By Planting 5 Crore Saplings in 1 day, Akhilesh Government Breaks its Own World Record

Journalism was once considered a very noble profession, but in the recent past, we have seen how the biased media is showing only positive news about their affiliated political parties. We usually see news about the crime rates, law and order mismanagement in Uttar Pradesh. In certain cases, even riot like scenarios are purposely fabricated without having any relevance to the reality and used to mislead the people. While the Media has never shown the positive developments that have happened in Uttar Pradesh since the past 5 years, it comes as a shock when none of them tried to cover and display a one of its kind event called as the #UPGoesGreen campaign. This noble initiative is a matter of pride for the state of Uttar Pradesh and our country as well, but again, it did not receive the much deserved attention from the traditional media houses.

So, let us have a look at the this unique Tree Plantation drive which has achieved a Milestone, that might have appeared Impossible before:

On World Population Day, 11th July 2016, Akhilesh Yadav government launched the #UPGoesGreen campaign. This was the largest tree plantation drive in the world and broke the world record by planting more than 5 crore saplings within the duration of 24 hours. It included 80 species of plants to be planted at 6000 different sites covering an area of 770 sq km and involved more than 5,50,000 people. A total of 952 plant nurseries were involved in providing the required number of saplings. The Chief Minister flagged off this noble initiative by planting a sapling himself and later on acutely monitored the drive.

The UP government also urged the citizens of the state to plant a tree and upload their pictures on twitter using the hashtag #TweetaPlant. It received phenomenal response from the people and the hashtag #UPGoesGreen was trending for the entire day on 11th July.

I want to thank all those who made it happen. Over 5 crore saplings planted in record time. CLEAN UP GREEN UP. pic.twitter.com/C1OJUfviL7

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 11, 2016

The pre-required clinical research regarding this plantation drive and the forecasted carbon sequestration has been done in association with TERI (The Energy Research Institute).The entire campaign was exemplary of perfect planning and active co-ordination between the government and the normal citizens. It also involved participation from the Para-Military forces, NCC cadets, NSS workers and even the villagers. On 4th July, all the schools in the state had an awareness programme about the nature conservation and more than 5 crore students took an oath to contribute towards a greener environment.

It was a delight to observe the updates from the twitter handles of the CM Office of the UP government and see the making of  this unique world record live.

The event can be summarized from  the below landmarks:

The campaign kicks off at 10 AM

Other milestones during the plantation drive

Here is the final counter of the number of trees planted at 8:36 PM

Some of the notable and unique features of this plantation drive are as follows:

1. The entire drive was paperless and has utilized Information Technology for the optimization for the process. It includes the online portal http://pmsupfd.upsdc.gov.in/ for plant monitoring and nursery management system. It also has an Android Mobile App for inspection which can be downloaded from the given link.
2. KPMG, a 3rd party Auditing firm from the league of Big 4, is appointed for auditing the actual plantation exercise.
3. Use of latest scientific technology to determine the topographic conditions including the soil and climate appropriate for the plantations.

The campaign also has long term visions like:

• Afforestation, improving soil fertility, reducing desertification and land degradation.
• Water and soil conservation especially for drought prone areas like Bundelkhand.
• Increased amount of fuel-wood and fodder for the rural people ultimately leading to the creation of their livelihood.

After this tree plantation drive, more than 2% of the total land area of Uttar Pradesh is now under tree cover, thus contributing a considerable share to reduce the Global Warming.

It is not for the first time that the Akhilesh Yadav government has taken remarkable measures for the conservation of nature and a greener state. Various steps have been taken under the mission of "Green UP, Clean UP". According to a report published in 2015 by the Forest Survey of India, due to the tree plantation drives done by the UP government in the past 4 years, there has been an increase in the land area under tree by 261 sq km. On 7th November,2015, under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav and active contribution from the forest and irrigation departments, 10,53,108 saplings were planted within the duration of 10 hours and was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The recent marvellous feat attained by planting the 5 crore saplings within a single day, not only serves as an inspiration for the other states in India but also a noble challenge to the entire World. With this world record, Uttar Pradesh government, under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, would always be counted as one of the front runners for the efforts of conserving the nature and taking steps towards a greener and healthier future for the generations to come.