amusement. And as luck would have it, this child would grow up to resent his "mother", much like any other teenager. Although, unlike other teenagers, Armand would go on to join the French revolution that eventually led to the death of his adoptive family.

SOURCES: 

  • Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan, Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France (1823) 

  • Philippe Huisman and Marguerite Jallut, Marie Antoinette (1971)

  • Children of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KAaI10SfhI)

Marie Antoinette More or Less Kidnapped her Adopted Son, Eli Yudin at Cracked.com (https://www.cracked.com/article_36008_marie-antoinette-more-or-less-kidnapped-her-adopted-son.html)

Miss Conduct S04 E03: Nausha Kadeejath

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The weird thing about financial fraud is --- they can't be spotted immediately. Or worse, sometimes they take YEARS to be known to the public. Which means a perpetrator of financial fraud usually has a decent amount of time to cover their tracks. Or successfully run away.

And that's what Nausha Kadeejath did! At the age of 35 years old, Nausha became one of the youngest criminals to receive an Interpol Red Notice, making her the equivalent of a "most wanted" criminal. Charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating, she is presumed to have started scamming investors at the age of 22 years. The company she started with her husband called 'Cee Vee Global Trade Solutions' ended up defrauding over 4,500 investors from south India, with the total scam resulting in about INR 4 billion. Yep. Billion with a 'B".

Also, she's still at large. No one has any clue where she is. And we presume she wants to remain that way.

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S04 E02: Zeenat Mahal

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Begum Zeenat Mahal was the last standing queen of the famous Indian Mughal Empire, her reign being from November 1840 to September 1857.

The queen consort of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor, very little is known about Zeenat's early life other than the fact that she was married off at the age of 18 years… while the emperor was 64 years old at the time.

When her husband's reign was cut short by the angry British army and East India Company, Zeenat was not really the focus of the whole revolt. In fact, when the barracks revolt of 1857 happened in north India, Zeenat ran way from Delhi city to make sure her son Mirza Jawan Bakht was protected.

Yet, she thrived in the sidelines, through calculative and methodical puppeteering of political influence and palace intrigue.

Because what Zeenat wanted more than anything in the world was to keep the Mughal empire up and running. And for her son to remain on the throne of Hindustan.

Even if it meant poisoning one (or two, or three) high-ranking English officers along the way.

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S04 E01: Jacqueline Fernandez

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Jacqueline Fernandez is best known as a Bollywood actress and model of Sri Lankan descent, who very recently has been accused of receiving funds from a conman and for allegedly being involved in money laundering. 

Jacqueline has been accused by the Enforcement Directorate of India of both financial impropriety and destruction of evidence. But did she also commit the unforgiveable crime of falling in love?? As a FirstPost article from July 2022 says about Jacqueline and alleged lover Sukesh Chandrashekar -- "Love knows no bar".

Between December 2021 to today, Jacqueline has been called in a bunch of times for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate over her involvement in potential money laundering by Sukesh.

She was questioned over whether she was given gifts or other items by the conman in question, likely totally about tens of crores of Indian rupees.

She has been prevented from travelling out of India, which has impeded her professional and personal life, leading to a PR nightmare and her being removed from high-budget movie projects.

She was charged officially for working with Sukesh to convert his black money holdings into legitimate assets.

Oh and of course, since she is a woman, her character has been called into question through sheer gossip and rumours, most of which remain unconnected to the story at hand.

Jacqueline was already a very famous face. But this case took her to a whole other level of infamy.

SOURCES: 

About Jacqueline and Sukesh: 

About the case: 

Jacqueline getting charged officially: 

Miss Conduct S03 E13: Jolly Joseph

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Blog Post: 

In October 2019, Jolly Joseph from Koodathayi, a small town in Kerala, India, was arrested by local police for allegedly killing her husband, Roy Thomas. In time, it would be revealed that between 2002 to 2017, Jolly was allegedly responsible for the deaths of 6 members of her family. The victims included Jolly's mother-in-law Annamma Thomas (died in 2002), father-in-law Tom Thomas (2008), her husband Roy (2011), her husband's maternal uncle Mathew Manjadiyil (2014), her cousin-in-law Shaju's daughter Alphine (2014), and Shaju's former wife Sily (2016). In this time, Jolly inherited money and property from her in-laws and also went on to marry Shaju in 2017, less than a year after his wife passed away.

