It is indeed a big honour for all Indians that an Indian forest officer’s blog has been honored at an international level competition which is held once every four years. A blog entry by 1990-batch IFS officer Mohan Chandra Pargaien from Telangana has received international recognition and won a competition where 110 countries from across the globe entered. The officer’s blog on Telangana’s unique forest initiative – ‘Haritha Haram’ – was chosen by the World Forestry Congress as one among the top three blogs.
Indian Masterminds interacted with IFS officer Mohan Chandra Pargaien, who is the Additional PCCF (Development), Hyderabad, to know more about this achievement.
THE BLOG
Mr. Pargaien highlighted the specific efforts of various agencies like Forest, HMDA, GHMC, that resulted in improving the maximum forest cover in Hyderabad city from 33.15sq km to 81.81 sq km (147% increase) in a decade that has also doubled its per capita forest cover from 4.3 to 8.2 Sq mt.
“The idea of adopting a block sounds innovative. It is interesting and well-described,” said one of the jurors about the blog, wherein Mr. Pargaien highlighted how Hyderabad increased its forest cover from 33.15 sq km to 81.81 sq km, which is a whopping 147 per cent increase.
After receiving and screening 104 submissions, publishing 79 posts, and reviewing and approving over 3600 comments and likes, the judges announced the three winners of the WFC blog competition.
TOP 3
In his blog, Mr. Pargaien constantly highlights the proactive green action of the Telangana government. Titled, ‘Resilience and better life with urban forests in Hyderabad‘, he has specifically highlighted the success story of the urban forests of Hyderabad.
Talking to Indian Masterminds, he said, “It is an international level competition organised by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to acknowledge forest-related work across the world. They organized a blog competition, where 110 countries had sent their entries, and my blog made it to the Top 3. Now, it will be presented and discussed during the Word Forestry Congress in Seoul from 2-6 May.”
As per the communication from WFC, Mr. Pargaien’s blog stood out in its originality, writing quality, clarity of concepts and ideas and solutions presented.
ENTRIES
The submissions in the competition covered an overwhelming range of topics including, but not limited to, urban forestry, governance, climate change, non-timber forest products, gender, agro-forestry, indigenous knowledge, cultural diversity, forest products and services, among others – all relevant to forests and sustainable development.
Following a rigorous evaluation of the blogs based on originality, writing quality, clarity of concepts, and ideas and solutions presented, a five-member jury composed of experienced forest-science-policy-practice communicators and professionals ranked the top three blogs. The authors of these blogs win an all-expense-paid trip to participate in the XV World Forestry Congress in Seoul, Korea, and in the pre-Congress Digital Media Training workshop.
SEOUL CALLING
Mr. Pargaien said, “The winners have been invited to Seoul. All the expenses will be borne by the organisers. So, I will be going there next month.”
Apart from his winner blog, he has also played a proactive role in getting the covetous title of ‘Tree Cities of the World’ to Hyderabad City in 2021 from Arbor Day Foundation and FAO.
SUCCESS STORY
In Telugu, ‘Haritha Haram’ means ‘garland of greenery’. Seven years ago, the Government of Telangana dreamt of converting the state into a ‘garland of greenery’ and launched a programme called ‘Telanganaku Haritha Haram’. Now in 2022, the dream is becoming a reality with the Urban Forest Parks and massive plantation drives in rural areas as well. The government is spending more than Rs.600 crores to develop these green areas to protect and conserve the local biodiversity under ‘Telanganaku Haritha Haram’, which is the biggest plantation drive in the country and third in the world.
After launching Haritha Haram, Telangana has planted 242 crore saplings in the past 7 years, which is more than the original target of 230 crore. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao started this programme in 2015 with the intention to improve the forest cover to 33% from 24% in 2014.
The ‘Haritha Haram’ success story will be showcased through Mr. Mohan Chandra Pargaien’s blog in the World Forestry Congress in Seoul from 2-6 May.
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
Mohan Chandra Pargaien is a regular writer on various issues relating to environmental awareness, conservation of forests, tree planting, forest restoration, nature-based solution, forest fires, urban forestry and many such topics for creating awareness among people through blogs and Op-ed in The Hindu, Indian Express, The Hansa India, Telangana Today, Mongabay India and many online portals.
