Ten Forest Crusaders Of India Who Created Man-Made Forests & Sanctuaries, One Sapling At A Time

Sandeep Saxena – Founder, Aranyaani

In Madhya Pradesh, IIT-IIM alumnus Sandeep Saxena seems to have found an ancient solution to thwart an impending agricultural crisis – by planting over 6000 acres of ‘food forests’.

“We are basically structuring a proper forest, but a sizeable part of it can come in use for human consumption, but only up to a certain limit that does not affect the ecological balance,” he shares with Efforts For Good.

His organisation Aranyaani is raising ‘food forests’ in 2500 acres of fallow lands in the central state. Aranyaani is also assisting farmers to manage such food forests on their own landholdings, amounting to another 4000 acres approximately.

Vishweshwar Dutt Saklani (Tree Man)

Uttarakhand’s Vishweshwar Dutt Saklani was a staunch conservationist, who started planting trees when he was just eight years old and continued the practice diligently till his demise at the age of 96. Saklani was also a noted freedom fighter in his youth.

He planted over 50 lakh trees in the hinterlands of his home state Uttarakhand. For him, the trees were everything. He referred to his trees as his family, his parents, his friends and his world.

Jadav Payeng (Forest Man of India)

In 35 years, this tribal man from Jorhat, Assam has planted a 1,360-acre Molai forest along a barren sandbar beside the Brahmaputra river. The forest presently houses a wide range of wild animals, ranging from Royal Bengal tigers, elephants to rare species of rhinoceroses and reptiles.

An incident in 1979, when Jadav was a young teenage boy, deeply pained him when he saw over a hundred dead snakes on the deserted sandbar, who were scorched to death in the extreme heat. While local villagers discussed how trees could protect these animals from the heat, a teenager Jadav took up the onus of planting one sapling a day, a practice which he kept up for the next three decades.

Kallen Pokkudan (Mangrove Man of India)

This agricultural labourer with no formal education had planted the longest stretch of mangrove forest in Kerala, spanning across 500 acres. Hailing from Ezhom, Kerala, he has planted more than one lakh mangrove saplings in the past 25 years.

At a young age, Pokkudan was inspired by the Save Silent Valley movement. But his final push came in 1989 when he saw a group of children being swept away in the high tide during a storm. He decided to start planting mangrove trees along the river banks and coasts to protect the village commuters.

Daripalli Ramaiah

Known as ‘Chettla Ramaiah’ to all, this man from Telangana has planted over 10 million trees so far. The residents of Khammam district in Telangana recognise him at a glance, as the man who always carries saplings and seeds in his bicycle. He traverses miles after miles, planting trees and sowing seeds in barren lands, dreaming of forests to come up there.

Dr A.K. Malhotra and Pamela Malhotra

23 years ago, the Karnataka-based couple bought 55 acres of fallow land from farmers who quit practising agriculture in those plots due to excessive rainfall. Today, the 300-acre SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Wildlife Sanctuary stands in the same place, which is home to tigers, leopards, elephants, rare species of deer etc.

Their afforestation efforts came to a full circle when the sanctuary was officially opened for public in 1991, offering visitors a unique jungle experience in India’s one and only private wildlife sanctuary. Aside from the diverse wildlife, the sanctuary also houses several rare species of flora.

Interestingly, the entire sanctuary was developed by the Malhotra couple entirely from their own savings.

Radhakrishnan Nair

This businessman from Kerala holds a unique feat to his name. Across seven states of India, he has planted not one, not two, but 40 large forests. His efforts gleam the brightest hue of green in the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

Nair is a self-made entrepreneur, who dropped out of school after failing his 12th, and then rose to the pinnacle of material success through a lot of struggle.

Kapil Sharma – Founder, Say Trees

Kapil Sharma’s foundation Say Trees has planted over 3 lakh trees, determined to make Bengaluru green again. The nine-member team headed by Kapil has also partaken afforestation initiatives in Mumbai, Delhi, and villages of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Recently, they have also started rejuvenating lakes in Bengaluru.

Mantu Hait

A lawyer from Kolkata, 43-year-old Mantu Hait has planted 25,000 trees in the past decade, through the innovative technique of ‘guerrilla gardening’.

Ismail Daimari

Daimari  followed by 35 of his fellow associates. Procuring some abandoned land from the government, the group planted a wide variety of plant species, especially rubber trees. Eventually, the 22.24 square kilometre wide Bhairabkunda Reserve Forest came up in the outskirts of Guwahati, thanks to the team’s dedication