RANCHI: Invest in trees. When you really need money, they’ll pay rich dividends, says 62-year-old Kaushal Kishore Jaiswal, who’s spent the last 51 years planting over 67 lakh saplings in India, Nepal and Bhutan. For him, the environment is his religion and trees are his family. But Jaiswal, from Chhatarpur in Jharkhand’s Palamu district, doesn’t stop at advising. He gives villagers 1.5-2 lakh saplings each year at the local haat-bazaar (weekly rural markets) and organises plantation camps across the country.
All this, with no help from the government or private agencies. His acts have earned him popularity in his hometown, where even forest officials acknowledge his contribution.“Jaiswal has been doing a good job in raising awareness and protecting the environment,” says Palamu District Forest Officer Kumar Manish. “It’s definitely made a positive impact in the region.”
A transporter by profession, Jaiswal’s green mission has taken him to 70 districts in 18 states.It all began in 1966, when there was a severe drought, he recalls, adding that he was just about 12 at the time. While discussing the shortage of food in the country, Jaiswal’s father told someone the cause was deforestation and the auctioning of jungles, which led to hundreds of trees being felled. Jaiswal overheard the conversation.
“Those words had a huge impact on me, and I decided to ensure people never face such a situation again. A year later, I started using my pocket money to plant trees. I planted saplings on 7.72 acres of my own land, which is still a little jungle,” he says. There has been no looking back since.
Around 1977-78, Jaiswal noticed that while he was busy planting trees, the government had been auctioning jungles to private parties, who were felling trees. “I started mobilising people to protest, and launched the ‘ban-rakhi movement’, under which hundreds of women tied ‘rakhis’ to trees, pledging to protect them,” he recalls.
‘Ban-rakhi’ is done four times a year — on Raksha Bandhan, World Forest Day (March 21), Earth Day (April 22), and World Environment Day (June 5). Finally, auctioning of forests stopped in 1980. And felling of trees ended around 1985-86.
“Everyone should plant a sapling on their birthday and save the coming generations by protecting jan, jungle, jameen, janwar, panchi and prakriti (people, forests, land, animals, birds and nature),” Jaiswal says. All praise for the 62-year-old, former DIG of Palamu division Saket Kumar Singh says: “Jaiswal has been on his mission for several years, and others must learn from him. He plants saplings through community participation, getting people to protect the environment.”