Kinkri Devi (30 January 1925 – 30 December 2007) was an Indian activist and environmentalist, best known for waging a war on illegal mining and quarrying in her native state of Himachal Pradesh. She never knew how to read or write and learned how to sign her name a few years before her death.[1]
She became well known for her poverty, which was eventually eased by a US-based charity organisation of Himachal Pradesh later in life after reading a Punjabi newspaper account of her living conditions.[2]
Devi was born in the village of Ghaton in the Sirmaur district in 1925.[1][2] Her father was a substinance farmer of the Dalit, or untouchable caste.[1] She began working as a servant during her early childhood and married bonded laborer Shamu Ram at age 14.[1] Ram died of typhoid fever when she was 22.[1]
While working at her new job as a sweeper, Devi noticed the massive quarrying in some parts of Himachal Pradesh's hills, harming the water supply and destroying paddy fields.[1] At this point Devi decided to take on the mining herself.[1]
A local volunteering group, the People's Action for People in Need, backed Devi as she filed a public interest lawsuit in the High Court of [Shimla] against 48 mine owners.[1] She accused that the quarriers were being reckless in their mining of limestone, though the group denied all allegations against them, claiming she was simply blackmailing them.[1]
Her suit got virtually no response, so Devi went on a 19-day hunger strike outside the court.[1] When the court decided to take up the issue, Devi had become a national celebrity.[1] The court ordered in 1987 a stay on mining and imposed a blanket ban on blasting in her beloved hills.[1] The mine owners appealed to the Supreme Court of India, who rejected their appeal in July 1995.[1] Interest was taken upon her by then first lady Hillary Clinton, and that same year Devi was invited to attend the International Women's Conference in Beijing.[1] She was asked to light the lamp in the beginning of the ceremonies, and spoke of the cause she was fighting against and how ordinary people can make an impact.[1]
Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, illegal mining still continued in the hills and forest preserves, though on a decreased scale.[1] Besides her environmentalism, one of Devi's other endeavors was campaigning for the creation of a degree-granting college in Sangrah.[1] She claimed that while it wasn't right for her to study, she didn't want "others to suffer the way I did for want of education."[1][3]
Devi died 30 December 2007 in Chandigarh, India aged 82.[1]
