Environmentalist Tulasi Gowda Changed Landscape Of Her Village One Sapling At A Time
She was present at the ceremony dressed in traditional attire walking barefoot. She has been honoured for her immense contribution to the protection of environment.
Who Is Tulasi Gowda: Karnataka-based Tulasi Gowda, who is also referred to as the Encyclopedia of Forest, has been awarded the prestigious Padma Shri for Social Work. It is the fourth highest civilian award presented by the Government of India. She was present at the ceremony dressed in traditional attire walking barefoot. She has been honoured for her immense contribution to the protection of environment.
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Gowda was among 119 Padma Shri award recipients for the year 2020. The photo of her meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortly went viral on social media. The PM also posted the picture on his official Instagram handle. In of the many pictures, PM Modi was seen folding hands in front of Gowda and talking to her.
Many social media users touched by the image shared heartfelt posts dedicated to her. The picture of her with PM Modi was being called the 'picture of the day' by many on Twitter. Industrialist Anand Mahindra also lauded the environmentalist in one of his tweets. Sharing a picture of her getting the award, he said that the government has made a shift in the texture of Padma awards recipients as now they are focussing on individuals working at grassroots.
This Govt has made a long-overdue, transformational shift in the texture of the Padma Awards recipients. Now, the focus is largely on individuals making seminal contributions to the improvement of society at grassroots levels. I truly felt undeserving to be amongst their ranks. https://t.co/jor34tqx1w
Here are a few things to know about Padma Shri Tulasi Gowda
She is 72-years-old.
She is based in Honnalli village in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district. She was born in a poverty-stricken Halakki tribal family. Unfortunately, she was only two years old when she lost her father.
To overcome the financial crisis at home, she started working with her mother who was a daily-wage worker. She couldn't attend formal schooling also.
She got hitched to Govinde Gowda at a very young age. However, he also died soon after.
Tulsi didn't get any formal education. Despite that, she has extensive knowledge about the diverse plant and herb species and how they are used. She is also aware of their benefits and has good amount of knowledge about the quantity of water needed for growth.
Smt Tulsi Gowda is awarded Padma Shri for Social Work.
She is an environmentalist from Karnataka who has planted more than 30,000 saplings and has been involved in environmental conservation activities for the past six decades. pic.twitter.com/pgwXMYx8ZD
She is passionate about sharing her vast knowledge with the younger generation and inspires them to protect the environment. Interestingly, she has planted over 1,00,000 trees so far. For her, saplings are her children and she has committed her life to nurturing them as children and ensuring they grow into huge trees. She has been doing this for the last six decades.
She also held a permanent position in the forest department. She had earned it through the zeal she showed towards protecting trees.
She served there for fourteen years and retired from the service thereafter. She gets a pension and that's how she is surviving.
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