Wednesday, 26 January 2022

Heartfulness And IOCL TAPSO Launch A Greenery Hub On Republic Day


Over 1600 Plants Of Around 50 Plant Varieties Grown At TAPSO

Hyderabad, 26 January 2022: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) in association with Heartfulness Institute inaugurated a mini greenery hub at the new environment-friendly facility of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh State Office (TAPSO) at Indian Oil Bhavan, Sanath Nagar, Hyderabad as part of the Republic Day celebrations. This is one of the many mini-forests Heartfulness Institute is creating through its environmental outreach program called “Forests By Heartfulness”. The objective of this effort is to conserve the rare and endangered Indian native species that can also help in attracting bio-diversity including bees, butterflies, birds and squirrels. Executive Director of TAPSO, Shri R Sravan S Rao, and a team from Heartfulness Institute inaugurated the mini greenery hub at TAPSO on Republic Day.

More than 1600 plants of around 50 varieties of shrubs and trees were densely planted using Heartyculture High Dense Forest methodology. This results in explosive growth of the trees within a short frame of time of 12-18 months. All the saplings of these rare species were sourced from Heartyculture nursery which is located at Kanha Shanti Vanam – the Heartfulness Headquarters in the outskirts of Hyderabad which aims at saving and propagating the endangered indigenous plant species of both medicinal and non-medicinal value through Tissue Culture Technology and raise more saplings while overcoming the impediments of traditional plant propagation methods. With a 5,000 sft facility and 10,000 cleanroom technology, and a capacity to produce 15,00,000 annual saplings by employing finest equipment and infrastructure, the Heartfulness Tree Conservation Centre propagates at least five endangered plant varieties at the rate of 1.5-2 lacs saplings a year.

The idea to grow a mini greenery hub at the IOCL TAPSO facility occurred with some IOCL senior executive visits to Kanha Shanti Vanam a while ago. Inspired by the green surroundings and the conservation activities by Heartfulness Institute, Shri SK Upadhyay, CGM HR of IOCL took the initiative to create something similar at the TAPSO facility in Hyderabad. What ensued was a collection of a number of endangered species saplings ranging from herbs to shrubs to trees and canopies that share the same natural system and have a symbiotic relationship with one another; and building a forest variety for environmental benefit.

Some of the endangered species included in the plantation at TAPSO facility are: Syzygium travancoricum (critically endangered), Diospyros malabarica (endemic), Ailanthes triphysa (endemic), Amoora rohitaka (vulnerable), Cinnamomum malabatrum (endemic), Saraca asoka (vulnerable), Terminalia arjuna (near threatened), Michaelia champaca (near threatened), Garcinia indica (endemic and vulnerable), Canarium strictum (vulnerable), Terminalia chebula (near threatened), Oroxylum indicum (vulnerable), Cinnamomum tamala, Artocarpus hirsutus (endemic and vulnerable), Alpinia smithiae (endemic), Adathoda beddomei (endemic), Cleorodendron indicum (High conservation value as it is the only species in the Order Lamiales), Commifera guggulu (endangered), Santulum album (vulnerable), Pterocarpus santalensis (endangered).

 

Speaking on the occasion Daaji, Guide of Heartfulness said, “Only recently the western world came to know that plant signaling or plant communication indeed happens. But the Vedic era had long thrown light on the subject of plants being living things. The more the plants we grow, especially when we save an endangered species, the more we are giving to a life. Trees are revered in India. There are several plants of medicinal value that are of importance. It is also needless to say how plants save the ecosystem by bringing about biodiversity, bringing rains and saving rivers. Beyond all this, there is also the spiritual significance. Plants make a major chunk of our nature. As producers in the food chain almost every creature depends on plants directly or indirectly. We must all work towards alike in safeguarding as many plant species as possible for the sake our future generations.”

About Heartfulness: Heartfulness offers a simple set of meditative practices and lifestyle changes, first developed at the turn of the twentieth century and formalized into teaching through Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1945 in India with a goal to bring peace, happiness and wisdom to one heart at a time. These practices are a modern form of Yoga designed to support contentment, inner calm, and stillness, compassion, courage, and clarity of thought, as the first step towards a purposeful life. They are simple and easily adopted and are appropriate for people from all walks of life, cultures, religious beliefs, and economic situations, who are over the age of fifteen. Ongoing training in Heartfulness practices is going on at thousands of schools and colleges, and over 100,000 professionals are meditating in corporations, non-governmental, and government bodies worldwide. More than 5,000 Heartfulness Centers are supported by many thousands of certified volunteer trainers and millions of practitioners in 160 countries.

About “Forests By Heartfulness”: Forests by Heartfulness (FBH) is an ecological movement envisioned to create spaces where humans coexist in harmony with Nature. The vision is to conserve the native, endemic, threatened species of the country and enrich India’s mega-biodiversity while sequestering Carbon permanently from the atmosphere.

Besides planting the saplings, FBH plans to monitor their growth for three years using the latest scientific techniques such as geotagging, satellite imagery, and third-party audits.

The program began in 2019 with setting up 18 nurseries across the country to raise saplings and will target to plant 30 million trees by 2025.

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