Isha Fondation-IGPP Winner for 2008
In reverential memory of late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, in the year 1987, instituted an award called “Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar “ to give recognition to those having made or have the potential to make the measurable and major impact in the protection of environment. The prize money has been enhanced to Rs. 5,00,000/-. Along with the cash prize, each awardees is given a silver lotus trophy and a citation. Any citizen of India or organization working in India for the cause of environment is eligible for the award.
Isha Foundation, founded by Sadhguru J Vasudev, is getting the Indira Gandhi Pariavaran Puraskar for the year 2008 in recognition of Isha Foundation’s massive ecological initiative, called ‘Project Green Hands’ to prevent and reverse environmental degradation and to enable sustainable living.
Project Green Hands is a massive people’s movement to raise the green cover of Tamil Nadu by 10%. In the last 5 years, over 300,000 Isha volunteers across Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry have raised 8.2 million trees for plantation. The goal is to mobilize the entire population of Tamil Nadu to plant an additional 106 million trees within the next 10 years.
In 2005, just after the tsunami that swept away so many lives and livelihoods, a group of Isha volunteers noticed that forested coastal villages suffered significantly less damage thanks to protective tree cover. An idea arose: Could trees be a tool for survivors to reconnect with their land, concurrently coping with their grief?
As a psychosocial support, Isha grew and gifted saplings on white cloths to each family to plant and care for in memory of their loved ones. The effect was an unprecedented mass planting of 25,000 trees within a few short weeks by the inhabitants of only six villages.
The movement grew out of the tsunami recovery, expanding throughout Tamil Nadu and snowballed into a people’s movement creating a Guinness World Record on 17 October 2006, when 852,587 trees were planted by 2,52,000 volunteers in 6,284 locations in 27 Districts of Tamil Nadu.
Project Green Hands is in operation in 20 districts of Tamil Nadu where dedicated teams of Isha volunteers undertake door to door campaigns, talks, farming events, gift of trees and celebrations engaging the public to support the role of trees in protecting our environment. Farmers are motivated and enrolled to adopt tree cultivation as an alternate and supplementary source of livelihood. Isha grows 36 different tree varieties in about 100 nurseries spread over 20 districts of Tamil Nadu with the support of corporate, local organisations, schools and local volunteers. Saplings are delivered to farmers, planting is overseen, progress of growth of trees is monitored and replanting needs are identified by the Isha teams.
Apart from the model of inspiring and supporting directly the planting of trees, Isha conducts several mass awareness campaigns among the various target groups to establish a culture of care for the environment. The outcome is an awakening of collective willingness to take pro-active, organized and dedicated action to grow, plant, protect and propagate trees. Starting from Tamil Nadu, Project Green Hands seeks to inspire people around the world to keep this planet habitable for future generations.
In 2009, Isha initiated urban greening through awareness campaigns and planting of 40,000 saplings in Chennai, Tirupur and Karur—among the most polluted / industrialized cities of Tamil Nadu.
Isha Foundation, founded by Sadhguru J Vasudev, is an international, non-religious, not-for-profit public service organization, which addresses all aspects of human wellbeing. At the core of its activities, Isha Foundation offers powerful and customized technologies for inner wellbeing and individual transformation called Isha Yoga, which distills powerful, ancient yogic methods for a modern person, creating peak physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and paves the way towards attaining the ultimate potential. Isha’s activities are designed to create an inclusive culture that is the basis of global peace and development. This integral approach has gained worldwide recognition, which is reflected in the recognition given by the United Nations to ISHA Foundation as an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
Isha Foundation, headquartered in the foothills of Velliangiri Mountains in the western Ghats near Coimbatore , Tamil Nadu, functions through a network of 270 centers world wide and is empowered by the dedicated and spirited efforts of over 1500 full time volunteers and over 2 million part-time volunteers in India and abroad, which makes it a large and vibrant people’s movement for human wellbeing based on self-transformation.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev always says,“A nation is not just its land, rivers and mountains. A nation is essentially its people. If we can have 1 billion people who are healthy, truly rejuvenated, inspired and focused, what they can achieve, no technology can achieve. They can do absolute miracles.” This is the inspiration behind the range of large-scale public-service outreach initiatives of ISHA Foundation called ‘Action for Rural Rejuvenation’ in health, ‘Isha Vidhya’ in education and ’Project Green Hands’ in environment, which serve as outstanding examples of Isha’s commitment towards translating the vision of true wellbeing for all into reality and as models for human empowerment and community revitalization.
‘Action for Rural Rejuvenation’ is a unique and holistic rural health care model of combined indigenous systems and allopathic methods of treatment, intensive preventive health awareness, powerful yoga practices etc. A network of mobile and stationary health clinics treat about 50,000 patients every month in about 900 remote villages on a bimonthly basis, across 16 districts in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and south Karnataka. The Foundation has worked in education sector also.
KP
(Release ID :62219)