Eye of an Eagle: Isha Project Green Hands - Scheming or Scintillating?

As in my earlier post regarding the contribution of Isha Foundation to farming community, this post will also start with information available in public domain, with my comments interspersed.

About Project Green Hands (PGH)

Isha's Project Green Hands was launched with a vision to sensitize people towards environment protection and to inspire people to plant trees, develop a culture of care towards the environment and help them realize their inevitable dependency on nature.

Initially, the project was started with an aim to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu by 10% by planting 114 million saplings in order to reverse desertification, reduce soil erosion, restore self-sufficiency, recreate sustainability and survives climate change.

Current status

The project has till date enabled planting of more than 3 crore tree saplings. PGH claims a plant survival rate of over 60%, which means about 2 crore surviving tree saplings.

My opinion on PGH planting drives

Even if the world average of such planting drives is just 20% and PGH meets that, it is still a mind-boggling 60 Lakh surviving tree saplings. That is a huge step forward in terms of enabling afforestation in Tamilnadu.

Some social activists were claiming that Isha has not compensated enough for the lands they have constructed their buildings in. I hope any sane person can see the statistics for themselves and know that it is more than compensated for. This is a definite plus of PGH’s work so far!

Recognitions for Isha's Project Green Hands

Some of the recognitions for Isha’s work in the field of environment are (information in public domain):

In 2010 - PGH was awarded India’s highest environmental award; the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (for the year 2008) instituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, in recognition of PGH’s positive ecological impact

· On April 5th 2012, PGH was awarded the “Environmental Award – 2010” by the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu.

· Accredited “Special Consultative Status” by UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2007.

· On 30th September 2010, PGH was awarded the “Sport for the Environment” award at the Beyond Sports summit in Chicago. Beyond Sports is a global organization that promotes and funds the use of sport to create positive social change across the world.

· In 2016, PGH was the Winner of India Today’s 2016 Safaigiri Award under the category - Best Community Mobilizer for increasing the green cover of the country.

· On 13th July, 2013 PGH was awarded by the LASSIB Society, Honorary Award for delivering outstanding outcomes in the area of Nurturing Natural Resources.

· PGH set a Guinness World Record on 17th October, 2006 for planting maximum number of saplings in a single day. 8, 52,587 saplings were planted in 6,284 locations across 27 districts in Tamil Nadu

Isha PGH’s work in and around their yoga center

The TN Forest department has acknowledged Isha’s invovlement in preserving the ecology of the Velliangiri mountains by planting saplings, cleaning the mountains regularly to preserve the pristine mountains.

· In 2004, Isha volunteers planted 77,151 saplings as part of the ‘Velliangiri Hills Conservation Project’ in association with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department to conserve the ecology of the mountains.

· Every year after the Mahashivratri celebrations, the Sanyasins and volunteers of Isha Foundation trek the Velliangiri Hills as part of Kar Seva to clean the hills of litter and garbage in order to maintain its pristine glory.

· PGH Volunteers have planted and grown over 300 trees along the roadside from irutupallam to Isha Yoga Center.

· PGH volunteers have been conducting various awareness sessions regarding our environment both to the local tribals and also to various other people.

My final take on PGH

· Such plantation drives are very very essential to not just the ecological preservation, but for mankind itself.

· A lot of us are so ignorant that we think trees planted are going to be standing up forver. A recent cyclone in Chennai uprooted over 1 lakh trees in a couple of days. Not many know that world over, there are about 15 million trees being cut every day.

· There are some friends of mine who do not think twice before ridiculing such plantation efforts. When I tried educating them about why such drives are needed constantly, with facts, they suddenly became very interested in participating. Some of them have taken the support of Project Green Hands team as well. As updated in one of my earlier posts, I happened to check their sapling distribution effort in Chennai Lit Fest.

· Is PGH really a scam? I strongly disagree. The reason is simple. They have pictures of the various plantation drives done, they show accountability in terms of audit records for trees planted. They also collaborate with corporates like Sony, Cognizant, L&T, etc. Now, these institutions do their background checks thoroughly and keep a clear record of what happens to their donation money. Obviously accountability comes in clean and loud here.

· Above all, PGH being a Guinness World Record holder, one should know that the GWR is not given to just about anybody. The Guinness team does a very thorough check before they award their certificates. So, it would be silly to downplay such an effort and not wonder at what drives these volunteers to maintain such stupendous performance.