Plant a sapling rear it as a child

The Government of Telangana and its leader K Chandrashekar Rao deserves accolades for launching the massive programme of tree planting. There has been continuous and mindless de-forestation in the country, where, interestingly, people have a tradition of worshiping trees as part of nature of whose children we are.

In the context of the largest-scale tree plantation undertaken by any State, at any time in this country, we should recall that Vanamahotsavam was conceived and implemented by late K M Munshi, the founder of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

In his Kulapati Vani ( a fortnightly letter he was writing to all the Bhavan’s schools in India) in the 1950s, he wrote the following about the Vanamahotsavam that he launched: “ It (Vana Mahotsava) was to arouse mass consciousness regarding the significance of trees and to revive an adoration for these silent sentinels, mounting guard on Mother Earth that I thought of the Vanamahotsava. It has in fact done so. Our target of a crore on trees was exceeded and over three crore were planted.

I have been repeatedly asked how many of these trees have survived? True, the number of survivals is not very large. It is estimated that for every five saplings planted, one at least will live to grow into a tree.

Our great task is to teach the man who plants a tree to adopt as a child and rear it as such; this has to be a part of the national education.

Vanamahotsava also will inculcate this habit in the nation. The value of such national movements lies not in what is achieved in a single year, but, in its cumulative effect over a series of years. It is forest-mindedness which matters in the long run, not the number of trees actually planted.”

When the Chief Minister, Chandrashekar Rao, exhorted people to choose the plant that is related to their birth star, some were mocking at him.

Just see what Munshiji said, “the man who plants a tree should adopt it as a child and rear it as such.” How often, how many of us take note of the star which was ruling at the time of birth of a child, and select a name that relates to that start so that the child grows well and is reared well! This precisely is KCR’s intention just as that of the great scholar, Dr K M Munshi .

At the time Dr Munshi launched the Vanamahotsava, his illustrious wife Leelavathi Munshi also launched the “Annapurna “ canteens. Those were the days of food scarcity and soaring prices. Leelavathi behn built up an army of women volunteers who would serve in these canteens without any remuneration and would also be like Devi Annapurnas, mothers who lovingly feed the hungry.

How much I wish that the Amma and Anna canteens launched by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively take Annapurna canteens conceived and started by Leelavati as the model for them and invite women volunteers to offer free service.

I may mention that in Kaulalampur in Malaysia, Indian women are following this example still and there is a hotel where those Indian women offer free service with a smile and therefore the prices are the lowest for any item anywhere in the country. The name Annapurna is greatly evocative. Adishankara wrote the hymn ‘Annapurnastakam.’

Finally, I am seeing hundreds of plants recently planted on a number of streets in the Karkhana area of Secunderabad where I live. I am sad to note that these are not being watered. Some are already wilting away.

So that this great effort of tree plantation does not mean waste of a lot of money, water tankers must be pressed into service to water these until the first new leaves come and the roots take firm hold in the soil.

Such watering may not be necessary on rainy days and a day or so following them. But until the first two leaves come and roots have taken a firm position in the soil, there must be watering .

Also, these must continue to be supported by a firmly planted stick tied to them, so that they are not felled by furious winds. To protect them from lambs and bovines, tree-guards may be necessary.

The people of the State must be grateful for the most thoughtful revival of the Bharatiya’s reverence for trees by the learned Chief Minister of Telangana.

May his example be followed by the Chief Ministers of other States. (The writer is Director of Center for Telecom Management & Studies and Chairman of Pragna Bharati)