After Rajasthan, Karnataka has the second largest expanse of dry land in India, and its capital city Bengaluru is a plateau surrounded by dry regions. These areas are an undulated topography covered with granite, rocky hills and gravelly soil. With this topography, districts around Bengaluru have not just been dry for several decades, but there has been a huge fall in water levels, vegetation and wildlife too.
Seventy-year-old Mukund Rao, a retired Assistant Commissioner at the Commercial Tax Department, is determined to bring back at least parts of forests around Bengaluru and in various other districts in Karnataka.
Called “Forest Man of Karnataka” by friends and colleagues, Mr. Rao started his afforestation efforts at his hometown in Channapatna, Ramanagara district, in 2006 along with his wife Latha Rao.
