Van Mahotsav: Unlock seed bombing, make the most of monsoon

Eco warriors in Delhi-NCR are elated to be out in the midst of Nature, amid monsoon, when it’s the opportune time for plantation drives to begin.

While monsoon might have been playing hide-and-seek with Delhi-NCR, but that hasn’t deterred the conviction of environmentally conscious groups. Armed with face shields, masks, gloves and sanitisers, these eco warriors are elated to be out in the midst of Nature, at an opportune time, when monsoon plantations are the right thing to begin, and seed bombing is the activity that they vouch for! And that’s how they are kicking off celebrations for Van Mahotsav (July 1 to 7), which aims to spread awareness on forest conservation across the country.

Environment enthusiasts are elated to begin monsoon plantation albeit with safety precautions such as face shields, masks, gloves and sanitisers.

Participation limited, not plantation

“The unlock period is the most opportune time for planting, since it is near the onset of monsoon,” feels Manish Khurana, founder of We Mean To Clean, a Delhi-NCR based volunteer group that conducts cleanliness drives, native tree plantation and awareness programs across the region. “We’re looking forward to conducting quite a few plantation drives this season. We’re following all Covid appropriate behaviour, considering the havoc that we witnessed during the second wave of the pandemic, and might be limiting participation in our plantation drives. We have started the drives in Janakpuri and Vikaspuri and also plan to conduct them at Subhash Nagar, Dwarka, and Rohini,” he says.

The volunteers are looking at planting native trees such as Peepal, Neem, Amaltas, and Jamun among others. “We’ll also try to support them with shrubs such as Mehendi. We’ll be preparing the soil with some compost. We plant the saplings and then make sure they are taken care of regularly for at least two to three years until they all become self sustainable,” adds Khurana.

Van Mahotsav: Unlock seed bombing, make the most of monsoon

Exploding in the soil, for Nature’s sake

“It’s a fun activity which helps raise awareness towards the urgent need to protect our fast depleting forest cover,” says, environmentalist Alka Saran, from Let’s Walk Gurgaon, who is too looking forward to native seed bombing. “Monsoons are almost here and it’s time to increase our green cover by planting trees and seed bombing. Seed bomb is a bomb that explodes and plants shrubs and trees! It’s an ancient technique of making earth balls by mixing soil, manure and native seeds and embedding or throwing them in the ground. It is especially useful in hard to reach places like hills and forests. It is also known as aerial reforestation. Besides native tree seed bombs,we also carry Amaltas (Cassia fistula) seed pods which are used to dig and embed seed bombs and left as food for animals who in turn disperse these seeds through their droppings in the forest,” she says.

Creating newer habitats

Another NGO, IamGurgaon has been committed to plant local, native species as part of their mission of planting million trees in the city. Latika Thukral, founder, says, “We have planted around 2.5 lakh plants with 100% survival rate in the last 10 years. We maintain our plants for three years with watering through sewage treated water. Now we don’t even say planting trees but creating habitats. All our planting areas have become haven for birds, butterflies, insects. We will be planting in Sikanderpur forest, Badhshahpur forest corridor,” she says.

Making space for medicinal plants

Gurugrammer Nilay Agarwal, a social worker and founder of Vishalalakshi Foundation, has been planting trees such as Ashok, Neem, Bamboo, Peepal, Sehjan, and Kadam, across the city and aims to continue the drives in the months to come.

“We have identified a slum in Gurugram’s Sector 48, which we cleaned using diggers and excavators and planted trees to make the area green. Often, once we clean an area, people let it stay clean for a while before littering again. But by converting those areas into greener spaces, we ensure they are treated with much more love and concern. We are focusing on the advantages of medicinal plants such as Giloy, Ashwagandha, Shatavari, Safed Musli, Ajwain, Elaichi, Sarphganda. We planted the same, and educated the people living in slums about the same.We ask our volunteers to follow all Covid protocols once they appear for the drive. Masks and gloves are provided at the site and volunteers are requested to bring their own sanitiser and water bottles to avoid unnecessary touch,” says Agarwal.

Author tweets @Nainaarora8

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