RANCHI, Jharkhand: The Forest Department of Jharkhand’s model for saving trees by tying Rakhis on them gets global recognition. The model has been adopted by the villagers and other environment lovers of Bihar, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and several other states and by the environmentalists in England and South Africa.
Earlier, the Department of Forest, Government of Bihar, tied rakhis on the trees in approximately 1000 villages in the state, in partnership with local villagers with an aim to protect trees. The initiative was observed in Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Jamshedpur (East Singhbhum), West Singhbhum, Bokaro and Dhanbad.
Similarly, Richard Steven, a local resident of Norfolk, England, followed the same practice and tied Rakhi on trees and shared the pictures through his social media account. He tagged Jharkhand Forest Department and said, “Inspired by your villages’ initiative to protect the forest, I decided to honour one nearest my home in rural Norfolk, England.”
Henry David Bayoh, a local West African resident commented, “Certainly true. It also endures sustainability of tree through ownership by the local villagers.”
Sanjiv Kumar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (APCCF), Jharkhand, said that he had received messages and pictures from different states of the country and from other countries, adopting the same method for the conservation of trees. He appreciated the gesture from the people and asked them to follow it.
The model was launched by Sanjiv Kumar, 17 years ago, in Dhanbad for which he joined hands with selective local villagers from the Naxal affected Tundi block in the year 2005. Later the villagers of other villages also adopted the practice. The campaign turned into a mass movement in the forest rich villages of East Singhbhum, Chatra, Bokaro and other areas and on August 11, 2022, the forest department observed the campaigns in around 1000 villages.