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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
ANNEXURE 19
PROJECT GREENHANDS
“Trees and humans are in an intimate relationship. What they exhale, we inhale, what we exhale,
they inhale. This is a constant relationship that nobody can afford to break or live without.” 1
~ Sadhguru
Project GreenHands (GreenHands) had been considered to be a grassroots ecological
initiative that created green consciousness among the populace of Tamilnadu (TN), a state
in the Southern part of India. This initiative planned to promote sustainable living, by
planting 114 million (11.4 crore) saplings in the shortest span possible.
Planting 25,000 saplings in the Tusnami affected coastal districts of Tamil Nadu marked
the beginning of the project in the year 2005. In the following year, Through three days in
the month of October 2006, 256,289 people volunteered to plant 852,587 saplings in 6,284
locations across 27 districts in TN, and with this initiative, GreenHands made an entry
to Guinness World Records (Refer Annexure - I). By the end of 2013, Greenhands had
planted 19.7 million saplings, on a cumulative basis.
GreenHands worked under the aegis of Isha Foundation 2 (Isha), a non-governmental
organization that worked with a mission towards the betterment of the individual,
society and the world. The success of the project had been attributed to the inspiration
of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (Sadhguru), partnerships with corporate organizations, Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs), community involvement and a commitment shown
by volunteers associated with the project. Implementation of the project had been an
inspiration to many. A comment at the website of GreenHands mentioned, “The Project
Green Hands is great inspiration to the younger generation. It is great service to the
humanity. The overwhelming dedication of the volunteers is to be greatly appreciated.
We can surely create a greeny earth”. In 2010, 3 Government of India (GoI) awarded
Greenhands with the Indira Gandhi Paryaavaran Puraskaar, the highest award given by GoI
to individuals and organizations that have made significant and measurable contributions
in the field of environment protection and improvement. In the same year, Project
GreenHands won the Beyond Sport award for the category “Sports for Environment” at
a summit in Chicago, US. This award is given to organizations that use sports as a tool
to mobilize community for their social cause. On April 5th, 2012, the Department of
Environment of the Tamil Nadu State Government awarded Project GreenHands with
the “Environmental Award – 2010”.On 13 th July, 2013 PGH was awarded the LASSIB
Society, Honorary award on social responsibility for its valuable service in the field of
environmental and ecological restoration.
1 Quote taken from the website of Project Greenhands
2 www.ishafoundation.com
3 For year 2008
Indian Rivers
687