A small village near Pune has become the torchbearer of the state government's massive tree plantation drive-this year, between July 1 and 31, 13 crore saplings will be planted across Maharashtra.
Ranmala, a village in Khed taluka, was drought prone. Today, Ranmala is water sufficient and it owes its transformation to retired school teacher P T Shinde who embarked on the project in 2003.
Shinde's model was an inclusive one. He roped in other villagers and families were given a sapling to mark celebrations such as birth, or marriage and even on occasions such as death.
Establishing this unique connection ensured that the family nurtured the sapling like its own, making the survival rate very high.
Read more of this in a report by Bhavika Jain published in The Times of India....
This model can easily be replicated elsewhere too. People should come forward to help in planting trees in their area of operation.
