Republic Day 2024: How this former Indian Air Force officer became a green-community builder

Wg. Cdr. Sharad Chaturvedi (retd.) at his Delhi home during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020. (Photo: Hemant Chaturvedi)

The life of an Armed Forces officer is adventurous, to say the least. But unconsumed by its richness, Delhi-based Wg. Cdr. Sharad Chaturvedi (retd.), now 82, had a deep-seated desire to work for bettering the state of the natural world by creating self-help groups that could not only help build alternative income streams but also become change champions for the cause.

A file photo of a young IAF officer Sharad Chaturvedi from December 21, 1963. (Photo: 'A Treevolution: Turning a Vision Into a People’s Movement', 2023)

Serving the Indian Air Force for 26 years, how did such an opportunity come his way? Chaturvedi retired from the Forces in 1989 and joined the India chapter of the US-based global non-profit Trees For Life International, which began work in India in early 1980s by planting fruit trees and sharing knowledge and training at the grassroots. He talks about this and his memoir-cum-inspirational book, A Treevolution: Turning a Vision Into a People’s Movement (White Falcon Publishing, 2023). Edited excerpts:

Writing is a different skill set compared to things you were trained in. Tell us about your writing process.

The idea to work on this book came in 2021, though my friends would encourage me every now and then to write a book whenever I would share my experiences with them. Then, I began posting them as small snippets on Facebook (now Meta). Over a year, it became a huge collection. All I had to do after that was rearrange, edit, and modify it to present it in a book format. But I must say revisiting 26 chapters three to four times was quite cumbersome.

In your book, you principally share your journey with Trees for Life. What was the pivotal moment that compelled you to start working for the environment after a career in the Forces?

During my posting in Jammu, pilots would take me through a spin in their aircraft every week and I’d feel extremely unhappy with the aerial view of the deforested land. I had the desire to work for nature since that time but then, as I had joined services in a permanent commission, I couldn’t leave as easily one leaves a job. Then, I was posted in Bombay (now Mumbai). Helicopters are test-flighted before being handed over to the squadrons, so I was invited for such test flights, and during those flights, too, I saw the same thing. Such moments compel you to do something, but you can’t do anything.

The third such incident happened when I was in Delhi as part of the inspection team, where the whole team, including me, would visit all Air Force stations to assess them for their operational preparedness. On my countrywide visits, I saw the same thing again. Then one day, I decided that now that I’ve served for 26 years, let me do something else. Though I had no experience, I applied for the post I saw in an advertisement for the post of chief executive for the India chapter of Trees for Life. Funnily, I feel the real turning point was the postman who by mistake had delivered home some other newspaper, which is why I refer to this as the divine intervention.

Wg. Cdr. Sharad Chaturvedi (retd.) playing tennis on his 80th birthday in 2021. (Photo: Hemant Chaturvedi)

This dissonance between people working a job while rooting for something else is commonplace. How did you prepare yourself for this new venture without having worked in the environment sector?

Indeed, I didn’t have any experience. And even strange and surprising as before me several generals, admirals, and experienced horticulturalists and agriculturists were interviewed but I was selected over others. But I think I prepared myself by reading several books on environment, deforestation, etc. However, that was purely academic stuff. The real challenge was to motivate people to do something for themselves and nature on the ground. But how do you do that? During my first visit to a village, I found several people with health-related deficiencies. I think that motivated me to start talking about family health, and when we began socialising, this message from one village to 10, then from 200 to 323 and so on, it became a revolution. All of it happened organically, automatically.

And it wouldn’t have been possible had corporations not invested in your work?

Absolutely. That was wonderful because I’m unsure if you know that getting anything done from or through the government is next to impossible. With corporates, the thing was that though their head offices were in major cities like Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, their work was in rural areas. They earned a great deal of goodwill through my programme, and we benefitted from their funding. But it was a wonderful experience: In Odisha, where we worked, the farewell given to us was nothing less than a procession. Every time some or the other person would come to wash my and my wife’s feet. We would object but they’d silence us saying it was their custom. We had nothing to do but respect their sentiments. This affection was touching.

Could you share what was the working model you employed for the projects you undertook, and any success story related to the same?

So, I created pitches like trees for nutrition and trees for income generation, etc. For example, whenever there are flowers, there will be honeybees. They not only draw the nectar, but they also cross-pollinate. I saw a wonderful opportunity in this phenomenon and introduced Italian bees in Assam, but it worked for six months only and failed because they couldn’t adjust to the climate. It was a learning. Then, I researched and started this project in Tenali (near Guntur) in Andhra Pradesh along with Mr Kavuri Venkateshwara Rao. The model was simple: money for training and 30 beehive boxes would be provided. The participants would’ve to return this loan (Rs 600) after having learnt the art of bee-keeping. I was suspicious of the loan being returned. However, to my surprise not only did that happen but they also multiplied the beehive boxes. Their income went up so much that they re-utilised it to get more women involved. It helped them a great deal for there were several who were concerned because their men would spend everything they’d earn on alcohol. Through our programs, women could support their families on their own.

With that, let’s talk about the role your partner played during your journey at Trees for Life besides being the editor of the newsletter.

Men are usually not interested in things like health and nutrition in the villages. We had to motivate women for the same. It’s a wonderful thing to witness a seed grow into a plant. Later, it struck men that this could be a great income-generating source, too. That’s how the concept of a kitchen garden started. But it was hard to persuade them, and several villages observed the purdah system, so there my wife, Veena, played an important role.