Share your story and shine at JK Monitor!🌟 Welcome to JK Monitor, where every story matters and every achievement is celebrated! We invite you to share the remarkable journey of your life and showcase your accomplishments to the world. Join our exclusive interviews that honor exceptional individuals just like you. JAMMU: ‘Green Woman’ Dr. Sonia Verma has raised nearly 2,000 saplings at home, planted 483 Peepal trees and is conserving Jammu’s traditional mango varieties In an inspiring example of environmental conservation rooted in Indian cultural traditions, Dr. Sonia Verma, popularly known as the ‘Green Woman’, has taken up a unique initiative to conserve and propagate heritage tree species such as Peepal and Palash, while simultaneously raising fruit trees and conserving traditional varieties of mango that were once commonly found across the Jammu region.
For Dr. Verma, plantation is not merely an environmental activity but a mission to reconnect people with nature and revive the traditional respect for trees that existed in Indian society for centuries.
Dr. Sonia Verma believes that the Peepal tree is not just a tree—it is a complete ecosystem. Its ecological, biodiversity and cultural importance makes its conservation particularly significant.
“Our ancestors did not venerate the Peepal tree without reason. They understood its ecological and cultural importance. Perhaps this is why damaging or cutting the tree was traditionally considered strictly prohibited,” she says.
With this philosophy, Dr. Verma has made the conservation of naturally occurring Peepal saplings one of the important components of her plantation mission. What makes Dr. Verma’s initiative particularly distinctive is the way she rescues naturally germinated plants from locations where they are unlikely to survive.
She collects naturally growing Peepal saplings from wall crevices, roadside cracks and other locations where they emerge on their own. Instead of allowing these young plants to be removed or destroyed, she carefully rescues them and brings them home for nurturing.
Her vehicle is equipped not only with plants and plantation material but also with an iron wedge (Shinee) and hammer, which she uses to carefully remove Peepal saplings growing in walls and other crevices.
For her, these tiny plants are not unwanted weeds—they are future trees waiting for an opportunity to grow.
Another unique aspect of Dr. Verma’s initiative is her innovative use of waste material.
She collects discarded paper cups from banquet halls and other locations. After properly washing and disinfecting them, she reuses these cups as containers for raising young plants.
At her home, she has established what can be described as a small green nursery, where she has raised approximately 2,000 saplings through the rescue and propagation of naturally growing plants.
The saplings include Peepal, Palash, Neem, Mango, Papaya, Lemon, Guava and other useful species.
Thus, her initiative simultaneously addresses two environmental concerns—plant conservation and waste reuse.
Her commitment to Peepal conservation is reflected in her plantation record. Dr. Sonia Verma has so far planted 483 Peepal trees at different locations.
Her priority locations include religious sites, temples and cremation grounds, where Peepal and Palash have traditionally enjoyed special cultural and ritual significance and where there is considerable demand for these species.
By planting these trees at such locations, she hopes to combine cultural heritage with ecological conservation.
While heritage trees remain a major focus, Dr. Verma says that people often specifically demand fruit-bearing trees.
To meet this demand, she has expanded her nursery to include fruit species such as Mango, Guava, Papaya and Lemon.
Dr. Verma raises fruit plants using high-quality grafting material to produce better planting stock. She then distributes the grafted saplings free of cost among people, encouraging households and communities to grow their own fruit trees.
Her objective is to make quality planting material accessible to ordinary people while encouraging the cultivation of fruit trees in homes, farms and community spaces.
According to Dr. Verma, if people are provided with healthy, quality saplings free of cost, they are more likely to participate in plantation and maintain the plants in the long term.
One of the most important components of her fruit-tree initiative is her effort to conserve the local mango varieties of Jammu.
Many traditional mango varieties that were once commonly found throughout the Jammu region are gradually becoming less common. Dr. Verma has started collecting and conserving these local varieties by grafting them at her home nursery.
By propagating these traditional mango varieties through grafting, she hopes to ensure that the genetic and cultural heritage represented by these trees is not lost.
Dr. Verma is known for keeping plants and plantation equipment in her vehicle, allowing her to plant trees whenever she comes across a suitable location.
Whenever she finds suitable space, she plants a sapling rather than waiting for a formal plantation drive.
Dr. Verma's Peepal and fruit-tree conservation work forms part of a much larger plantation movement. Driven by her passion for increasing green cover, she has planted approximately 2.70 lakh plants over the last five years.
Her mission is simple:
“Make Everywhere Green.”