Published in Dwarka Express on 7.10.23

Trees are voiceless and so they fall a victim to axes often. Punishments are there for humans if someone kills others in law. Erring humans are punished even if the crime amounts to an attempt to murder. Why trees are be treated similarly? Strange! How can a tree be compared to human beings; a feeble whisper is heard from a stone’s throw. If someone prunes a tree, twigs a branch or cut down its major portion, leaving the main trunk, how can this be treated as crime? This question is asked by many. After all trees are woods which are found in our home furniture and how can cutting a tree will be heinous crime, according to a few.

Recent scientific studies indicate that trees listen to music and they have feelings like human beings. Touch-me-not plant (Mimosa pudica) shrinks as soon as one touches it. The pitcher plant (Nepenthes pudica) traps an insect by closing the lid. Such actions suggest that the plants and trees respond to stimuli and therefore they have senses. But whether they feel the pain when they are cut is still a question mark. While going into the science is not our objective, we definitely feel the pain when a tree is cut. Plants do the respiration. They also grow like human beings. One day they are dead too. The vascular system of a plant has two main types of tissue, namely the xylem and the phloem. The xylem distributes water and dissolved minerals upward through the plant, from the roots to the leaves. The phloem carries food downward from the leaves to the roots. All these make us believe that trees are something special. Certain people treat trees as Gods. However, science is still evolving to substantiate that the trees and plants have feelings like human beings.

Under such circumstances, many organizations, scientists and volunteers emerge in nook and corner of the world to save trees against onslaughts. It is not without reason. The fact that the trees are the only oxygen provider on earth, other than the clinical production of oxygen in cylinders, justifies the need to protect them and avoid damage to trees. So many of us call it inhumane when the trees are felled or cut to size. The state also has enacted sufficient rules to protect trees from cruel treatment. First time in India, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 was introduced in India which levied a penalty of Rs. 10,000 or 3-months imprisonment on any person who cuts down a tree due to any reason. But this is about trees in a forest and there arose a dire necessity to save the trees in urban areas. Slowly the state realized that they should protect the trees by bringing rigid laws.

Besides the Environment (Protection) Act, every state in India has its Tree Protection Acts and they levy penalties for felling the trees or pruning them beyond permissible levels. They also penalize those who are nailing the trees for advertisements. Concretization around the base of the main trunk is also prohibited to enable trees to have breathing space for roots. Trees should not be entangled with electricity coils to beautify the surroundings.  All said and done, still we find that the said tree acts are violated. The rules are indiscriminately deviated in order to accommodate the contemptable and the powerful lot, thereby doing more harm than good to environment.