Governments in India routinely boast about planting crores of saplings in plantation drives, but how many actually survive? In Uttar Pradesh, for example, record-breaking daily targets are proudly announced although ground reports end up exposing how vast numbers of those saplings wither away within days.

Against this backdrop stands Swami Prem Parivartan, popularly known as ‘Peepal Baba’. For over four decades, he claims to have planted more than three crore Peepal saplings across six lakh acres. Yet, he calls himself a 'simple gardener', insisting that no single person can create a forest.

In this interview with Newslaundry, Peepal Baba unpacks the reality of government plantation drives, why keeping a sapling alive matters infinitely more than just planting it, and why he views the Green Revolution as a major cause of cancer.

Watch.

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