usha manohar wrote:

I fee that there should be a choice rather than forcing people to take the saplings. There are many people who do not like to grow plants even if they have the convenience to do so ..

That is true..many people have space, time everything but just don't like to grow plants. However, what I think is that, the time has now come that people are forcibly made to make their contribution to nature, whether they like it or not. All the people who own a car always want a tree to park their car underneath it, they feel it is their right, but they do not like to plant anything or contribute in way towards conserving nature. They are ones who happily take all benefits from nature, but not give back anything in return.

In my apartment, we have a few nice trees in our parking lot, some are in favor of cutting them down to make space for vehicles, some are opposing that move so the trees are still intact. But when it comes to taking care of them or watering them during hot months, it is done by just me and another 78-year-old gentleman in the building. So I think something on the lines of community service should be implemented strictly to help conserve nature.

Indeed a sad outcome from the people. Instead it would be good not to take it at all. 

Even in Rama Krishna Math these kind of activities are being organised. Now with the lack of proper rain many places are getting deserted like Cape Town which is facing severe crisis of water.

Even in Bangalore most of the water is polluted.

It is very important to plant seeds & grow them. It will not only improve our air in home but also the environment. Flowers plants, fresh air giving plants can be grown at home.

@ Kalyani , that is really commendable ...Even here I see a group of ladies adopting a few plants in their neighborhood, watering them during summer, and what you say about each person having a duty towards nature and its conservation is absolutely right!

@ epraneeth I too wonder what impact the South African water crisis would have on its own economy and other countries that have trade with them

usha manohar wrote:

@ Kalyani , that is really commendable ...Even here I see a group of ladies adopting a few plants in their neighborhood, watering them during summer, and what you say about each person having a duty towards nature and its conservation is absolutely right!

@ epraneeth I too wonder what impact the South African water crisis would have on its own economy and other countries that have trade with them

Usha, I think it is time for us to turn to wisdom of our ancestors. One of our family friends recently told me about Anupam Mishra, an activist who worked all his life towards conservation of water and into research of our ancestors used and conserved water, the methods they employed to build water tanks that were not only efficient but marvels of engineering and architecture. Those books are "Rajasthan ki Rajat Boonde' which translated literally means "Silver Droplets of Rajasthan'. Another book by him is "Aaj Bhi Khare Hai Talab". In this second book, he has written about how certain tribes- mostly nomadic were given the job of building water tanks and were employed by Rajahs and Maharajas  solely to guard those tanks and maintain a constant vigil of the areas surrounding the water sources that no one else could harm them or pollute such places.When the British came, they realised how important these water sources were and how crucial they were to keeping the communities intact and integrated. So the first thing they did was to strike at the very roots, they declared the nomadic or as we know them now as SC and ST communities as being 'Criminal Communities' and took away the jobs they did for generations. The same manner as they struck at the weaver communities all over India so they could stuff their own textile down our throats and kill the Indian textile industry. I am waiting for my son's exams to get over to buy those books, every one should read them, they are so good.

Turning back to those time-tested methods could be an answer to the crisis that we are facing.

Here is more information on the great author and activist, Late Mr. Anupam Mishra that I mentioned above and his works -

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/aaj-bhi-khare-hain-talaab

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Here is more information on the great author and activist, Late Mr. Anupam Mishra that I mentioned above and his works -

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/aaj-bhi-khare-hain-talaab

It is a nice read. So kind of him to not have a copyright of the book and it iss readily available for everyone.

if we look in depth, all the problems that we face in today's world is because of loosing touch with ancestral wisdom. Getting too arrogant with our modern technology and knowledge is the root cause of the problems.

It is so sad the way our lakes and ponds have been ill treated. I remember coming to Bangalore in 1998, the city looked green and had many lakes which were full of water. When we came back after 14 years in US, the city looked devastated. Lakes got dried up. Some were filled up to make lake view apartments.er Those which are left are full of filth, dirt and poisonous froths.

Look how the city is suffering with scarcity of water. And the rising mercury which was so unknown here. Green garden city is now full of concrete and garbage. 

usha manohar wrote:

I fee that there should be a choice rather than forcing people to take the saplings. There are many people who do not like to grow plants even if they have the convenience to do so ..

I agree with you. Most importantly, nothing can be forced upon anyone because everyone has their own reasoning. In spite of saying so, I would suggest that one should not throw away a sapling but hand it over to some one who would love to plant and grow it. That would have been a mature act.   

In Mangalore the age old custom of the agriculturists was to have a we and a pond within their farmland and the water source would never dry up ...In fact rainwater harvesting was based on this since the pond was the water storage ..But now with the govt passing a bill which has given permission to convert all rural land , the fields, ponds and even the well has been filled up and sod to builders.What a tragedy and what a fools paradise we live in, not knowing that we are destroying ourselves in this process of urbanisation 

Really tragic. Such kind of a govt. simply breaks the backbone of a country.    

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Really tragic. Such kind of a govt. simply breaks the backbone of a country.    

I guess that is the difference between a developed country and a developing nation which has gone off track. In Europe the onus is on preserving nature and heritage . There are vast vegetable gardens and farms right in the center of the major cities and they do not permit more than what is environmentally safe number of gadgets to be used especially in densely populated areas and look at us...we choke our  cities with every kind of pollutant possible and then look for ways to rectify the negative impact .