IPS officer Mahesh Chand Jain is a man on a mission. He plants saplings wherever he goes with an unmatched zeal. Till now, he has planted more than 50,000 trees in 25 years. Not content with that, he now exhorts people to celebrate birthdays with the planting of trees.
In an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, Mr. Mahesh Chand Jain, who is DCP (Traffic) in Indore, speaks about his special mission in a candid manner.
OBJECTIVE
Mr. Jain says that his main objective is to persuade people to start planting trees at their homes or in their neighbourhoods on birthdays – their own birthdays and their near ones’, too.
“Through this, we can keep our environment clean and green and can reduce the effect of climate change which causes great harm to human activities.”
STARTED IN 1996
Back in 1996, when he was posted in Lateri as Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), he not only started planting trees himself but also motivated and encouraged the public, other police officers and, also, officers in other departments.
“During those days, we had an old Mahindra jeep. So, my wife and I used to travel with shovels, pans and saplings to plant saplings in the village. We planted in temples, chaupals, schools, and police stations.”
After planting saplings in the local police stations, he gave the responsibilities of care and nurturing to the station in-charge, to look after the saplings and help them grow.
THE SLOGAN
He says that the slogan, Janamdin ko yaddgar banae, vraksh lagae, smriti ko amaar banae, vraksh lagae (plant a tree to make your birthday memorable, plant a tree to make your memories forever), was created by him in the year 1999, when he was posted in Neemuch district. Neemuch district was a new district then and Mr. Jain was posted as the Circle SP (CSP).
“There was a convent school in front of my home in Revenue Colony, which was one of the biggest schools of Neemuch district at that time. At noon, when the school gets over, kids used to wait outside the gate in the scorching sun for their parents, guardians or vehicles.”
That’s when he thought of planting trees outside the school so that the waiting kids can stand under the shadow of the tree. “We planted five Neem trees and two Night Jasmine (Parijaat) trees outside the school gate during my elder son Nihit’s birthday on January 6, 1999,” he recalls.
Ever since then, he has not stopped. Wherever he’s got posted, he planted saplings there and, also, made sure that the saplings were taken care of, and they became healthy trees.
HATHIPAWA HILLOCK
In December 2016, when Mr. Jain was posted as SP in Jhabua, he made history with his plantation drive.
There was a long and dry barren Hathipawa hillock in Jhabua, which didn’t have any plants or trees or water. Mr. Jain and his team planted trees in large numbers within a time period of one and half years. And that barren hillock has become a heaven now!
“We planted more than 15,000 trees all over the hillock. Those saplings not only survived, but they have become trees of 15ft, 20ft and 25ft. Number of birds, peacocks and different types of butterflies have made the Hathipawa hillock their home now and it has become a popular tourist spot of Jhabua district.”
THREE POINTERS
Mr. Jain informs that during plantation, they generally keep three things in mind.
1. If it’s an open land, they plant Neem and Peepal trees, as they have a long life and provide oxygen to humans.
2. Whenever they plant trees in the forest, they plant according to the needs of the birds living there. They plant trees like Molsari tree (Mimusops Elengi), Singapore Cherry because these trees provide food to the birds.
3. If they are planting near a house or a residential block, then they plant trees like Jackfruit (Kathal), Sunflower Pods (Surjane ki Phali), Guava, Metha Neem, Lemon, Chikoo, Amla, etc.
WORLD RECORD
In 2019, Mr. Jain’s name entered the World Book of Records UK for his matchless contribution in promoting environment cause and plantation.
Today, he rues that for some time now, they have not been able to plant trees in open areas because of the pandemic. But they still planted trees at their homes on birth anniversaries of renowned personalities.
“We are waiting for the pandemic to end soon so that we can start planting again, and keep the environment clean and green,” he says in conclusion.
