How 8-year-old Eiha Dixit, 'friend' of PM Modi, planted 7,000 saplings

MEERUT: All of eight years and 7,000 plantations later, this Meerut girl plants five saplings every Sunday apart from hundreds on special occasions. What began as an inspiration from a cartoon catapulted the little girl into the league of celebrities so much so Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed her as “friend” as she was awarded with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Shakti Puraskar in 2019.
Now, travelling all over the country, the class IV student is invited to plant trees in Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Ghaziabad, among other cities.
“This is our last chance to save human civilization. Planting trees is the only way to do it, the more the better,” said Eiha Dixit, who aims to become an IPS officer, and wishes to plant trees all her life.
She now develops her own seeds of various plants and distributes them to masses.
Eiha's father Kuldeep Dixit, a coach for competitive exams, said, “The cartoons had made such a powerful impact on Eiha that she was insistent on planting a sapling herself. She was four years old at that time. One day I took her to a nearby park and fulfilled her desire by helping her sow a lemon sapling. She was happy. Soon, she started to plant saplings every Sunday."
Her father added, "Seeing her passion we organised a bigger event in 2018 where other children were involved. A site was provided by the Housing and Development Board where 1,008 saplings were planted in two days. It was the turning point. Her effort was noticed by local media and later, government officials verified facts after which she was mentioned in PM Modi’s Mann ki baat in 2019."
Later, the PM posted a photograph of him with Eiha on his Instagram account mentioning: “With my young friend Eiha Dixit at 7, LKM. She was among the youngsters conferred the Bal Shakti Award.”
After receiving the award, there was no turning back for the young girl.
Incidentally, the Uttar Pradesh government has focused a lot on planting saplings on a mass scale in the state. The state has now set a target of planting 30 crore saplings during the 'van mahotsav' (afforestation festival).