Alok Shukla get’s 2024 Goldman Prize for his Hasdeo Arand movement

Chhattisgarh’s environmental activist and convenor of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan Alok Shukla has been selected for the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize. The Goldman Environmental Prize, also popularly known as the Green Nobel Prize, is awarded annually to grassroots environmental champions worldwide.

Alok Shukla and his work to protect Hasdeo Arand Forest 

Hasdeo Arand forest area of Chhattisgarh is considered to be the lungs of Chhattisgarh. The area is rich in coal, and in 2010, the government auctioned two coal blocks to private companies for mining. To save the forest area and its ecosystem, Alok Shukla founded Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti. 

He organised the local tribal communities of the area and was successful in putting pressure on the government to reverse its policy to auction 21 proposed coal mines in the Hasdeo Aranya. In 2022, the government cancelled the proposed auction of coal mines in the area.

Winners of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize 

This year, seven people from six inhabited regions of the globe have been selected for the annual Goldman Environmental Prize. They are : 

Indian Winners of Goldman Environmental Prize 

Till now, seven indian have been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize 

Medha Patkar in 1992

Medha Patkar was the first Indian to get the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1992. She was associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan, which mobilised people against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat. The Sardar Sarovar project displaced thousands of tribal peoples and submerged vast areas of forests and farmland

M.C.Mehta in 1996

M.C. Mehta is also known as the Green Lawyer of India. He filed numerous petitions in the Supreme Court for the protection of the environment. His petitions led to the Supreme Court's decision on the protection of the Taj Mahal, the introduction of lead-free petrol in India, etc.

Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla in 2004

Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla filed a case in court asking for compensation for people affected in Bhopal due to the leakage of methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticides plant in 1984. The Bhopal gas tragedy was the worst industrial disaster of that time, killing an estimated 15,000 people and affecting lakhs.

Ramesh Agarwal in 2014 

Ramesh Agrawal was instrumental in organising villagers to demand the right to information about industrial development projects and succeeded in shutting down one of the largest proposed coal mines in Chhattisgarh.

Prafulla Samantara in 2017 

Prafulla Samantara fought a successful legal battle to close the Vedanta Company’s aluminium ore mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha and protect the land rights of the Dongria Kondh tribes. The Niyamgiri hills are the traditional habitat of the Dongria Kondh tubes.

About Goldman Environmental prize.

Alok Shukla in 2024 

Goldman Environmental Prize 

The Goldman Environmental Prize was founded by American couple Richard and Rhoda Goldman in 1989. 

The prize aims to honour grassroots environmental leaders, draw the international community's attention to environmental problems, and encourage action.

The first Goldman Environmental Prize was announced in 1990.

Every year, grassroots environmental leaders are selected from six regions of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South and Central America and Islands and Islands Nations.

The prize is announced annually on Earth Day.

The Goldman Prize defines grassroots leaders as persons  involved in local efforts where positive change is created through community or citizen participation