 After Roy Thomas' brother raised suspicion regarding the deaths and approached the police, a once-forgotten criminal complaint was re-visited by the Kozhikode police. This time, more charges were added, including death caused by the administering of cyanide, a poison, all in the pursuit of property and love.

 Jolly's involvement in all the cases gave way to a 12,000-page chargesheet, evidence list, and witness list to be submitted before a Kerala court. We are still awaiting the trial in this case, which is expected to begin momentarily. Till then Jolly languishes in jail, hoping that the evidence in the cases are not enough to put her away for life.

SOURCES: 

Crimes and chargesheet:

 After arrest:

Miss Condcut S03 E12: La Llorona

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Blog Post: 

La Llorona is the subject of Mexican folklore, of a vengeful spirit of a woman, who roams around water bodies, lamenting and mourning the loss of her children. Children that she likely… drowned herself. 

Legend has it that she still haunts multiple regions in central America today, either lamenting the loss of her children, or kidnapping other children in order to replace those she lost. La Llorona is also called the ‘Weeping Woman’ or the ‘Wailer’. 

She is known to wander around large water bodies, in a white dress that had decayed and frayed since her origin, in a body that is still decomposing today. 

There are many, many versions of her origins. Spread across Mexican, Venezuelan, Southwestern United States, and even from Aztec lore. The treatment of La Llorona is just a bit different in each culture, and that depends on how they viewed her – as a woman, as a mother, as a spirit, and as a killer. 

Another interpretation of La Llorona portrays her as the native land of the people of central and south Americas, with the crude Spanish invaders being the “man” who violates her. The invaders then leave her and her children to their own devices, after stripping her of her resources and wealth. 

La Llorona does have a cult status today, especially in Western pop culture. She is featured in many pieces of literature, theatre, and music. Including at least 13 movies and 6 TV shows that we know of. 

Note: This episode is about a woman that forms a part of mythology and legend specific to communities in Central and South America. We have kept it respectful and factual, to the extent that we managed to find that information. However, if you believe we have mentioned something here that is not accurate, please do tell us. We are more than happy to get the stories right, even if it means issuing a revision later on. 

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S03 E11: Gulabi Gang

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Blog Post: 

The Gulabi Gang, a women’s rights organisation that focuses on social work for women in North India. It is also famous for its violent reactionary actions against people that commit crimes against women.

 Gulabi Gang was founded by Sampat Pal, in a distant remote village in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The village, called Banda, was one of many many small towns that were heavily impacted by violence against women. Sampat, along with almost 300,000 members, organised a women’s movement that spread across the state of UP.

These women called themselves the Gulabi Gang – because they dressed in gulabi clothing. Gulabi loosely translates to “the colour of a rose” or… well, the colour pink! Clad in pink sarees, the members of the Gulabi Gang armed themselves with bamboo sticks and other weapons, ready to use them to protect the powerless from abuse and fight corruption that causes women’s issues.

The group’s mission statement is – “Support and train women to enhance their basic skills to become economically secure and develop confidence to protect themselves from abuse through sustainable livelihood options.”

Aside from protesting peacefully in certain cases, the Gulabi Gang is notorious for taking the law into their own hands. This has included: hunting down alleged perpetrators of physical or sexual violence, causing unrest among local populations in order to right anything that they considered wrong, and publicly shaming people they considered offenders, in a manner bordering on defamation.

SOURCES: 

Miss Conduct S03 E10: Rhea Chakraborthy ft. Anshul Choudhary

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GUEST ON BOARD: Anshul Choudhary, lawyer and host of the 'Adjourned' podcast, joins us for this episode! He takes on the arduous task of context setting, where he will take us through the powers of the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau and how it exercised its powers in this case.

 Link to the 'Adjourned' podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25CyGDFTcksN_M2DImjI_Q/about

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 Rhea Chakraborty is an Indian actress, model and video jockey, who has appeared in a handful of Bollywood movies. In June 2020, Rhea’s world was flipped upside down when her rumoured partner and fellow actor, Sushant Singh Rajput, committed suicide in his flat in the city of Mumbai. Post that, through a series of confusing events, Rhea and her family were accused of a series of crimes by Sushant’s father, including money laundering, fraud, cheating, and abetment of suicide. 

