Radha Bhatt

Radha Bhatt joined a Gandhian ashram in the hills at 16 and has spent her life working with the women of Uttarakhand. In 2025 she was named for the Padma Shri in the field of social work, from Uttarakhand ^[1].

Lakshmi Ashram

Radha Bhatt was born on 16 October 1933 in a remote part of Uttarakhand, where there were few schools and little support for educating girls ^[2]. At 16 she left school to join Lakshmi Ashram in Kausani, founded by Sarala Behn ^[2]. From 1966 she was responsible for running the ashram, and she led it until 2024 ^[2].

Women on the march

From 1961 to 1963 she ran an experiment in Gandhian village work in Bougad, Pithoragarh district, setting up youth groups, a one-hour school for girls and a village self-rule society that still works for khadi, village industry and the environment ^[2]. She then organised women in Almora and three nearby districts against drinking, a movement that closed the region’s liquor shops ^[2].

Forests, quarries and rivers

She took part in the Chipko movement in 1975 ^[2]. Her campaign against soapstone quarrying returned more than 300 acres to the villages of Khirakot, closed many quarries and planted more than 1.6 lakh trees ^[2]. In 2008 she started the Nadi Bachao Andolan with local women against hydroelectric projects ^[2]. Over her life she has walked about 79,000 km on padyatras ^[2].

In 2006 she became the first woman to chair the Gandhi Peace Foundation ^[2].