WHILE PARTICIPATING IN an event in Hyderabad recently, actor Salman Khan turned to Joginapally Santosh Kumar and asked, “What if there are too many trees and the sun's rays are blocked?” Anyone who has followed the work of Santosh Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, would have had the same doubt. Between 2018 and 2022, Kumar spearheaded many campaigns that resulted in the planting of 16 crore saplings, not just across India, but also in Europe, north America and Australia. In 2018, he initiated the Green India Challenge, which requires a participant to plant three saplings and nominate three more people to do the same. It caught up like wildfire with the active involvement of movie stars and politicians.
A man on a mission, Santosh Kumar says it is a lifelong exercise and there is no end goal. In an interview, he talks about his inspiration, journey with the Green India Challenge, bond with fellow parliamentarians and the need for stringent forest acts. Excerpts:
Q/ How did you come up with the Green India Challenge?
A/ In 2018, a few friends and I were discussing various kinds of challenges, like the bottle cap challenge and the ice bucket challenge. We thought why not do something useful for society. Taking inspiration from my uncle's [Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao] work of the past 22 years, I decided to go ahead with this challenge. When he was an MLA in the 1990s, before the formation of Telangana, he had initiated the Siddipet ki Haritha Haaram to encourage people to plant trees. He used to give incentives and saplings.
In 2014, he scaled up the programme to the Telangana ki Haritha Haaram. About 240 crore saplings have been planted by the Telangana government as part of the programme. The survival rate is 80 per cent. This way, the green cover has increased by 8.2 per cent, as per the surveys done by the forest department. Taking that as inspiration, I started this in 2018. The idea is to plant three saplings and challenge three others to do it. It has caught up. As part of the Green India Challenge, we also adopt forests. We have planted 16 crore saplings. We are translocating some 100-year-old trees that have been affected by infrastructure projects.
Q/ What has been the impact of the challenge?
A/ People are participating with a lot of emotion. In a far-flung village in Adilabad, teachers and students of a school planted saplings and posted it [on social media]. The way it has spread is amazing. A while ago, a 70-year-old person called and blessed me. This is the most satisfying thing in my life and it gives me immense pleasure. People are planting even for their wedding anniversaries, or when there are deaths in the family. It is as if they are remembering their elders through those plants.
The initiative has also created fear among those who want to cut the trees. We are taking up complaints. State forest guards have told our team that we have made their job easier as encroachment attempts on forest lands have come down. The topics of global warming and climate change are also covered in this programme as everything is interlinked. We will need oxygen every day and we have to plant trees every day.
Q/ Why did you think of roping in celebrities and popular personalities for this challenge?
A/ Stars like Chiranjeevi have millions of fans and our message got penetrated easily that way. Whether it is cinema or political celebrities, we are only taking their help to influence society. On KCR's birthday, we launched a campaign for planting one crore saplings, and it was a big hit. On brother KTR's (K.T. Rama Rao, minister for municipal administration and urban development) birthday, 3.5 crore plants were planted and that was also a big success. Actors Prabhas and Nagarjuna adopted forests. Corporate houses are ready to adopt thousands of acres of forests in our state. I have not seen any such challenge going beyond a few months. But this is going strong and it is good for society.
Q/ How challenging was it to get politicians from other parties on board?
A/ After I became a Rajya Sabha member, I involved other parliamentarians. It wasn’t challenging because it had nothing to do with politics. Politicians cutting across party lines participated in it. Some five months ago I started planting one lakh saplings in Delhi. About 40 MPs from 13 parties participated in it. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated my work.
NCP MP Vandana Chauhan took up the challenge and went to schools in Pune and encouraged students to plant trees. Recently, when there was a meeting of top forest department officials, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh appreciated me and asked me to explain my programme to the participants which included fellow MPs.
Q/ Do you think any policy change is required to conserve green cover?
A/ I am in the forest and environment committee and I can say that there are huge encroachments on forest lands. There is rampant smuggling across the country. There is a need to bring in stringent acts. There is a need to protect wildlife also. State governments should play a proactive role to achieve this. In Telangana, we are marking borders to prevent smuggling and encroachment. Earlier, smugglers used to walk away with illegal forest products effortlessly but now the fences will not allow them to escape easily. We are also taking good care of the forest officials right from top to the lower staff.
Q/ What role did social media play in popularising your message?
A/ If there was no social media, the message would not have gone so fast. It played a great role. Only 30-40 per cent of information related to participation reaches as there are many who are going about it without any fanfare. So imagine the extent of its popularity. On internet searches, the impressions and results of Green India Challenge are better than many other trending hashtag searches.