Now Reading: Jharkhand villagers to tie rakhis to 1 lakh trees on Raksha Bandhan
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Jharkhand villagers to tie rakhis to 1 lakh trees on Raksha Bandhan
Thousands of villagers across 700 villages in Jharkhand will tie rakhis to around one lakh trees on Raksha Bandhan on Friday, as part of a 'Save Tree' campaign, a senior forest official…
Thousands of villagers across 700 villages in Jharkhand will tie rakhis to around one lakh trees on Raksha Bandhan on Friday, as part of a 'Save Tree' campaign, a senior forest official said. The month-long drive aims to tie rakhis to three lakh trees across 24 districts, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Sanjiv Kumar, who will inaugurate it at Jorad village in Gumla district.
The initiative, started by Kumar in 2004 from the once Maoist-affected village Lukaiya in Dhanbad district, has since linked more than 12,000 villages. Kumar said more than 20,000 Mahua trees were protected in Lukaiya alone, contributing to villagers' livelihoods through minor forest produce. He added that the campaign has helped increase Jharkhand's forest cover by 1,128 sq km over the past two decades.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Jharkhand's forest cover, at 29.76% of its geographical area in the 2023 Forest Survey of India report, still trails the national target of 33% set by the National Forest Policy, 1988. The campaign's focus on species like Mahua, which yields flowers used in liquor and food, shows a livelihood-linked conservation model rather than mere plantation. The state's Maoist-affected districts, where this initiative began, often see the sharpest deforestation pressure from illegal mining and encroachment. The real test will be whether the emotional pledge of Raksha Bandhan translates into survival rates for the saplings, which the Forest Survey measures every two years.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
