In a rare feat, a primary school teacher in Rajasthan’s Barmer district has achieved a record in the family forestry campaign by planting four lakh trees and connecting 1.2 lakh people with his drive during the last 24 years. Fondly called “tree teacher”, Bheraram Bhakhar, 43, has sought to prevent desertification in western Rajasthan through his diligent work.
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Mr. Bhakhar, who turned into an environmentalist at a young age, has been instrumental in increasing the green cover in the region and has taken out several yatras to generate awareness on environment protection and family forestry. The concept of family forestry, popularised by him, has generated a sense of ownership among the people and inspired them to protect the trees planted by them.
Posted at the Government Senior Secondary School at Indroi village in Barmer’s Ramsar tehsil, Mr. Bhakhar has developed his nursery from where he has been distributing saplings of desert plants and seeds with the support of the public at large. Harit Pranam (green salutation) coined by the environmentalist-teacher has become popular among the people for greetings.
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Gifting saplings
Mr. Bhakhar told The Hindu that he had been spending his one month’s salary every year on tree plantation since 2002, when he was appointed the government teacher, and gifting saplings on the occasion of marriage, birthday, anniversaries, festivals and other events among his friends, colleagues, students and relatives.
“We need to ensure plantation of 300 saplings by each person to protect the ecosystem of western Rajasthan districts. The emphasis of my team is on the trees which are on the verge of extinction as well as the native trees of khedji, jaal, rohida and kair. These trees help maintain environmental balance in the desert region,” Mr. Bhakhar said.
An attractive aspect of Mr. Bhakhar’s campaign was the yatras undertaken by him on his motorcycle during the school vacation every year. Mr. Bhakhar said he had travelled to several districts in Rajasthan and touched the States such as Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, covering a distance of 25,000 km in the last two decades.
Desert vegetation
People who attend the street corner meetings during the yatras evince interest in herbal and medicinal plants with which they can contribute to environment protection. Mr. Bhakhar, who was felicitated at the district-level Republic Day function last year, said his campaign had helped promote desert vegetation, comprising mostly the herbaceous scrubs, and he had distributed as many as 12 lakh seeds of drought-resistant jaal tree in Barmer and adjoining districts during 2022.
“The environmental degradation in Rajasthan and elsewhere is visible through decreasing water level, extinction of several species of animals, climate change, recurrent droughts, locust outbreak and lumpy skin disease in cows,” Mr. Bhakhar said. The solution lies in restoration of old methods of environment protection and revival of traditional sources of water, according to the environmentalist-teacher.