PLEDGE TO PROTECT
RAKSHABANDHAN ACTIVITY
DO-IT-YOURSELF TOOLKIT
What is this all about?
Mahan is a forest area in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh. The Mahan coal block is located on
the plateau on the eastern fringe of the main Basin in Singrauli Coalfield, Sidhi District, Madhya
Pradesh. The forests of Mahan are one of the oldest and largest sal forests of Asia with an estimated
canopy density of 70%. It occupies 1182.35 hectares of land in area (that’s about 768 cricket
grounds!).There is imminent danger of these beautiful forests being axed! Essar has resorted to
various incorrect tactics to have their coal mining project in Mahan approved, including forging
villagers’ signatures and intimidating local citizens.
It’s not just lakhs of trees that are stake here. It’s wildlife, some of which is endangered. Thousands
and thousands of people will be displaced. There are 54 villages depending on these forests for
their livelihoods, directly or indirectly. Mahan Sangarsh Samiti, a group of villagers in the district,
and Greenpeace India are together fighting to save these forests. You can read more about the
campaign and its people at http://www.junglistan.org/home.
On Rakshabandhan, a promise to protect our forests
Celebrating the love between siblings with the tying of a Rakhi is traditional during the
Rakshabandhan. However, the broader meaning of Rakshabandhan is a ‘bond that protects’. It is a
pledge to protect all that is important to us. The forests of Mahan with its people, trees and wildlife
deserve our protection. Mahan is an important part of our nation’s wealth and destroying it for a
coal mine will only make our country that much poorer.
This Rakshabandhan, you can send in Rakhis from your city to join over a million in pledging to
protect India’s forests. Individuals around the country will be making a promise to save the forests
of Mahan on this auspicious day. People, who sign the petition, will pledge a Rakhi that will be tied
to the trees in Mahan in their name. Mahan will have protectors from around the country,
because of your efforts!
Once Rakhis from all over the country are collected at Delhi, they will be sent to Mahan, where
villagers and members of Mahan Sangharsh Samiti, will celebrate Rakshabandhan. These rakhis
will be either tied onto the tree branches, or offered to the forest deity, in Mahan, to represent the
bond of protection sent in by forest-lovers from all over the country.
What can you do?
Excited about the celebrating your love for forests? Here’s what you can in 3 easy-peasy steps 1. Get together with your volunteer friends!
Get in touch with the volunteer group in your city on Greenwire. Involve your friends (the
more the merrier!) and help mobilize people to pledge Rakhis to protect the trees of Mahan’s
forests. Once the volunteer group is together, you can plan when, where and how to execute
the Rakhi-Collection drive in your area. It could be a school, college, office, club- anywhere
you think you’ll love to talk to people and get their support. Make sure you update your event
on Greenwire!
2. Organize your own, unique Rakhi- collection driveAll you’ll need is Rakhis, name tags, and pens for this. A few things to keep in mind while
doing this Please read up on the campaign on this link. Let people know why we’re doing this. Let
them also know that together, we can make a difference and help save the forests of
Mahan!
 Please buy Rakhis based on the number of people you want to mobilize. Similarly, you can
also take print-outs of the name tags (attached file) based on the number of Rakhis and
print them and cut out individual tags. After you write the name of the person who has
pledged a Rakhi on the tag, you can punch it and/ or stapled to the ends of the Rakhi.
(Alternatively, if you want to be creative, you can make a Rakhi yourself! See easy
instructions at the end of the document on “How to make a simple Rakhi”)
 Click loads of pictures of your activity and upload it on Greenwire! Write blogs and
inspire more people. Afterall, everyone should know how amazing your activity was! 
 Don’t forget to take the details of the people who pledge their support for Mahan. We’d
like to say thank you to them for their contribution. A simple format of Name, Contact
Number and email will do, which you should send in to your respective Volunteer
Coordinators.
3. Courier your collected Rakhis to the Delhi Office of Greenpeace at #A-23,Second floor,
Green park, (near Aurbindo Market), New Delhi- 110016 , Phone: +91-11-66665000. The
Rakhis should reach Delhi by August 1, 2014, so that they can reach Mahan in time for the
festival.
Few tips and things to remember1. Please feel free to contact the volunteer coordinator from your zone! We’ll be happy to help
you with all the assistance we can provide. Shout out on Greenwire, or just drop in an email
anytime! For further assistance, please get in touch with- Pranay Jajodia (West Zone): [email protected], 07208178119
- Sumanth Shetty (South Zone): [email protected], 09538490581
- Sanchita Mahajan (North Zone): [email protected], 09899155310
2. We will reimburse your expenditure for the materials and courier to Delhi, but you will need
to provide us with the bills of the same. Our budget limit that can be compensated for each
city is Rs. 1000 (including the courier to Delhi). Please let us know by July 20th, in case
you’re planning on conducting the activity, so that we can allot a budget for the same.
3. Making your own simple Rakhis can be a creative and fun activity to do with the volunteers!
Also, it will be financially cheaper, if made in bulk. Check out the end of the document to
learn how! If you can’t make Rakhi’s or buy them yourself, you can ask people to pledge them
here, where we will buy the Rakhis for them.
4. Don’t forget to click and put up pictures on Greenwire!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SIMPLE RAKHI
AS SIMPLE AS 1-2-3!
Step 1: Get a string/ ribbon which is about 12 inches
long and has a width of less than 0.5 inch. This could
be old, recycled strings from other sources, ribbons
that were a part of a piece of clothing that got torn. Try
different colors, and braid the strings to create a nice
multi-colored bracelet.
Step 2: Cut out a motif in your favorite shape. Use patterns
from old greeting cards, wedding invitations which have
colorful paper. You could color/ draw over this upcycled
paper. You could also use this space to write messages from
people for Mahan. Few ready-to-use motifs are also
uploaded separately on the Greenwire event page!
Step3: Place this motif at the centre Staple this motif
onto your string. Re-enforce this with a small piece of
cello tape at the back.
TADA! Your Rakhi is ready to use!