Cities and Highways: Plant Fruit Trees, Bring the Birds Back
NV Paulose, Chairman, Global TV +91 98441 82044
India has an extraordinary opportunity right in front. Our cities are growing. Our highways are expanding. Millions of people travel every day through landscapes that are increasingly dominated by concrete, asphalt and buildings. At the same time, birds and other forms of urban wildlife are gradually losing the trees, food and safe spaces they need.
What if we looked at our cities and highways differently?
- What if the trees we plant were not chosen only for decoration, but also to provide food, shelter and life?
- What if India began a national movement to plant suitable native fruit trees across cities and along appropriate highway corridors, creating a network of living spaces where birds could return?
Plant a fruit tree. Bring a bird back.
This simple idea is already becoming a community movement. The recent “Grow Fruit Trees, Get the Birds Back” Mrs. Crasta initiative, associated with St Aloysius Deemed to be University, Indriya Jewellers, School of Social Work Roshni Nilaya, St. Agnes College, Global TV, NSS Units and St. Raymonds College in Mangaluru carries a powerful message: when we plant a fruit tree, we are not planting only for ourselves. We are creating food and habitat for birds and other living creatures. That idea deserves to grow much larger. It can become a movement for Cities and Highways across India.
From green spaces to living spaces
A city needs more than roads, buildings and infrastructure. It needs trees, shade, birds, butterflies, insects and the countless forms of life that make an environment healthy and pleasant. A fruit tree can become a small ecosystem. When it flowers, it attracts pollinators. When it bears fruit, it provides food. Its branches provide resting and nesting opportunities. Its leaves provide shade. Its roots contribute to soil health. And its presence can bring people closer to nature. One tree may seem insignificant. Thousands of suitable trees planted and cared for across a city can transform its character. The same principle can be extended to appropriate stretches of highways.
Highways can become ecological corridors
India already has a national framework for greenery along National Highways. The Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification & Maintenance) Policy, 2015 provides for planned plantation, beautification and maintenance. Importantly, the policy does not exclude fruit trees. Its guidelines specifically identify fruit bearing species such as mango, neem, jamun and tamarind and state that other locally useful fruit bearing species such as jackfruit and mahua may also be preferred where appropriate.
This gives us an important foundation. The question now is whether we can think more ambitiously. Instead of viewing highway plantations merely as rows of trees beside roads, can we design them as green ecological connections between cities, villages, farms and natural habitats?
The answer requires science and careful planning. Not every fruit tree is suitable for every location. Medians, narrow roadsides, intersections and areas with restricted visibility require different planting strategies. The mature size of the tree, falling fruit, branches, roots, visibility, road safety and maintenance requirements must all be considered. But where space and safety permit, carefully selected native fruit bearing trees could become part of a new generation of highway landscaping.
Every city can create its own bird friendly landscape
The idea should not be limited to National Highways. Municipal corporations, universities, schools, hospitals, housing communities, industrial areas, railway properties, government campuses and private institutions can all participate. Every city could identify suitable public spaces and create fruit tree zones for birds. A school could plant ten trees. A college could plant fifty. A hospital could create a small bird-friendly garden. A residential community could replace some ornamental planting with locally suitable fruit and flowering trees. A municipality could identify public land and develop a city biodiversity plan.
A highway authority could identify appropriate stretches where ecological plantation can complement its existing landscaping programme. Small actions can become massive implementation when thousands of people participate. This is precisely the spirit behind the community work highlighted by Global TV: great things happen when people, institutions and communities come together around a common purpose.
Science should choose the trees
This movement should not become a campaign to plant one particular species everywhere. India’s ecological diversity demands a different approach. Agricultural universities, Forest Departments, biodiversity experts, horticulture departments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and other scientific institutions should help prepare regional lists of suitable native fruit bearing and bird friendly species.
What grows naturally and safely in Karnataka may be very different from what is appropriate in Rajasthan, Punjab, Assam or the Himalayan states. The principle should be simple:
Right tree. Right place. Right purpose. Right care.
Scientists can identify species that provide food for birds while also meeting requirements related to soil, climate, water availability, mature height, canopy, road safety and maintenance.
The real challenge is not planting
India has planted millions of trees through various programmes. The bigger question is: How many survive? A sapling planted today is only the beginning. It needs water, protection and care. It needs to survive the first summer. It needs protection from damage. Dead plants need replacement. Young trees need attention until they become established. Therefore, every plantation programme should have a clear answer to four questions:
- Who planted it?
- Who will protect it?
- Who will water it?
- Who will ensure that it survives?
The Green Highways framework already recognises maintenance as an essential part of highway plantation. The national conversation should now move from counting saplings to measuring surviving trees, growing trees and returning biodiversity.
Let the cities lead
This could become one of the simplest environmental movements in India. Every city could adopt a goal:
Plant fruit trees. Bring birds back.
- Schools could adopt trees.
- Students could monitor them.
- Retired citizens could become tree guardians.
- Resident associations could maintain community fruit gardens.
- Businesses could sponsor trees.
- Universities could study bird populations.
- Municipal corporations could map green spaces.
- Media organisations could document success stories.
- Scientists could guide species selection.
- And citizens could become the eyes and ears of the programme.
Global TV’s emphasis on connecting people, cities and communities provides an interesting model for how such a movement could grow from local action into a wider national network. Its recent fruit tree initiative in Mangaluru demonstrates how a simple environmental message can bring educational institutions, civic representatives, volunteers and community organisations together.
A new national imagination
Perhaps the greatest opportunity is cultural. For generations, Indians have lived with trees as part of everyday life. Mango, jamun, tamarind, fig, ber and many other trees have been associated with food, shade, seasons, festivals and village life.
- We can bring that relationship into modern cities.
- We can make the city greener without making it merely ornamental.
- We can make highways beautiful without forgetting biodiversity.
- We can build infrastructure without disconnecting ourselves from nature.
- And we can teach the next generation that development and nature do not have to be enemies.
Imagine India twenty years from now
Imagine entering a city and hearing birds before seeing the skyline. Imagine travelling between cities through landscapes where carefully selected trees provide shade and seasonal food. Imagine children learning to identify birds attracted by the trees planted around their schools. Imagine citizens knowing which trees flower in summer, which produce fruit during the monsoon and which provide food during the winter. Imagine thousands of communities taking responsibility for individual trees. Imagine cities competing not only for better roads and buildings, but also for more living, breathing, bird-friendly neighbourhoods. That is the vision worth pursuing.
The ambition should not be simply to plant more trees. It should be to create more life.
India’s cities and highways can become part of a vast network of green spaces connecting people with nature and nature with nature.
- One tree can feed a bird.
- One community can protect a grove.
- One city can begin a movement.
And when cities and highways across India join together, millions of trees can become millions of opportunities for life to return. Plant a fruit tree. Bring a bird back. Make our Cities and Highways corridors of life.
