Ranchi: Raksha Bandhan will take on a green hue across Jharkhand this month, with residents of nearly 700 villages tying rakhis to more than 1 lakh trees and pledging to protect them from felling and other threats.The forest department launched the month-long campaign on Friday, seeking to use the symbolism of the festival to strengthen community participation in forest conservation.Principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force Sanjeev Kumar inaugurated the drive in the Jorag and Anjan forests of Gumla district, where villagers and forest personnel tied “raksha sutras” to sal trees after performing traditional rituals.“Villagers, forest officials and other employees will visit forests, tie raksha sutras to trees and collectively pledge to protect them and conserve nature,” Kumar said.For Kumar, the initiative is the continuation of a campaign he began in 2004 in areas where he was posted. Since then, residents of more than 1,200 villages have participated in similar programmes, aimed at encouraging forest-dependent communities to view trees as integral to their lives and livelihoods.The campaign has also been linked to efforts to create livelihood opportunities from forest produce. In Hazaribag and Chatra, Kumar said, hundreds of residents were trained to make pickles from mahua flowers and fruits, which were earlier largely used to brew liquor.“The initiative helped address alcohol dependence, generated employment and strengthened the local economy,” he said.In Tundi block of Dhanbad, a Maoist-affected region, villagers were encouraged to cultivate and collect mahua and take up lac and tusssar production. “Their involvement in these forest-based livelihoods was accompanied by a reported decline in their inclination towards extremism,” Kumar added.
