Give Me Trees Trust, Facts and figures, chronology and numbers, January 1977 to May 2020

Give Me Trees Trust : Give Me Trees Trust, Facts and figures, chronology and numbers, January 1977 to May 2020

By Komal Badodekar 25 May 2022

New Update

Give Me Trees Trust

The trust has been founded by Mr.Prem Paivartan also known as Peepal Baba
First tree planted on January 26, 1977
First day planted 9 saplings of Peepal, Banyan and Neem trees
First saplings planted in Kirkee Military Station, Pune.
Name Azad Jain, Age 11, Class 5, Spicer Memorial School, Pune.
The little boy of 11 was motivated by his class teacher, Mrs. Williams to plant trees, and at home by his maternal grandmother ( Naani)
He learnt his first lessons in digging, soils, manures, watering, nursery, saplings, plant caring from a very old local gardener.
His parents bought him a cycle in 1978. He started travelling further from home to plant saplings and took good care of them.
His father was a military doctor. He was posted to Jalandhar and he moved with him. Punjab was the first state he planted in every district of the state.
He was nicknamed peepal baba, by the people and media alike for insisting on saving the peepal trees and planting the same in large numbers, everyday, wherever he went.
He started talking about Peepal trees and their uses to our ecosystmem and our wellness at an early age, so his name Peepal baba was established permanently.
He became a yoga teacher at the age of 20. He started teaching yoga for a living and to fund his passion for planting peepal trees, throughout the country.
He graduated from Allahabad university in 1986.
He completed his M A in English Literature, from University of Pune, in 1988.
He became an English teacher, because he found more money in teaching English than in teaching yoga in those days.
He continues to teach English to students till this day, as his livelihood.
His work on Peepal trees caught the fancy of many volunteers and community members. His following grew in numbers.
Till 2010, he had covered 202 districts of india in 18 states, planting a few hundred to a few lakh trees wherever he went.
He started promoting the cause of neem trees and banyan trees ( our national tree ) along with Peepal trees in 1989.
In 2010, he was contacted by Mike Pandey and John Abraham, who were working on various environmental issues.
He was given the first Unsung Hero Award in Delhi on September 24, 2010. John Abraham and Mike Pandey acknowledged his work, and advised him to register an organsiation to work for trees in the country.
He registered his movement in the name of give Me Trees trust in 2012.
8 years on, in 2020 it is one of the biggest tree planting movements in the country.
Give Me Trees has a core team of 6 people, who have worked with organization for over 7 years now and helpers and supervisors numbering 23. A team of super 30 takes care of all planting, collaboration with communities, government and corporate, with only one objective….to increase the green cover of the country.
20 million trees are standing tall on Indian soil. It is the result of 43 years of consistent work ( 1977-2020 ).
Saplings planted are 35 per cent ore than the trees standing till date. Our average survival has been 65 per cent.
All figures given in the fact sheet are the surviving trees. Not saplings planted. Average survival of 65 percent is in delhi NCR, some states it is as high as 87 per cent and in some drops to 46 per cent.
Till date, 56 CSR projects completed. 1,36,000 trees surviving under CSR programs.
Total tree count in Delhi NCR, in past 20 years is 13,70,000 thirteen lakh seventy thousand trees surviving. ( 2000 – 2020 )
Volunteers registered with us is 11,500 ( Pan india )as on May 13, 2020.
Collaborations with army, para military forces, military stations and units, schools, colleges, university campuses, PSUs, social and religious organizations, ashrams, temples, gurudwaras and panchyats.
NGOS approach our team to complete their tree planting targets.
Government land in Uttar Pradesh at the moment is 30 acres. 15 acres in district gautam budh nagar and 15 acres in lucknow.
Trust has a nursery with sapling production capapcity of 1 lakh saplings per year in Delhi area.
Rest of the saplings are procured from Moradabad, Saharanpur and Lucknow.
Peepal saplings are always produced in our own nurseries, rest of the plants are purchased.
40 lakh neem trees are surviving across india, close to 70 lakh saplings of neem plant were planted over past four decades.
18 states are :

Delhi
Haryana
Punjab
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
Himachal Pradesh
Jamuu and Kashmir
Rajasthan
Bihar
Jharkhand
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Karnataka
West Bengal
Assam
Tamil nadu
Andhra Pradesh

Other states, small numbers have been planted by team members and dedicated volunteers.

Breakup of standing trees is as follows :

Peepal – 1.27 crores

Neem – 40.4 lakh

Others – 38.3 lakhs ( Jamun, Sheesham, Bakain , Kachnar, Babool, Jungle Jalebi, Kaner, Siris, Doon Siris, Ficus, Palms, Amaltas, Arjun, Ber, Anaar, and some more native varieties. )

Students from 63 countries have visited our volunteer training programs in India, stayed with us for a minimum 6 weeks, and have gone back to their countries to pursue careers in environmental science, forestry, horticulture and agriculture.

We have a global following on social media. Many have started planting peepal trees in Nepal and Pakistan. Students from Phillpines, Malaysia, Brazil, Egypt, China, Japan, Germany, USA, ave adopted our greening techniques and following our ways of composting, restoration and biodiversity, and community ownership.

Give Me Trees Trust: Our website is

www.givemetrees.org

our social media presence is very strong

our volunteer mobilization is among the best in the country

our Delhi team has

4 postgraduates

6 graduates

The rest are skilled at farming, gardening and forestry work.

We are a team of 30 at Delhi.

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