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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
EVOLUTION OF GREENHANDS
Greenhands had its root in Vanashree Eco Project, which was started in 2002 to conserve
and protect the Velliangiri Mountain range, where Isha Yoga Centre is located. Isha
volunteers used to sow lakhs of seeds to propogate the native species in the area to revive
the ecology and biodiversity of the mountains. The formal initiation of Greenhands
started in 2004.
It was in December 2004 that TN, along with other states of India, witnessed major
devastation in the coastal regions due to the Indian Ocean Tsunami 4 . The lore is that the
Isha volunteers, who were rehabilitating the affected people, observed that coastal areas
that have enough tree cover were damaged less as compared to those areas that have
less tree cover. Soon, Isha volunteers started using trees to connect with people affected
by grief and tragedy. Saplings were presented in white cloths accompanied by roses, to
grief struck families and they planted those saplings for their loved ones. More than 1000
saplings were thus planted. Once the project met the objective, volunteers idealized to
scale up the project. “Prodded by the project director, we then kept a plantation target
of 5000 saplings. While the earlier plantation happened within residential areas, these
saplings were planted within residential compounds,” mentioned Anand, a plant biologist,
and a full-time volunteer of Greenhands who has been coordinating with the plantation
activities since the beginning of the project. On December 25, 2005, Greenhands planted
5000 saplings in the seashores of the tsunami affected villages of Periyakuppam,
Pettodai, Aiyampettai, Nayakarpettai, Thamananpettai and Nanjalingampettai in
Cuddalore district. (The district collector, Gagan Dheem Singh Bedi was the chief guest).
In addition, Greenhands also planted 5000 saplings on the roadside, 5000 at villages and
10,000 saplings at lands belonging to Panchayats.
“Isha Foundation wanted to do it large-scale. When we shared our stories of sapling
plantation with other members of Isha, they chipped in. Swami Prabodha said that he
will mobilize resources to plant one lakh trees. Such commitment was received from a
number of people. We came to know that Sadhguru wanted to speak to the Chief Minister
of Tamilnadu about this endeavor,” conveyed Anand. Greenhands soon came of age.
In 2006, the project entered the Guinness World Book of Records. The launch of the
2007 planting season started at Chennai, capital of TN on Sunday, 23rd September. In
2007, Greenhands decided to showcase some of its endeavors, and thus started focused
plantation zones in seven districts. The plantation zones had been functioning with the
support of corporate organizations like Suzlon and Yves Rocher. In November 2008, the TN
forest department and Greenhands planted 25,000 saplings at the 22,000 reconstructed
houses in TN, as part of the Tsunami Rehabilitation project.
4 The Indian Ocean Tsunami, which occurred on December 26, 2004 caused approximately 225,000 deaths in eleven
countries, inundating coastal area with waves as high as 30 meters or 100 feet.
688 Annexures