We are well acquainted with the habit of stretching our hands ahead for Prasad after having visited Temples, Gurudwaras, Mosques. Every time, you pull your hands out to ask the holy man at the religious shrines to bless you with some Prasad, you may get some nuts or sweets. However, the Gurudwaras in Delhi have decided to treat your belief in a different manner.
Delhi Gurudwaras are offering tree saplings as a prasad, instead of nuts and sweets. This is an initiative by these religious abodes of spreading awareness about planting trees and understanding the importance of trees and nature.
The Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee has initiated a large scale campaign to plant more than 1 lakh trees at and around all the Gurudwaras and Sikh Communities Education Institutions. This initiative was on the occasion of marking an important benchmark on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. With this campaign, the community wishes to leave a positive impact on the environment with the active participation of Youth.
In a conversation with the Times of India, Majinder Singh, the president of the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee said, “It is mandatory for all freshers at nine colleges affiliated with Delhi University and IP University, to plant 10 trees from the current academic session to celebrate Guru Nanak Dev’s love for nature.” The said colleges are managed by the committee.
This tree plantation drive which incorporated student’s efforts in planting more and more trees will form part of their curriculum and will be considered as a college project. The students will be allotted marks by taking into consideration their efforts for the drive. These marks will form part of their final results. Apart from planting tree saplings, the students will also have to submit a report. The report shall highlight the status of the trees planted by the students. The report shall contain periodical data, accompanied by photographs to act as evidence of the status report.
This is indeed an innovative way which should have implemented at a much earlier stage. The campaign is focused on motivating the youth and the coming generations to protect their home planet from dying. Global warming is already spreading its arms around the earth and it is time for the people to understand the need for a solution. The committee aims at planting around 55,000 different species which will play a vital role in compensating the deforestation and relieving the land from the effects of global warming.
DSGMC will distribute free saplings of plants and trees. The tree saplings will be of Neem and Ber majorly as these trees hold special importance in the religion. The species form part of the Gurbani (Guru Vani, the words of Sikh Gurus).
