On November 8, 2021, at the function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, an elderly woman wearing a traditional dhoti in the name of clothes, some garlands related to the tribal lifestyle around her neck, reached barefoot without slippers. She was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, by President Ram Nath Kovind.
That simple-looking woman never went to school. The tribal woman comes from the Halki indigenous tribe of Karnataka. She worked as a daily wage laborer in a nursery with her mother.
Today she has extensive knowledge about herbs and plant species. That's why Tulsi Gowda is called the encyclopedia of forests.
Tulsi Gowda has been actively contributing to the protection of the environment since she was a teenager. And have planted lakhs of trees.
She has mastered the art of identifying the mother tree necessary for their origin among any kind of tree in the forests. Along with this, he also has good experience in identifying the quality of seeds.
78-year-old Tulsi Gowda cannot count the number of trees she has planted in her entire life. Estimated to be 40 thousand, she has planted more than one lakh trees. She has dedicated her whole life to trees and plants.
She has been honored with many awards like 'Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award', 'Rajyotsav Award' and 'Kavita Memorial'.
Even today, she herself goes to the nursery of the forest department to collect the seeds of many plants and wants to pass on the same values to the next generation. As a result, Tulsi Gowda and all others collect the seeds of many plants and maintain them till the summer season. And then those seeds are sown in the forest.
There is no doubt that her story as an environmentalist has proved to be an inspiration to many over the years and many more will continue to be inspired by her life journey.
Let us know about Tulsi Gowda…
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Birth and Early Life
Tulsi Gowda was born in 1944, in a Halkki tribal family in Basti Honnalli village, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka.
Born in a poor family, Tulsi Gowda lost her father at the age of 2. Because of this, she was never able to turn towards her formal education. At an early age, she started accompanying her mother to the nursery and used to work with her there.
At the age of 11, she was married to a man named Govind Gowda. When she was 50 years old, her husband passed away.
She started working as a daily wage laborer in a local nursery with her mother at the age of 20.
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Attachment to Trees and Plants
Tulsi Gowda, temporarily attached to the nursery, looked after the seeds grown in the Karnataka Forestry Department. And she especially took care of the seeds that were part of the Agasura seed bed. She worked as a daily wage laborer with her mother for 35 years.
Seeing her dedication and passion for nature conservation, she was offered a permanent position in the Forest Department. Tulsi Gowda retired at the age of 70 after working for 15 years in a permanent post.
Throughout her time at the nursery, she contributed and worked directly to counter afforestation efforts by the Forest Department using her traditional knowledge of the land gained through direct experience.
Tulsi Gowda has not only planted countless saplings that will grow, and many have grown to become trees that help the world live a better life, but she has also helped prevent poachers from destroying wildlife. And has also worked to prevent many forest fires.
Tulsi Gowda may have never gone to school, but her knowledge is no less than that of an environmental scientist.
She keeps the information about all types of plants, as well as what kind of soil is suitable for which plant, how much water is to be given to which plant, etc.
She is famous for her ability to identify the mother tree of every species of tree in the forest, regardless of its location.
Mother trees are important because of their age and size, making them the most fundamental in the forest. The underground node is used to connect the young plants and seedlings to the mother tree as they exchange nitrogen and nutrients.
Tulsi Gowda also specializes in seed collection. Seed collection is the extraction of seeds from mother trees to propagate and reproduce entire plant species. This is a very difficult process because the seeds must be collected from the mother tree at the peak of germination to ensure the survival of the seedlings, and they are able to sense this exact time.
She has planted and identified more than 300 medicinal plants, which are used to treat diseases in her village.
Tulsi Gowda, after retiring from the Karnataka Forestry Department, has dedicated the rest of her life to teaching the children of her village about the importance of forests as well as how to find and care for seeds.
She has not let her love for the environment diminish even today and she is working for the conservation of forests. Now she also makes children aware of the importance of trees.
Tulsi Gowda believes that 'If the forests are saved, this country will be saved. We need forests. Without forests there would be drought, no crops, and the sun would become unbearably hot. If the forest grows, the country will also grow. We need to create more forests.
Apart from environmentalism, she also stands up for the rights of the women in her village. Once when a woman belonging to the Halkki community was threatened with a gun after an argument, Tulsi Gowda came forward to her aid and said that she would protest strongly if the culprit was not punished.
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Prize
Tulsi Gowda has received several awards and recognitions for her work in seed development and conservation, apart from her extensive tenure in the Karnataka Forestry Department.
In 1986, she received the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award, also known as the IPVM Award. The IPVM Award is given for pioneering and transformative contributions made by individuals or institutions in the field of afforestation and wasteland development.
In 1999, Tulsi Gowda was awarded the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award. It is the "second highest civilian award of the Karnataka state of India". The Karnataka Rajyotsava Awards are given annually to more than 60 citizens of the state of Karnataka who are distinguished in their respective fields.
On 26 January 2020, the Government of India honored him with the prestigious Padma Shri award.
Tulsi Gowda says I am happy that I have won many awards. Despite all these rewards, plants bring me the most joy.
According to the report of the National Committee on Tribal People, “Tribal areas are rich in minerals. The states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand have substantial mineral reserves – they have 70 percent of India's coal reserves, 80 percent of high-grade iron, and 60 percent of bauxite and chromium. An important fact is that half of the top mineral yielding districts are tribal and they also have 28 percent forest cover, which is higher than the national average of 20.9 percent.”
Devoted and loyal people like Tulsi Gowda continue to perform their duties anonymously and fight the struggle of their life very well. But it is true that selfless struggle never fails.
The struggle is that austerity of human life, only after passing through which she can progress on the path of her objective.
Jagdisha salutes you for your dedication and important contribution to the environment. We wish you a healthy life.
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