subject: Van Mahotsav Celebration In Schools [print this page] Is it only that books that can help the children to derive knowledge from it? Or, is only learning about technology sufficient for them? Children posses a fresh mind. They catch everything very easily and eagerly as compared to the adults. It is their curiosity to know more about anything that makes them learn many things in a short period of time. One of the foremost duties of parents as well as of teachers is to teach them about forestation. They should make the toddlers understand about both the merits and demerits of forestation. And, it is more necessary for todays children because excessive deforestation is harming the globe at a fast rate.
To give an indepth idea about Van Mahotsav, parents or teachers first should give them the history of Van Mahotsav because when we know the history of something our contribution towards it can be more. Well, Van Mahotsav can also be called as the festival of tree planting. It is celebrated on 5th June and almost in the first week of July of every year. As the term Van Mahotsav itself explains everything that millions and millions of trees are planted on this day or week. The concept of planting trees on a particular day was taken up by Shri Kanhaiyalal M. Munshi, the then Union Minister for Agriculture and Food who launched the Van Mahotsav festival in the year 1950. It was started with the aim of creating an interest among the people to preserve forest and plant trees, because trees meant water, water means bread and bread is life. While launching Van Mahotsav it was expected that it would build up a tree consciousness amongst the people. The tree festival was started with a motto to serve the below mentioned purposes:
To prevent soil erosion
To help in creating shelterbelts in the region of agricultural fields so as to increase their production
To supply fodder leaves for cattle to reduce grazing over the reserved forests
To maintain the ecological balance
To create a sense among people to love trees and not to cut them down
To keep the environment pollution free
Today Van Mahotsav is celebrated in many schools, colleges and universities of the country. Especially schools celebrate this occasion to make children understand the value of trees and its importance. On this day, children are provided with saplings which they are instructed by their teachers to plant. Slogans and poster writing competitions are organized in the schools on the occasion of Van Mahotsav. Free saplings are distributed all over the country on this specific day or throughout the week by the forest department, the state governments and farmers. This in a way grows the love for trees and nature among the children. Children are the future of the country. If they learn how to keep the environment free from smog and love the nature then nothing can stop a country from the rapid development. Half of the trees and plants die because of pollution, heat, grazing and of course deforestation. But with the help of this forest festival we can take a step forward to save our planet.