 It became such a national phenomenon, that the entire country was glued to their televisions all day, all night, just to watch this drama unfold, all in the middle of a deadly global pandemic.

 When investigating the allegations of syphoning funds from Sushant, a few Whatsapp chats between Rhea, Sushant, and other parties were uncovered. This lead to the fresh investigation of the possibility of consumption and sale of illegal narcotics by Rhea and her associated.

 For a period of 2 months between August and October 2020, Rhea was called by the NCB for questioning, arrested and stayed in jail for weeks together, and was ripped apart by national and state media houses incessantly… for crimes that were not really clear just yet.

 In October 2020, after a long series of legal filings, Rhea was released on bail by the Bombay High Court. The court cited that “she has no criminal antecedents”, and was not likely to commit any crimes when on bail. 

 In March 2021, an elaborate chargesheet was filed in court detailing that Rhea and her brother  were engaged in the “sale, purchase, procurement, consumption and possession of narcotics drugs”. 

 This chargesheet was filed again with the same charges in June 2022.

 Today Rhea awaits the next steps in her legal battle, which I’m sure we are all going to be watching with bated breath. 

LITERALLY THE ONLY SOURCE YOU NEED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qysnr2eYg6s

OTHER OFFICIAL SOURCES, IF YOU'VE REJECTED THE ABOVE-MENTIONED LINK:

Early Days and Career:

 June to October 2020:

 Chargesheet filed in March 2021:

 2022 and Beyond:

Miss Conduct S03 E07: Ma Anand Sheela

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MERCHANDISE NON-ANNOUNCEMENT:

Hello everyone! We are thinking of selling merchandise. If you would like some merch to purchase (“merchase”), please leave fill out this survey – https://forms.gle/ENMZgR4LBjjK9ThT9 

If we get enough interest, we’ll try to get some merchase for you all! 

—

Blog Post: 

Welcome to our 2-parter episode on Ma Anand Sheela ! A woman we all know very very well at this point, thanks to the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country.

Sheela was the former secretary and personal assistant of the Indian spiritual leader Rajneesh. Rajneesh, also called Osho, was a very popular leader who rallied almost 15,000 followers at the height of his influence. Sheela, as his right-hand woman, moved Rajneesh's commune from a small Ashram in Pune to a massive ranch in a small rural town in Oregon. 

The commune, which was known for its alternative ways of life, did not appeal to the local population, who felt they were taking over. And soon the American media and law enforcement also joined them in this understanding.

Sheela, who was the sole spokeswoman for Rajneeshpuram, which was the name of the city -- Osho had taken an unofficial vow of silence around this time, and rarely ever made public appearances. So, Sheela was the public face of it all, and took all this pushback against the Rajneeshpuram commune very personally.  

So personally in fact, that she attempted to influence the local county elections, and get Rajneeshpuram more power at the state level, essentially committing voter fraud.

And when that wasn't successful, she decided to poison a bunch of voters with salmonella bacteria, incapacitating almost 750 people in the country.

And when that wasn't successful she attempted to assassinate the attorney general that was prosecuting her case.

And when that wasn't successful… oh actually I think that's the entire list. For now.

She does eventually go to prison for her outstanding work in the field of poisonings and contract killings. 

And then she gets out and makes hella money from the experience. 

So we are going to spend some time understanding WHO Sheela was. We have many many primary sources for this 2-parter episode, and we hope it does some justice to who Sheela was as a person! 

SOURCES:

Miss Conduct S03 E06: Sonu Punjaban

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MERCHANDISE NON-ANNOUNCEMENT:

Hello everyone! We are thinking of selling merchandise. If you would like some merch to purchase (“merchase”), please leave fill out this survey – https://forms.gle/ENMZgR4LBjjK9ThT9 

If we get enough interest, we’ll try to get some merchase for you all! 

Blog Post: 

TRIGGER WARNING

This episode is about Sonu Punjaban. It is a depressing episode. Good luck with it.

Sonu Punjaban is an Indian sex trafficker who was convicted and sentenced for trafficking a minor. She was sentenced for 24 years, with a very low likelihood of being let go for good behaviour. 

Sonu is also known as Geeta Arora. She was alleged to be a kingpin of the sex trafficking trade of Delhi and the NCR region for many years.

