Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
ANNEXURE 14
- Project Green Hands
PGH HISTORY AND PROCESS
DOCUMENTATION
In the early 2000s, an agency of the U.N conducted a survey in the state of
Tamil Nadu and predicted that 60% of the state would turn into a desert by
2025. Sadhguru decided to check up on this prediction and travelled around
Tamil Nadu. He saw that the state was headed towards desertification much
more rapidly than the U.N prediction. The green cover of Tamil Nadu was
only 17% and 11.4 crores needed to be planted to increase the green cover to
the required green cover of 33%
Realizing the profound ecological problems occurring in the state of Tamil
Nadu, Sadhguru applied his unique approach to the problem.He saw that
the population of Tamil Nadu was 6 crores. If each one planted two trees
and tended to them, within 10 years, they would have 11.4 Crores and our
vision would come true. Even the poorest of the poor are in a position to
nurture two saplings, and the rich and the resourceful have the ability to do
much more.
With this background, Project GreenHands (PGH) was launched in 2005
as an inspiring grassroots ecological initiative. The first project was the
rehabilitation of the Tsunami affected coastal area where PGH planted
25,000 trees with the community participation.
In 2006, as a first step, to raise awareness and to establish a public profile,
PGH undertook the seemingly insurmountable task of planting seven
lakh saplings across the state of Tamil Nadu in just one day. A mass tree
planting marathon was held on October 17, 2006where over 200,000
volunteers planted 852,587 saplings in a day resulting in the setting of a
Guinness World Record. But unlike other records and record holders, this is
one record that PGH will be glad to see broken.
Indian Rivers
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