News from the Campaign

Dandakaranya Movement in India: Millions of trees planted

Every year in June since 2006, in a remote part of India called Sangamner, 45 million trees are being planted under the Dandakaranya Movement initiative. Sangamner is a small town in India and is located at approximately 200 km from Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra.

Mr. Bhausaheb Santuji Thorat, the 84 year old visionary behind this green movement, was born in Sangamner. Since 2006, he musters a large workforce of people, young and old, to get millions of trees planted.

During the movement’s first phase, between 23rd June and 2nd July 2006, 50,000 men, women and children worked on hills, dales and fields, and planted a total of 45 million seeds on 28,000 acres of land. The participation was fully voluntary, with no expectation of any kind of remuneration. This was against the original target of ten million seedlings.
Between 23 and 30 June 2007, approximately 50,000 people participated in the Dandakaranya movement, and planted another 45 million seeds and saplings over an area amounting to 21,700 acres of land.

In July 2008, a target has been set at planting of 25 million seeds and 450,000 saplings

Mr. Bhausaheb Santuji Thorat launched the Dandakaranya movement with the objective of saving the Sangamner environment and that of nearby areas - then a dry and arid area.

The name Dandakaranya has its origin in Indian mythology. In the epic Ramayan, the sage Agasti turned the arid Dandakaranya into a green heaven through a massive drive of tree planting. Bhausaheb launched this peoples' movement with a view of recreating a modern day Dandakaranya tradition.

This is one of the most significant movements for the conservation of nature in India, and a book describing the movement and the man behind it will be released in Marathi and English.

Ulhas Latkar