Aranya: the young people behind the trees

Aranya, the Foundation's environment programme, is older than the Foundation itself. Its seed was sown in 2001, when Shri Sameer Mohan began working with groups of young people in Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Agra, Kasganj and Noida. The aim was to go one step beyond awareness: not just to name a problem, but to take part in solving it.

So Aranya's volunteers went to schools, colleges and neighbourhoods with debates, essays, posters and exhibitions on saving water and electricity. They promoted rainwater harvesting. They even went door to door with a plumber, fixing leaking taps and tanks so that no water was wasted. The fruit-tree campaign that began in 2011 grew out of this same spirit.

In May 2013 the water campaign had its own slogan — "Chalo bachayein jal, tabhi bachega kal", save water today to save tomorrow — and its own goshthi in Bareilly, where Dr Vivek, an environmental scientist from IIT Roorkee, warned that a city which did not save water would one day go thirsty, and prizes were given for the schools' poster and essay competitions.

Young people inspired by Aranya have also donated more than 1,000 units of blood at the Foundation's camps, including camps at MJP Rohilkhand University. And the Foundation regularly brings thinkers to Bareilly to talk with its volunteers and citizens about the country's social, economic and educational challenges: speakers have included Shri Tarun Vijay, Shri K.N. Govindacharya, Dr Krishna Gopal and Shri Pawan Sinha. On 28 September 2014 a packed hall heard Dr Subramanian Swamy and Dr Krishna Gopal at the Foundation's citizens' seminar on "Bharatiya Vikas Path", the Indian path of development.