AIPEU,Gr.-C Bhubaneswar, Odisha: Staff members of Ashoknagar MDG celebrated Van Mahosthav on 05.07.2014

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Staff members of Ashoknagar MDG celebrated Van Mahosthav on 05.07.2014

Let’s plant a tree and plant a hope.

Bruhaspati Samal

Postmaster, Ashoknagar MDG &

Secy., AIPEU, Gr.-C, Bhubaneswar Divn.

Dear friends,

The India Meteorological Department has recently admitted that due to weak monsoon, the normal rain fall in India by June 18, 2014 has been reduced by 45%. Instead of 78 MM average rain fall , there is only 43MM. Statistics says that the normal rain fall has been reduced by 60% in Odisha, 82% in Gujarat, 71% in Rajasthan, 36% in Chhattisgarh, 54 % in Uttar Pradesh, 25% in Haryana and 16% in Bihar ( The Samaj, 23^rd June, 2014). The reason for such less rain fall has been stated to be weak monsoon due to El Nino which is an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December. The effects of El Nino include reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific causing drought and unseasonal heavy rain.

Thus, the fatal effects of Global Warming and Climate Change are now in discussion everywhere.

We all are aware that the whole earth is facing the fatal effects of Global Warming and Climate Change both due to natural causes like dust particles, marsh gases, volcanic eruptions and ultra violet radiations and human activities like deforestation, consumption of fossil fuels, new forms of land use and agriculture, emission of aerosols and toxic gases from automobiles and industries resulting increase in sea level, rising ecological imbalances, increasing deforestation, frequent floods, rise in vector-borne deceases and above all increase in greenhouse gas emissions. While we have no control over natural causes, we can have a control over such causes by avoiding the intentional human activities planting more and more trees which will help to control soil erosion, decrease deforestation and green house gas emission. To be very specific, a forest just doesn’t mean trees only but it’s an entire complex, living community. Many interdependent populations of plants and animals too dwell beneath the forest canopy. The forest soil is a home to large variety of invertebrates, bacteria and fungi which play an essential role in cycling nutrients in the soil and the forest. The reckless felling of trees is creating many problems in the surroundings so the need of the hour says that everybody should ponder seriously over it. Everybody should actively involve themselves in prevention and creation of new forests. According to rules of Forest Dept., 10 trees should be planted in place of cutting of one tree. But unfortunately, only 1% trees are planted in last two decades. Thus, the survival of the rich generation of flora and fauna in the country is in danger Indian economy largely depends on agriculture. Erosion is seriously effecting the agricultural production.

And situation has now become such that not only individual efforts but Government and Non-Government Organizations, scientists and environmentalists all over the world are gearing up several activities to meet the challenges. Amongst various activities, celebration of Earth Day on 22^nd April and World Environment Day on 5^th June every year are considered very important.

World Environment Day is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment It also serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for the environment, galvanizing individual actions into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the planet. In India Van Mahotsava is celebrated throughout the country in the first week (1^st to 7^th ) of July every year with plantation of lakhs of saplings of different trees. The Van Mohotsava is not like the other religious festivals, lasting for a day or two and thereafter developing into token rituals devoid of any meaning. It is a symbol of unending movement towards a greener India! By July, the South West Monsoon affects the entire country. The time is just right for any kind of plantation activity or seed dispersal. The importance of trees in purifying the air, as natural resources, maintaining the ecological balance, preventing soil erosion, as medicines, habitats for faunal species, providing nutrients to the soil etc. is well known.

Stressing the need for tree plantation, Mahatma Gandhi had once said, “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people,” political leader Franklin D. Roosevelt had warned long ago. The best saying about tree plantation is by Lucy Larcom, which goes as, "He who plants a tree plants hope.

So let’s not talk more and now just move to action by planting trees. An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Today the staff members of Ashoknagar Mukhya Dak Ghar celebrated Van Mahosthav by planting trees in the Post Office Campus headed by Shri B Samal, Postmaster and with the cooperation and presence of Sri S C Barik, SSPOs, Sri D P Nayak, ASPOS(HQ) and Sri T K Dash, ASPOs, I / C, Bhubaneswar North Sub Division.