Time to Turn Green Tradition into a Movement

Plants and trees are pieces of the earth’s green soul as a gift of nature; like a loaf of bread for human life without which imagination of existence is out of thought. We are not only breathing because of this greenery but thousands of other activities and needs are being fulfilled by the lending hand of this greenery. In spite of this great performance of nature, we have harassed and assassinated the soul of this green abode which is the amiable property of earth. Now there is a real need of bringing the charm back and turn the green body alive and fresh.

In this country, where back breaking effort is being taken to increase the forest area, an amazing tradition and a bizarre relationship building movement is also going on which has the energy to make this country green with joint effort. An example of such effort is the village of Darhara in Bihar where people traditionally plant a tree sapling on the birth of a girl child by her name and nourish it till it turns into a tree. Another example is in Uttrakhand where recently nature devastated thousands of hamlets on the mountain; here people are engaged in a movement headed by the Himalayee Paryavaran Siksha Sansthan, Uttarkashi called the “Raksha Sutra Andolan.” In this movement, people bind a ring around the trunk of a tree to build a sister-brother relationship and promise to protect the tree till death.

Think about this for a while, when both traditional revolution which is confined to some villages and a Bhagirathi valley movement will come out of their respective zones and walk to the every corner of the country by holding fingers of the environmentalist, then India can become the breathing lungs of the world. This is only possible if you, as a unit of this world will welcome it with zeal and zest, and convince others to do the same. If you and your family pledge to plant a tree sapling on the occasion of your daughter’s birth and tie a Raksha Sutra around the trunk of the tree on the occasion of  Raksha Bandhan, then the area of forest will spurt and reinstate the soul of this green world.

[Asrarul Haque Jeelani (2014) is a graduate student in the Department of Social Work. He can be reached via email at: asrarulhaque.jeelani5[at]gmail.com]