It is also alleged that her clients included high-profile businessmen, and to a certain extent, the Delhi police looked away or didn’t interfere. She also employed a large list of henchmen, whose jobs included protecting these women and escorting them to places like Kolkata, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Punjab. 

Sonu was arrested in 2007 under suspicion of contravention of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act. But in a few weeks, she received bail and was set free. 

She was arrested again in 2008 for a similar offence, and set free again. 

She was arrested again in 2011… and guess what happened? She was let go again.

In 2017, her last arrest was for the trafficking, drugging, torture and abuse of a minor girl.  For this, she was finally convicted and jailed for 24 years in Tihar jail, in Delhi. 

In July 2020, Sonu was convicted under various provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 or the POSCO. She was found guilty of administering drugs forcefully to a minor girl, selling her for sexual exploitation, and keeping her locked up and torturing her ruthlessly. 

When informed of her sentence, Sonu attempted suicide while still in Tihar jail, just hours after the conviction. She was rescued, hospitalised, and eventually shifted back to jail to spend the rest of her sentence.


SOURCES:

Miss Conduct S03 E05: Empress Wu Zetain

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Blog Post: 

Wu Zetian is known as China’s only recorded female Emperor. 

She founded the Zhao dynasty, smack in the middle of the prestigious Tang dynasty, which was filled with powerful male rulers.

Wu was initially a highly educated consort of the Emperor Taizong. She went on to become the wife of the next emperor, Gaozong.

Her path towards being a consort (or "concubine", as it was termed back then), was curated for her. But her path to being a ruler was cursed with bloodshed, poisonings, corruption, kidnappings, casual executions, summary executions, false accusations of witchcraft, putting in place puppet kings, and of course, drowning people in wine. 

And this was at a time when Confucian ideology formed the crux was Chinese society, which viewed women as meek, obedient, and best to run a household.

Wu said to no all of that.

Between 665 AD and 705 AD, Wu ruled China with an iron fist.

She killed her enemies one by one, including other wives and consorts of the emperor. She did not trust the aristocracy, because they were hell bent on kicking her off the throne.

Instead, all her policies aimed at appeasing the common folks -- setting up agriculture and trade opportunities, fortifying the borders of the country, and allowing commoners to participate in the civil services.

In the past, she was seen as a ruthless ruler who did not care for her people, her political allies, or her family. However, today history treats her as benevolent, smart, engaging, and politically savvy. And of course, a great ruler.


SOURCES:

Miss Conduct S03 E04: Sarala Behn

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MERCHANDISE NON-ANNOUNCEMENT:

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If we get enough interest, we’ll try to get some merchase for you all! 

—

Blog Post: 

Sarala Behn, who was born as Catherine Mary Hellman, was an Englishwoman who lived through the Indian Independence Movement and fought for the country’s freedom in her own right. 

Influenced heavily by the work of Mahatma Gandhi, Sarala came to India in 1932, and just never went back. 

In 1942, when Gandhi started the Quit India Movement, Sarala launched an extension of the non-violent movement in her newly established home in the hills – the Kumaon district of Uttarakhand. 

Her rallying cry brought so many men and women from the hills together, that the opposing British forces had to put her in jail just to shut up. 

This episode will release in the first week of June 2022, as 5th June is World Environment Day! Because one additional thing that Sarala Behn was known for… this very small thing… it is called the Chipko Movement. 

Technically a criminal in the eyes of the British Raj, since she followed Gandhi so closely and used his principles to rally the people of the hills, Sarala is also known as one of India’s earliest environmentalists. 

Her work in environmentalism included: 

  • organising women to protect forest growth

  • establishing small-scale forest industries that would not stress the forests’ natural resources

  • and most importantly, leading the Chipko Movement, which means to “hug”. In the 1970s, Sarala Behn organised thousands of supporters and volunteers in the forest of Uttarakhand to come together and each hug a tree. The physical human presence against these trees would ensure that labourers could not cut down those trees. 

  • Sarala organised this specifically to prevent excessive lumbering and tapping or resin from pine trees. 

  • Sarala also set up an Ashram at Kausali in the Kumaon Hills of Uttarakhand. She went from village to village helping the families of political prisoners, especially women impacted by this. 

In her later years, she authored a book entitled ‘Reviving Our Dying Planet’.

SOURCES: