Essays

God has given to mankind nature’s treasure in so many forms and in so many shapes but the present man has deformed the forms and misshaped the shapes. Mountain sand rivers, fields and forests have been assigned by the Creator to play their part for I In- welfare of the best of his creations — Man.

But man has completely mistaken these bounties and misused them in his utter self-interest which mistake and misuse is found as resulting in the mauling of his being and in the murdering of his self. But the modern man still does not see the doom looming large before him. So blinded is he by the sense of his immediate gain.

Trees are one such boon bestowed on mankind. They form such an important part in our well-being and play such significant role in our healthy living. But man's lust for more and more of material gains; more and more of landform their agriculture and still more for their factories and industries has resulted in the depletion of this treasure of nature, on such a large scale.

The entire ecosystem stands disturbed and misbalanced; the mountains have lost their luster of greenery; the slopes stand staring naked; the clouds float away without pouring down; the fields lie parched and dried. All this because ‘Trees' have been trimmed, tortured and truncated.

In our country our ancients had evolved a method to protect this bounty of nature. Trees used to be worshipped as a deity; there was divinity attached tothem; the 'Neem', the 'Peepal', the 'Banyan', the 'Mango’, the 'Maulshree' the 'Kadamb', the 'Kachnar, the 'Tulsi', the Amaltash', the 'Ashok' — all these were deified and therefore forbidden to be cut down or even truncated. The Indian pyche, prone to be religious and devout would worship these trees on different occasions and would rather plant more and more of them rather than cause any harm to them.

Lord Krishna, during his childhood played and danced under the shady groves of the mango trees in Brindaban. Lord Rama, during his fourteen years of exile lived in the forests, the grass and shrubs were used in the making of his huts in 'Panchavati'; Lord Shiva has his abode in the Himalayas all covered with forests — that is how the belief goes.

Similarly did the Pagans among Greeks in the Western World worshipped nature in its various forms. These were the ways adopted by our wise ancients to save nature and to protect the ecological balance.

Man of today calls himself a scientifically developed being and where science advances religion declines. Science relies on reason while religion relies on faith. And here arises the basic conflict.  of today wants to achieve more and still more   whatever be the cost that he be required to pay for it even if the  has to play foul with nature. This is the thinking which has led to the large scale devastation of forests.

Trees provide to the environment carbon dioxide as well as oxygen thus maintaining a balance and equilibrium. They help in the soil formation and control soil erosion, thus saving the healthy minerals of the soil from being washed away.

They impede the flush and flow of the rain water gushing forth from the mountains slopes and thus while protecting the soil, they also save the rivers from getting unduly silted which silting raises the level of their basins and make them overflow their banks resulting in floods.

Trees provide food, and shelter to the fauna and serve as a natural habitat for them. They control landslides in the mountain region helping to save life and property. But very sad is the shape of things in our country at present. Forests fire fast disappearing and this is causing very serious, ecological consequences adversely affecting India's climate, rainfall and soil fertility.

In many parts where the forest area has been depleted, the fertile top soil built up over centuries has been washed away in one season. The regeneration of these lands will become a massive exercise which may well neigh be impossible.

The virginal forests offer a strong temptation to encroachers and exploiters. The timber wealth provides a ready and tempting reward and therefore is there so much of pilferage of forest wealth and illegal felling of trees. The forest department has neither the means nor the manpower to, combat these 'mafias' operating in this illegal operation.

Wood is a precious commodity and the fact of facts is that we are consuming four times as much wood as is being regenerated; A forestation projects are not being able to cope with the extent of deforestation that is taking place.

If our forests are to be saved drastic steps wall have to be taken otherwise the malady would reach a proportion which it would become hard to remedy.

Can we and should we afford to turn a large part of our country into a vast, and inhospitable waste land? This we cannot and should not.

Therefore the beginning should be made without any further delay otherwise a stage of no-return is to reach .soon. It is not the government alone which can treat the malady and rectify the wrong. A civic consciousness has to be aroused and a sense of commitment to be awakened among the masses to treat trees as a part and parcel of their own family and any injury to them be treated as if an injury to one's near and dear ones.

Every child in every school should be oriented in this thinking that planting a sapling and nurturing it to its full growth in any part of the vacant laud, whether within the school campus or in one's living locality should be treated as a mission of life and an achievement of an aim, as much material and significant as passing an examination of entering a career. Those harming the flora in any manner should be punished in a deterrent manner just as causing injury to a human being.

One person one tree — if this mission and message can get through — India can once again regain its lost grandeur in Nature's grand show. Plantation of trees is one of the most altruistic of actions. One generation plants them and the second or the third reaps its fruits. So the planting of trees is a divinely altruistic gesture. Let the significance of this great act be understood in this manner.