IFS officer inspires children of Nasik village to give up slingshots & save birds

Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Anand Reddy took to the microblogging platform to share a heart-winning post. Through a series of tweets, the officer revealed how he managed to change the heart of children who belonged to a backward village located in Maharashtra's Nashik. On the occasion of World Environment Day, Reddy started the initiative — 'Galor Samarpan Abhiyan', encouraging kids to voluntarily give up their slingshot and vow not to harm the birds.

The forest officer shared a bunch of photos and videos of children in which they are seen participating in the event. He also informed how his department worked tirelessly to make this initiative a grand success. He even pointed out that in the last 30 days, around 600 slingshots were surrendered from 68 villages. Moreover, some children were so touched by the idea that they approached the forest department for surrendering their slingshots.

Taking to the microblogging platform, the officer shared many beautiful images from the event and wrote, "Change a child, you'll change a generation". Netizens showered the post with congratulatory messages and compliments. Almost everyone, including his colleagues, lauded his work.

In order to convince the children, Reddy used a four-point-solution: He first spoke to each of them, then he made them aware about the pain of a bird, he then asked the children to promise to never use it and finally convinced all of them to give up their slingshots 'voluntarily'. Children were also offered certificates of participation. Reddy also appreciated the efforts made by his team in a tweet. “Once our green warriors found the purpose, they worked relentlessly — nights, weekends, and in rains to reach out to every kid”, wrote Reddy.

He also posted a short video on how they “made this into a movement”. The video clip shows a group of children marching on a road in the village with a banner that reads in Marathi, “Galor hatwa, pakshi bachwa (discard galor, save birds)”.