Swami Hitanand - A Ray of Hope in Aboojhmaad

Swami Hitanand  is a monk in Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narayanpur which is one of the branches of Ramakrishna Math in the state of Chhattisgarh. With a motto to educate the children of this inaccessible and most under rated area of Chhattisgarh, he is continuing selflessly from a decade without taking rest. 

Ramakrishna Mission Ashram ,Narayanpur was established by Swami Atmanand on 2nd August 1985 to serve the tribal people of that area particularly known as Aboojhmarians. For centuries these tribals have faced utter negligence and oppression from mainstream society and needed much attention.

This area is one of the most remote and inaccessible areas of the country where administration and police is even unable to reach.  They have access to this area up to a few kilometres only because of dense forests, hills, adivasis and Maoists movement which makes it entirely unapproachable. 

Swamiji - A ray of hope

In 2011, even before the arrival of Government and administration, Swami Hitanand and his companions approached this area namely , two very sensitive villages- Harbel and Dhobe of Jatloor panchayat. Swamiji first reached Jatloor by jeep and then Harbel after walking a distance of 12 km on foot as there was no road except small footway among the dense forest. He was dedicated to pick children to take them to Ashram for providing education.

A Courageous Beginning

When Swami ji reached Harbel in his saffron clothes, villagers just got inside their huts by seeing a monk in the village. It was quite obvious because of Naxalite movement in that area. After a while, an old lady came out and offered drinking water to him. She spoke to Swami Hitanand in local dialect called Madiya- " I just came to your Narayanpur Ashram along with some villagers of Jatloor. It is too good. Please take both of my children along with you and make them study." It was a wonderful encouraging moment for Swamiji and he decided to move to Dhobe immediately. 

Dhobe  is situated at a distance of 12 km from Harbel in dense forest. When Swamiji approached the villagers in Dhobe, at first one villager agreed to send his child with Swamiji after mutual talk. Seeing this, some other villagers also gave their consent to send their children to Narayanpur Ashram.

A Kick Start

Swamiji gave a kick start to his mission with 5 children at the age of 34. At present he is 46 years old. In those 12 years, he has collected about 2500 children from 11 villages of Aboojhmaad and admitted them in Narayanpur Ashram where they get quality education and fulfill their dreams. Swamiji follow a unique method of identification of children and their parents as majority of them are illiterate and don't know Hindi even.

Swamiji first take a photograph of the child with his or her parents along with a slate in which child name is written along with their parents and village name. This procedure is followed so has to keep their record. In past 35 years, thousands of children from those areas have got educated and nurtured and bagged top positions in various exams. The Ashram offers a highly disciplined and world class environment to them for their all round development. 

The Mission continues

Swamiji is still continuing his mission with all his might and with the same zeal and even planning to visit more remote villages beyond Harbel and Dhobe. He visit those inaccessible areas where there is absolutely no human entry beyond CRPF camp. Many a times, the villagers itself support and show him the way for a particular destination.

In all, Swami Hitanand is a ray of hope for all the poor children in the densely forested and remote areas of Aboojhmaad .No reward can ever describe his greatness nor can assess his selfless service towards humanity. Such persons are the change makers of the society and the nation.

 Green Man of India - Rohit Mehra

Popularly known as Green man of India - Rohit Mehra , an IRS officer from Punjab is well known for his love for forests especially urban forests. Apart from his profession he is an author, motivational speaker and blogger. His mission and passion both is to protect and conserve the environment by developing urban forests and make earth more greener place to live in. 

Flashback

Rohit, like other students was an average student in his student life. He failed in his grade 12 board exams however he continued with dedication and passed the exams. Later on he was able to pass Civil Services exam in 2004 and get commissioned as an IRS officer. 

His love for trees was not from childhood. He even refused to plant a tree when his grandfather urged him to do so however a U turn came in his life when his son told him that they had a day off in school due to pollution in 2016. It shattered his mind and provoked him to do something. He decided to devote a small part of his life for environment and sustainability.

A Hike to Greenery

Rohit started his campaign for greenery by first studying numerous books on Indian culture and from their he came across " Vriksh Ayurved. " He also turned up to an ancient Japanese art called Miyawaki technique of planting trees. After deep Research and studies he was hit upon the idea of creating an urban forest. So far Rohit has created 250 microforests in the urban areas especially in Ludhiana and Amritsar with a focus to plant only native species of plants. " In life you always have two choices either to react to any situation or to take action to change it. "Mehra says.

Vertical Gardens - the first project

The first step towards his oath for setting up greenery was  developing Vertical Gardens in the City. He asked for plastic bottles to the school students and scrap dealers. He created such vertical Gardens at Golden Temple Amritsar, railway and police stations, judicial campuses, his own office and even some IITs. The vertical garden at Income Tax Department Ludhiana has been given place in Limca Book of World Records which used around 17000 plastic bottles. 

Apart from Punjab, Rohit has developed around 550 vertical Gardens across Delhi , Mumbai, Jammu ,Vadodara, Surat, Kolkata ,Gurugram and Odisha, just free of cost.

Developing Urban Forest

Mehra along with his team of green volunteers or Eco Warriors has converted several dump yards and vacant places into Mini forests. Many Mini forests were created over industrial land beside canals and panchayat lands. Many trees in these forests have grown to a height of 15 to 17 feet and it is even difficult to pass through them. Following Vriksh Ayurved, Mehra planted minimum of 25 to 30 native varieties of trees like Amla , Neem and Kikar which complement each other by sharing nutrients among themselves. He uses organic substances like leaves, cowdung etc for developing forest.

The tree Hospital and Mobile tree ATM

One more unique endeavour  in this series of environment protection is a Tree Hospital set up by the officer at Amritsar. With the help of some botanists ,Ayurvedacharyas and environmentalists, a tree ambulance is also placed there." Whenever a plant is dying, people contact us for suggesting remedies. In many cases we even sent ambulance to the home to protect the plant" says Mehra. On an average, Mehra gets 25 to 30 calls everyday for treating plants. Also they have a mobile tree ATM from where they distribute two free plants to the people who promise to take care of them.

The seed balls

Mehra has introduced one more unique concept - the seeds enveloped in clay and enriched with proper nutrition for their growth called seed balls. Mehra and his team throw these seed balls in free spaces wherever available so that they can sprout and develope as a plant. He distributed these seed balls in langars, toll plazas and rath yatras also. 

Achievements

Although list of his accomplishments is huge, still a few to be mentioned here. Mehra has written three books on environment- " how to make urban forests", "31 green habits to save the planet" and " Gift lungs to future Generation". Mehra has been called up in IITs, IIMs and Ayush department of Government of India for sharing his valuable knowledge. National Green Tribunal in collaboration with Mehra is aiming to prepare 300 urban forests in the near future. 

Salute to the efforts of Green Man of India - an Income tax Officer by profession but an environmentalist by heart who considers developing green patches as his duty to the nation and the society.