Though the level of awareness with regard to environment protection is quite high among people from all walks of life, there seems to be hardly any motivation in them to nurture plants or trees. People failing to connect to the idea of environment protection is perhaps the reason for the dismal rate of the survival of saplings planted under the Haritha Haram in Adilabad and the neighbouring districts.
The proceedings at the inaugural of the third phase of the plantation drive in Adilabad town on July 12 were a revelation in themselves, strongly indicating a lack of connect between people and the campaign to increase green cover. The behaviour of school students especially, who were roped in, in large numbers to participate in the inaugural, provided a clue for this lack of connect.
Not only did the students resort to booing when speakers were sermonising on the finer aspects of environment protection, most of them even carelessly discarded the stoles, caps and placards given to them during the event. The apathy of the younger generation towards such events was glaring.
“The government needs to adopt a different approach if they are to make children put in efforts to protect these saplings,” a teacher observed. “One of the ways would be projecting role models in environment protection as examples rather than having politicians and officials pouring out boring statistics,” he suggested, as he recalled the proceedings of the inaugural. “People put in efforts to nurture plants only out of love. And campaigns cannot inject this love among individuals,” asserted organic farmer Nalla Manmohan Reddy of Nirmal town.
“The most successful plantations are those that are raised by people on their own. The plants should be of use to them,” he suggested, hinting that the government should supply fruit-bearing plants to those who want them.
“Why alone students or people, even officials show complacency when it comes to taking care of plants which they themselves plant,” lamented an official at the Collectorate. “For instance, the garden in front of the Collectorate building had dried up completely till a gardener was appointed to look after it,” he pointed out to buttress his contention.
