Living Close to Nature | Manisha Dhinde | TEDxVersovaWomen

As an indigenous woman living in the forest within the city, development often takes precedence over the needs of the locals. Manisha shared the joy of living close to nature and the pain experienced when the forest is being destroyed in the name of development. She shares her personal story of fighting for the rights of the forest and all its inhabitants - humans, plants and animals. Manisha Dhinde—an Adivasi college-goer detained twice due to protests
The 20-year-old Manisha Dhinde described the entire incident in detail, “When they started cutting the trees on Friday night (October 4), I along with some other friends, we went to the area to protest against it. Since the High Court had quashed the petition against cutting the tree and basically directed us to the Supreme Court, we asked for the letter which stated that they could cut the trees but they denied us. We protested there all through the night while they continued to ignore us and cut the trees mercilessly.” Dhinde and others were asked by the police officials to leave at 3 am in the night or they threatened to beat them up with sticks but they refused to move. On asking what it is the protestors were doing which was unacceptable to the police, she responded by saying that they raised slogans and sang songs of protests and saving trees which did not go down well with them. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx