Sibling love now comes with strings attached

RANCHI: At a time when deforestation has become a norm of the day, a teacher in a remote village in Jharkhand has come up with a novel idea to protect the greenery of the state by inspiring villagers to stop cutting trees and destroying forest. Since mostly women go to forests to cut logs for fire, Mahadeo Mahato thought of educating them first about the need to conserve environment.
Girls and women in Tatijharia village, Hazaribag would wait till October 7 instead of August 10 to celebrate Rakhi by tying sacred thread on trunks of trees in the nearby Dudhmatiya forest.
Mahato said, "Twenty years ago, the forest had become a barren land and no animal could be seen in the region. There was a dire need to revive the forest and for that, I needed public support. I decided to create awareness among the women of the village regarding its adverse effects. Religion being the easiest way to inspire our villagers, I resorted to our holy books and texts which talk about worshipping nature and animals."
"As rakhi has by now become a part of our religious culture, we decided to tie a red ribbon around the trunks of trees. Our girls tie rakhis in their brother's hand for their welfare. Similarly, trees are also our well-wishers and we share a familial relationship with nature," the school teacher said.
The ritual was performed for the first time on October 7, 1999. The villagers selected some trees which were cleaned up and small altars were constructed beneath them. A small puja was performed and a red ribbon tied around the trunks. The ritual continued for a few hours. "Once a tree is ritualized, the villagers vow not to pluck a single leaf from that tree again," Mahato added with pride.
"This has helped revive the area and it has once again become a dense forest. Even animals have started coming back and now, one can spot different kinds of deer, wild boars, porcupines and even jackals," said Ajit Kumar Singh, divisional forest officer (Hazaribag East).
"As the teacher was doing the job that the forest department was supposed to do, we decided to help him in his endeavour. Every year, the day is celebrated and new trees are demarcated for the purpose. Now many other government departments, NGOs and local school are getting involved. They put up stalls and exhibitions that try and educate villagers on the importance of saving the environment," he added.
People from other villages have also started joining in the day long celebrations. Now forest departments of other districts have also come forward.
"Though there is a religious angle to our programme, we make sure not to hurt any community and everybody is invited to participate in our Vriksh Bandhan festival," Mahato said.
Mahato, who retired recently, has now started working with other villages as well. "The day doesn't remain same in other villages. Whichever date is selected by the villagers, it is celebrated there on that day every year." He said even tribals have started attending the programme, though Prakash Oraon, an expert on tribal welfare, believes that tribals are not keen on celebrating rakhi.
Principal conservator of the forest A K Malhotra said, "This is basically an attempt to link social and religious customs with conservation objectives. Similar such attempts have been successful across the world, one such being the Chipko in the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh in 1974."
"We are trying to implement such programmes in most of the districts across the state. Joint forest management committees have been formed to create awareness among villagers as the success of such programmes requires mass involvement," he added.