Said Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud while in Goa to release book on traditional trees of Bharat and inaugurate the new district court

IT was yet another one of those momentous book release occasions at the Raj Bhavan of Goa courtesy the tree-loving Governor PS Shreedharan Pillai on October 19, 2024 but this time the chief guest doing the honors was none other than Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. Chief Justice Chandrachud amongst many other things observed that living life in oneness with nature can help people combat challenges posed by climate change. He was speaking after releasing Governor Pillai’s latest compilation, namely “Traditional Trees of Bharat”—a hard cover compilation of articles emerging from a symposium held at the Raj Bhavan recently on the subject of Traditional Trees of India, that is “Vriksha Vyagnanika Sadassu.” Several distinguished speakers had presented papers at the symposium all meriting a larger exposure in a book to do the classical trees of India justice. The best of the papers presented find themselves in the new book as a follow-up on the previous one titled “Heritage Trees of Goa.” It’s well known now that Goa’s present governor, Governor PS Sreedharan, is an amazingly prolific writer, poet and philanthropist, thinker and has in his cap 233 books so far. He manages to write despite being an advocate (along with his wife, First Lady Rita Pillai) and politician, having served also as Governor of Mizoram before coming to Goa. He has put his time in Goa as governor to some exhaustive purpose and one of them is dedicated to the cause of trees – not just prolonging the life of 100-year old trees at the Raj Bhavan’s largely forested estate through Ayurveda treatments for prolonging their longevity, but also visiting Goa and its villages to see firsthand how Goans live. Governor Sreedharan Pillai has acquired the reputation of being a good Samaritan with his generous distribution of funds to cancer and other patients in need of treatment, also helping the handicapped with useful equipment to make them more mobile.

Traditional Trees of Bharat compiled and edited by PS Shreedharan Pillai, Hon’ble Governor of Goa, published and printed by Government Printing Press, Goa, has articles of interest to anyone interested in learning more about trees of India – here are articles by authors like Paipra Radhakrishnan, KK Marar, Dr P Manoharan, Dr Sindhu A, Prof Malapati K Janarthanam, Dr Pradip Sarmokadam, Rajendra P Kerkar, Dr Vvijayanchgalode,Prof NK Sundareswaran, Dr Murali K, and Dr Niya Sivan Randeep. A whole lot of articles to make one realize that without Mother Earth and her joint family of trees life would not be worth living on earth! It’s a very useful compilation of source material, some of it about the medicinal qualities of trees and plants. Do catch up with Dr Pradip Sarmokadam’s “Sacred Flora of India: TGraditiional Applications in Yajnya and Associated Rituals” (Dr Pradip Sarmokadam is member secretary of the Goa State Biodiversity Board). Here is a vast canvas of articles by writers who love their subject and have studied it with keen passion and joy of discovery of things to do with the garden of paradise we call the good earth.
WHAT else did Chief Justice Chandrachud say? He praised the governor for putting together Traditional Trees of Bharat and his vast repertoire of writing…and somewhere along waxing lyrical about India’s diverse legacy of secularism, peace and harmony he said thanks to his wife he is a vegan and all for living an eco-friendly lifestyle! But India must uphold the tenets of its Constitution and live by secularism for the happiness of its people…all things to create peace and harmony in the country. He himself is a devout Hindu and admitted while helping to resolving the Babri Masjid/Ram Mandir issue in court he had prayed for guidance. Clearly, the court had ruled the fairest judgment in his estimation. He is perceived as one of our most respected judges and remember he did call the electoral bonds scam before the last general elections as illegal. However, nothing happened and nobody was punished, nobody knows where all the money went or if it was recovered.
Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud was really in Goa to inaugurate the new North Goa District and sessions court complex in Merces in the presence of other SC judges, and Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant with his other Cabinet ministers were also present. Reportedly, Goa is the only state that doesn’t have a judicial academy and Justice Abhay Oka in his address said Goa can become an international centre for arbitration if so desired. Interestingly, Goa has some interesting heritage properties doubling as judicial premises and an appeal going out is to turn the old high court building at Altinho into a judicial academy and arbitration center.
Nowadays at this hi fi political events the media doesn’t get to talk to chief guests, something I rue; in the old days it was not at all like this. VVIPs and VIPs themselves sought to say hello to the media and sportingly fielded questions if there were any. A real contrast to today’s scenario of out of the way please if you are media or aam janata or make a prior appointment if you are so interested in asking questions! Sigh, so much has changed.
ON to some other item number.